Overflowing cups…Muna Khan
ON my travels in the last two years I noticed a new accessory: large water bottles. You know the ones with the straw protruding from its top? The most coveted one at the moment is the one which retails for around $45 which is roughly Rs12,000, but sells for Rs18,000 in some Karachi markets. This water bottle is a reminder of how our overconsumption is exacerbating the climate crisis.
Despite all the evidence, it doesnt feel like a climate crisis when you look at our tendency to buy more of everything. Plenty has been written about how bulk buying of clothes has accelerated fast fashion culture. These fast-moving trends have a devastating impact on the climate, from labour abuse in the garment industry to microfibres polluting Earth and water. The fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 10 per cent of global carbon emissions, according to a 2020 report by the European Parliament.
Although fashion houses will use terms like sustainable practices, only 1pc of used clothing is recycled into new clothes. The global textile production has doubled from 58 million tonnes in 2010 and is expected to grow to 145m tonnes by 2030, says the European Environment Agency. This is great news for world economies, except that it takes 200 years for some materials to decompose: synthetic fabrics like polyester, for example, break down into small plastic particles which last forever.
This should horrify us, but one look at women lining up to buy the new XYZ designer lawn collection across Pakistan proves weve not grasped the severity of the climate crisis. Or care about it. I can sympathise with this, having heard people say how despondent they feel about the state of the well, state; how change doesnt seem likely, so why care about the environment.
My students, however, care very much about the environment, more than politicians do; they are inheriting a planet deluged in waste. But as valiant a generation this Z is proving defying universitys bullying tactics for example they are, according to studies, also the most likely to be influenced.
Earlier, there was value attached to things and a sensibility too.
Against this backdrop, whats the harm in buying a stainless steel cup which comes with a lifetime guarantee? Because it does not stop at one cup.
You only have to go to TikTok to see the cupboards lined up with up to 37 different coloured cups of a single brand. People line up outside stores to buy the new release, there are sites dedicated to selling them. This particular company, which catered to blue collar workers in the US, has gone from earning $73m in 2019 to $750m last year, according to Vox.
The companys claim, that it can keep cold drinks cold for 11 hours and hot drinks hot for seven hours, received an unlikely boost when, last year, a womans cup survived a car fire. The woman posted a Tik Tok (of course) of her burned-to-a-shell car, but the cup remained in its cup holder, and she rattled it to show the ice was still in it. This was marketing gold for the company, which bought the lady a new car and cup.
It is this kind of marketing which adds to a products status and makes it more desirable. And causes a lot of problems for the environment. According to a story in the New York Times, producing one stainless steel water bottle was far more environmentally damaging than producing a plastic bottle.
I recognise Im being more judgemental than usual, and while I am loathe to shame people for their choices, Im bothered by what these cups are selling health as a status symbol. As Vox pointed out, people leave comments saying they are hydrated because of such cups. This idea extends to other wellness products: if you buy these clothes or these classes, you will unlock a better, healthier version of yourself, writes Vox. Health and hydration, like skin care, supplements, yoga pants etc, are part of a self-care trend that only fuels fast capitalism.
Our elders were not immune to material acquisition, but there was value attached to things and a sensibility too. Clothes were upcycled, passed onto younger children, handed down as heirlooms even.
Today, it is easy to buy goods from the comfort of your phone, but it is not quenching our desire to want more. This desire is not helping our well-being, because retail therapy, as Time wrote last month, is tanking your mental health.
How do we return to a time of stretching the shelf life of things, reusing, recycling, taming the beast in us that wants more irrespective of whether we need it? Simply by buying less, we will see a reduction in emissions and pollution. This is the goal we need to practise and teach our children as their future is at stake.
Courtesy Dawn