I’m a material girl, in a material world: On consumer culture
So, I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Hong Kong and before I knew it…there are only about two full days left of the official program. So yes, you will be hearing from me quite often in the next few days.
I’ve been seeing the sights, tasting the tastes and living the life here, and I thought now would be a good time to sit down and reflect on what I’ve experienced. In particular, I wanted to touch on the culture of consumerism shared by Americans and Hong Kongers.
Let’s start with some background. During my preparations for the trip, I created a sort of mental bucket list of all of the things I wanted to do while in Hong Kong. Here they are:
1. Eat dim sum at least five times.
2. Eat lots of seafood.
3. Eat street food.
4. Eat.
5. Find killer deals at the local bargain markets (AKA the Ladies’ Market)
In case you didn’t notice, I love to eat. And I’ve eaten more than my fair share. If this were an eating course, I’d get an A+. The Ladies’ Market at Mong Kok was a favorite hub for my group, as it was a place for both cuisine and shopping. You might assume that the Ladies’ Market is a nice, cool relaxing mall for women to casually rifle through bargain racks. Wrong. So absolutely wrong.
The market is a jungle of makeshift, semi-permanent tents, bustling with the sound of the back-and-forth banter between vendor and customer. Not for the weak-hearted, I tell you.
There are four rules of basic survival:
1. Put on your game face. Somewhere in between extremely bored and slightly annoyed is what you’re aiming for. Vendors peg wide-eyed, excited people as easy targets.
2. The best compliment you can give any item is “decent.”
3. Always start by asking for half of the original price. The value in markets is already pumped up at least twice the actual value.
4. Walking away is your secret weapon. Vendors are more willing to settle for a lower price after putting in time to haggle with you.
This is not shopping, but a battle of wills between seller and buyer. I loved every minute of it.
Jokes aside, there is something to be said about consumer culture and how it applies to sustainability. Hong Kong and America share a similar love for accumulating more and more stuff. It permeates through our daily lives—in our meals and eating habits, in our media and never-ending advertising and even within our inner psyche.
Here was I, a sustainability student, arguing for a change in wasteful and material behaviors during the day, and yet perpetuating said behaviors in the night. I became the beast. I was concerned with getting the best deals, and boy, did I get them. But not once did I stop to think that I didn’t particularly need any of these items.
I am, by no means, unusual. That is exactly the problem. This thirst for material things is just so natural by today’s standards. While this realization is humbling, it is a stark reminder for me as a sustainability student. There can’t be an “off” switch in my life. I’ve got to practice what I preach.
On a larger scale, I realize that major sustainable change needs to start at the core of humanity: our culture. There is no way things will improve without a shift in our mindsets and values.