It is starting to become very common knowledge that us humans have major issues when it comes to overconsumption. Greed has been a major driving force for marketing that is both aggressive and manipulative, and this has conditioned individuals to accept the thought process that consumption and the purchasing of goods is vital for happiness and fulfillment.
As we have already seen when we were looking at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it is incredibly easy to get stuck in a rut in the lower levels when you are focusing on meeting your immediate and short term needs. Once they get stuck in this rut, many people assume that more is better, and that they should continue acquiring things.
As human beings start to evolve and become more conscious and moral, and as they begin to climb up Maslow's hierarchy, their fixation on ‘stuff' will naturally start to decline, and they will instead begin focusing on immaterial things for happiness and fulfillment.
With that being said, it is important to keep in mind that all humans do still have needs that must be met. But, we must come up with ways to meet our needs in a sustainable and ethical manner. We need to seek ways to extract resources in a way that does not degrade the earth, and in a way that will leave enough resources for future generations as well.
These tactics also must be socially and economically just. Accomplishing all of these goals is by no means an easy feat, and I am more than willing to acknowledge how truly difficult it is.
However, there are certain ways to help speed this process along, and there are certain careers that you can hold that will help the world to accomplish this goal. You may potentially work for or start your own business that specializes in selling and/or producing fair trade only products, green consumer products, green technology, or green energy. You may enter the manufacturing or distributing industries and help to transform those.
You may choose to become an inventor, innovator, or perhaps a consultant. You may make the decision to focus on sales, PR, or marketing for a company that specializes in doing one of these things. Additionally, there are also several network marketing opportunities that you have the ability to pursue.
Similarly, you could also take a different route and choose to specialize in selling different types of information products, such as home study software. Downloadable software products require zero physical resources in both the production and delivery phase, and they thus have very mild environmental footprints. Although working in this niche may not specifically be environmental related, you would still be doing your work towards helping increase sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint.
One of the things that I love most about having a company that sells products in lieu of services is that these types of companies tend to be much more scalable and have more practical business models. When it comes to companies that sell services, the business model is generally this: the more clients you have, the harder you work, and the more energy that is then required.
However, when you have a company that instead sells products, you can theoretically produce an unlimited number of products without increasing how hard you are working. The income that results from the increased sales of physical products can be reinvested in further manufacturing, distribution, and company customer support if shown to be necessary. This is a much easier way of doing business, and it is much more simple to manage.
or go back to last chapter:
