Cost of the Good Life Essay Example for Free

Cost of the smashing Life EssayOver all wellbeing, an extravagant feel historystyle, and wealth all come to mind when I muse the good life but what does the good life actually cost? At first glance, this seems cargon a loaded question that requires multiple dissertations in order to answer. I even contemplated whether or non the good life had a cost at all. Breaking the good life into separate topics relieves such(prenominal) of the stress when it comes to giving an answer. In terms of consumerism, the good life is damaging to the environment, places too much(prenominal) speech pattern on money, and it dwindles the importance of non-market values. According to Annie Leonards The Story of Stuff, our current materials economy is a trade good chain in which goods go from extraction, to production, to distribution, to consumption, and finally to disposal.The system sounds stable but it is actually in crisis. Anyone with a simple understanding of mathematics can tell you th at you can non run a linear system on a finite planet in the real world. In order for us, the consumers, to get all of our warmness products and up-to-date technologies, a process that we turn a blind eye to takes place. At the source of the process, on that point is pictorial alternative exploitation. We chop down the trees, blow up mountains to get the metals inside, use up all the water, and wipe out all the animals. As consumers, we argon running out of resources because we live too much stuff In the past three decades alone, one third of the planets natural resource space has been consumed.We are undermining the planets very ability for state to live here. In the United States, less than 4 percent of our original forests are left and forty percent of the waterways need become unsanitary. When the resources start to deplete, we do the same thing to third world or lesser developed nations. The erosion of the local environments of these nations and economies ensures a cons tant flow of natives that rely on the little money they can earn while working(a) in factories.We have become a nation of consumers largely due to planned and perceived obsolescence. plotted obsolescence is the art of designing products that dont give-up the ghost a long time but last long enough for someone to buy the product again. Perceived obsolescence is changing the design of things to follow trends and fall out up with the times. The number one example that throng can relate to is the iPhone. If you dont have the newest andgreatest iPhone, you are a social outcast. While this might be a tad all over exaggerated, its not too far from the truth.In all actuality, polls show that our national gladness is declining even though we have more stuff than ever onwards. This is because we have less time for the things that actually make us happy like friends, family, and leisure time. At the cost of our planet and environment, are we rightfully even living the good life?Fritjof Capra of Qualitative Growth said that human of necessity are finite, but human greed is not. The major problems of our time cannot be understood in isolation they are all interconnected and interdependent. In our current economy, we have put currency on a pedestal that is far too high for us to reach anymore. Most of the goods that are produced and sold are often unneeded and therefore are essentially waste. Even still, demographic pressure and poverty mold a vicious circle that lead to someer jobs and wider poverty gaps.These are the costs of the good life. Our current global economy is a system striving for unlimited quantitative growth and is manifestly unsustainable as previously stated. Looking again from an ecological standpoint, the bad growth resulting from this system leads to externalizing social and environmental costs, is ground on fossil fuels, involves toxic substances, depletes our natural resources, and degrades the Earths ecosystems.Harvard professor Michael Sa ndel adds what I believe to be the most interesting cost of the good life when it comes to affluenza. He argues that over the last three decades, we have drifted from having a market economy to becoming a market society. Although these two seem to be synonymous, they are actually quite different. A market economy is a valuable and effective tool for organizing fecund activity while a market society is a place where almost anything is up for sale. By doing this, we have created a way of life in which market values seep into almost every sphere of life and sometimes crowd out or corrode important, non-market values.One of the examples that professor Sandel uses is congressional hearings in Washington D.C.. Lobbyists want to attend these hearings and because the seats are limited, line-standing companies have arisen. Line-standing companies hire homeless people and pay them an hourly rate in order to wait in line justbefore the hearing. According to the professor, this is wrong for t wo reasons. In a democratic society, everyone should have equal access to congresswoman government. The other reason its wrong is that it demeans representative government. When it comes to the point where almost everything in our public life is sold off to the highest bidder, something is lost.Money matters more and more in our society. And against the background of rising inequality, money takes a toll on the commonality of our civic life. In other words, we lose a part of ourselves. Do we go so far that we are cheapening important social goods and civic goods that are price fondness about? Society will eventually become a place of narcissistic opportunism where people will be buying their way into and out of positive and negative situations.What is the good life worth? Ive been struggling with this question a great deal lately. You may or may not be familiar with the term first world problems. They are frustrations and complaints that are only experienced by privileged individua ls, typically used as a comedic device to make light of trivial inconveniences. not having the latest gadget and the newest clothes from a particular store are just a few examples. When I bought something, I failed to realize what I was actually paying. I now know that these consumer goods cost natural resources, valuable money, and so much more. The simplest way I can put it is that the cost of the good life priceless.