I first posted this on the 3rd of January 2021. Our attitude in 1st world countries to consuming goods that are produced unsustainably by exploited 3rd world labour causing great damage to the environment continues.
3rd January 2021
Western, first world countries rely on cheap and often exploited labour to fill the shops and increasingly so the internet with cheaply made throw away rubbish. Perhaps no more so than in the fast fashion industry which is always so shocked at finding exploitation in its supply chains. Shops turn over at quite a rate either for a new brand or a refit and this is where they also exploit the environment. Here we see one shop being refitted for a brand and at the end of it the wood and whatever materials are covering it will be placed into landfill or burnt causing more pollution. If workers were not being exploited and there was an actual true value put on the resources used for this “cheap” hoarding this sort of waste and wanton destruction of the environment for the business as usual model of capitalist growth would not be possible. Make 2021 the year when you shop and consume less. Our political leaders want us to consume more but we must stop if we want to have some sort of sustainable and equitable future.
Paul Noël 