Day 8 - the story of stuff and Kelloggs

I watched a short clip about the consumption and where our goods come from and go: The story of stuff

It was very informative and together with an article on consumption (The Gospel of Consumerism) got me thinking more again.

A large part of our lives is involved in the consumption of goods. It seems to be a never ending cycle, you can hardly get something home before you’re thinking on the next piece you need.

We work more so we can buy more stuff. More stuff that we have been told we need, that we are unhappy about not having, not realising that keeping us unhappy is how large corporations stay in power. In the article above they talked about the old Kellogg factory where workers had a 6 hour day instead of an 8 hour. How workers were happier and wanted to keep the system in place even after new management wanted to move to an 8 hour shift. One of the reasons the workers wanted to keep shorter shifts was because shorter hours meant more people were employed to keep the company going. In the time of the Great Depression is that not fantastic? Rather than earn more personally you would worry about whether your neighbour had a job as well.  It’s sad that we don’t have this kind of mentality around today. There is enough work, we just need to share it out more, give jobs to the unemployed and let those who are working have a bit more time off. With time off we can add to our community and personal relationships.

It all sounds amazing. I would like to get there too. To live a life less encumbered by stuff, more compassionate to the people around you and in general happier. Is that not something fantastic to strive to?