ECO-CONSUMERISM AS THE WORLDVIEW POSITION

Abstract

Problems which humanity encountered with due to the unethical scientific and technological progress, irrational energy consumption, merciless resource pumping and inefficient management were at the level of passive debates for quite a long time. However, the destruction of the Earth’s ecosystem and noticeable modification of its climate background require radical changes in the political, economic and cultural courses, humanity transition to the usage of sustainable energy resources and environmentalisation of the individual consciousness.

On April 22nd 2016 was signed the Paris Agreement within United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which deals with the decrease of level of greenhouse gases emissions into the atmosphere starting in 2020. The meeting was intended to demonstrate that although the amount of energy and financial expenditures of the states today is high, but it cannot be compared to those the governments will face in the case of irreversible climate change and necessity of adaptation. The imposition of these issues at the level of interstate discussions, global concerns about the planet ecology, individual initiative and voluntary steps in order to save life on the planet, without a doubt, deserve respect and must be supported. Nevertheless, at the present stage, for the effective implementation of announced decisions strict accountability and sanctions for evading the stated arrangement should be provided.

In addition, actions of the states at the global level need to be supplemented by human individual contribution to the process of environment preservation. Among the effective methods for achieving environmentalisation of the mass consciousness there are social advertising, transformation of eco-consumerism in the fashion trend, and cinematography (an advantage of the one in comparison to the cumbrous scientific researches is that its products are understandable for the mass consumers). In terms of environmentalisation of human consciousness the encouraging of young people to create innovative projects in waste recycling sphere is quite promising. Actually, there are many examples that recycling can be not just useful but interesting as well: bins that “thanking” to the passersby for the rubbish (theUnited Arab Emirates) and broadcast the latest news and weather forecasts (theUK), containers in the form of bottles and newspapers (Singapore), machines that feed stray animals (Turkey) etc. Thus, installation of the smart garbage recycling systems in public places and educational institutions will help to form individual sense of responsibility for the environment and other living species on the planet, encourage thoughtful consumption and recycling, and eliminate the policy of mindless consumerism.

Among the countries that have already achieved noticeable results in the economy transition to the sustainable energy consumption there are China, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, particularly, the Utrecht city, and the Canary island El Hierro. Even though these implementations of effective energy saving technologies in everyday life of ordinary people are local and territorially limited, it appears that with the increase in the number of citizens who are aware of the benefits of eco-friendly energy consumption, stronger will be their demands to rethink public policy in this area.

Meanwhile, it is important to promote among masses the principles of green consumerism that base on the consumption of organic products, energy production from the renewable resources, environmentally friendly activities etc. This type of food and energy production also has potential to stabilize the world market: the price will not vary depending on the richness of fossil fuels deposits or their availability as such. Thus, if the consumers are supplied with energy from the sustainable resources, it will decrease the final product price and allow redirecting of saved funds to the other areas. Furthermore, expanding the boundaries of human knowledge, technological development, moral and physical perfection of the person, cleansing and supporting of ecosystems, production of high-quality organic products instead of distribution of cheap counterfeits, improving of the healthcare industry are able to ensure the formation of the modern ethics of responsibility and humanity transition to the next stage of its development. Finally, attention should be paid to the designing projects of future ecopolis – city, which produces and consumes energy in the most effective and harmless to humans and the environment ways.