Materialism In America

In contemporary society, individuals are becoming blinded by the materials we create. We are starting to live in a society where our innate code of ethics, of what is important, of what is needed to survive, is changing. Our basic human necessities needs of survival, like shelter, clothing, and food areis becoming less valued than our desires. Having a home, a meal to eat at night, and clothing to keep you warm, used to be the American Dream;, to become successful and live a content life. Early in America, a content life used to be having shelter, food, clothes, but now, having those basic needs aren't enough for Americans anymore. Our moral code, as a society, expects us to push the boundaries of our lives, to make them easier, but at the

These ideas are over encumbering our society and, that society is becoming over encumbered by, are conveyed in “from Economy” and “The New Consumerism” by Henry David Thoreau and Juliet Schor, both explaining how materialism is shifting the importance from the necessities of our life to the sheer desires of

Society's connection to materialism has grown to the point where the amount of garbage produced is becoming an issues to the health of America. The byproduct of our materialistic desires is explained by, Berry, he states, “The truth is that we Americans, all of us, have become a kind of human trash, living our lives in the midst of a ubiquitous damned mess of which we are once the victims and the perpetrators.” (p. 3, 485) That is to say, materialism has created a society where the materials we produce and desire, causes America to generate waste polluting the land. We tend to take advantage of the materials we have, we throw away our excess food, we toss all our broken possessions, we buy gas that pollutes the air. These material goods, are seen as common necessity in everyday life, we give no insight to when we throw away our garbage because it has become a normality, because of the large amount of materials created, we assume that throwing away garbage is acceptable, not knowing what happens to trash. But Americans all together, produce such a large amount of waste that our country is beginning to show the effects of pollution. Because of climate change, our season are changing, animals are going extinct, lakes and rivers are drying up all because of the contributions we make towards climate change. The materials that are created are originated from our desires, when we create this perpetual loop of supply and