Consumption Journal - Derek Eng

The thing I found most interesting about my consumption journal was not what was on my list, but rather what I had originally forgot to put on my list: my eyeglasses, all light sources (from the bathroom light to my desk lamp), the toilet and toilet paper, and the refrigerator. These are things I use absolutely everyday and can’t imagine living without, and I seem to have taken them for granted. But when you realize that much of the world’s population live without many of these things, it really puts into perspective just how lucky we are.

The most meaningful analysis I made was categorizing the data according to which needs the items satisfy on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Once again, I’m struck by the fact that I’m on the fourth level of the pyramid, while billions of people around the world are barely past the first level. It reminds me of the site globalrichlist.com, in which you can enter your annual income and see where in the world you rank. While someone in Canada who makes minimum wage might think of themselves as poor, they are still among the wealthiest 15% of people in the world, richer than more than five billion other people!

This assignment has made me realize just how lucky I am. With the world economy not looking so good at the moment, this just might be the right mindset to have.

P.S. Those who have Karen Simpson have probably seen this really interesting site that’s related to consumption: http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=?view=XXX_09NNN/. It features the work of an artist who assembles prints from thousands of smaller photographs to depict the actual number of items consumed in a certain time period (For example, the number of plastic cups used on airline flights in the US every six hours.)