On this edition of Your Call, we’re discussing the rise in overconsumption during the pandemic and the impact it has on the planet. US spending in major cities is up more than 15 percent compared to two years ago, according to Bloomberg.
To meet the demand, Amazon, FedEx, and UPS are wrapping millions of purchases in layers of cardboard and plastic and hiring thousands of new drivers to bring them to our doorsteps.
While Amazon recorded breaking global revenues in 2020, the ease of one-click, one-day delivery is leading to more Amazon warehouses being built in predominantly Black and Latino communities, exposing them to higher rates of air pollution.
What is overconsumption costing our planet and our health? What will it take for our society to buy less?
Guests:
Anastasia O'Rourke, Managing Director at the Carbon Containment Lab at Yale University
J.B. MacKinnon, award-winning journalist and adjunct professor of journalism at the University of British Columbia, where he teaches feature writing. His latest book is The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves
Web Resources:
Bloomberg, Andre Tartar and Christopher Cannon: How Covid Turbocharged the American Consumer
Slate, Jordan Weissmann: Supply chain problems in America: The absolute simplest explanation.
The Guardian, Maanvi Singh: 'Pollution everywhere': how one-click shopping is creating Amazon warehouse towns
Grist, Joseph Winters: Beyond reusing and recycling: How the US could actually reduce plastic production
The Los Angeles Times: How to find (and survive) a Buy Nothing group
