We all know it. We all live inside it. But almost no one dares to speak it out loud.
Consumerism is killing our planet.
Every year we consume more, extract more, burn more, dump more, and waste more.
Forests fall, oceans choke, temperatures rise and our spirit shrink as we are reduced from human beings to consumers — and still we consume, consume, consume and consume.
We know it can’t go on. We know it’s unsustainable.
And yet…
To stop consuming is to threaten collapse.
Because our entire economic system is built on endless consumption.
Jobs depend on it.
Pensions depend on it.
Government budgets depend on it.
Even “green growth” depends on it.
It’s a trap.
A loop.
A paradox.
To keep consuming is to destroy our planet and ourselves.
To stop consuming is to destroy the system.
This is the greatest paradox of our time.
And it explains why, despite all the climate conferences, all the UN targets, all the inspiring nonprofits and planetary visions — nothing truly changes.
The machine keeps running.
🔥 The Extreme Paradox We Live In
We are trapped in a system where the only way to keep society running… is to destroy the very foundation it stands on: Planet Earth.
To keep people employed, companies profitable, governments funded, and pensions paid — we must keep buying things we don’t need, with money we often don’t have, at the cost of a planet we can’t replace.
It’s not enough to have a TV — we need to want a bigger one next year.
It’s not enough to have a car — we need to upgrade it every few years.
Phones, fashion, furniture, kitchen appliances — the system doesn’t just want us to consume.
It requires us to consume.
Because if we stop spending, even for a little while, the machine begins to crack:
- Shops close.
- Jobs vanish.
- Stocks fall.
- Panic spreads.
- Governments intervene — to make sure we start buying and consuming again.
It’s estimated that just a 10% sustained drop in global consumption could send the world economy into freefall. That’s how fragile the system is. That’s how dependent we are.
And yet — continuing on this path guarantees collapse.
Not just economic collapse.
But ecological, spiritual, and civilizational collapse.
We are trapped between two forms of destruction — and the clock is ticking.
We throw away a plastic wrapper after five minutes — but it stays on the Earth for 500 years.
This is not just waste. It’s madness disguised as normality.
And we call it progress.
🛠️ “But What About the Workers?”
It’s a fair question.
Because it’s not just Apple or Amazon that need you to buy new gadgets — it’s the millions of people down the supply chain who depend on that consumption to survive.
- The cobalt miner in Congo.
- The factory assembler in China.
- The truck driver, warehouse packer, and store clerk.
- The app developer, marketing intern, and customer service rep.
We are told we’re “supporting jobs.”
And we are.
Because we’re locked in a global machine where livelihoods depend on destruction.
But it’s not just the worker who’s trapped.
⚙️ Not Even the Corporations Are Free
Corporations aren’t inherently evil.
They’re designed to do one thing: grow.
- Maximize profit.
- Outcompete rivals.
- Please shareholders.
If a CEO said,
“Let’s prioritize planetary healing over quarterly growth,”
they’d be replaced by Monday.
Even the most ethical companies are stuck.
If they reduce consumption, they die.
If they keep pushing consumption, we all die — because the planet dies.
It’s not a moral failure.
It’s a failure of choice. Choice of the wrong system.
🌍 The Planetary Awakening
And yet, something is shifting.
Movements like COPLAN, The Venus Project, Ubuntu Contributionism, Zeitgeist, and gift economies are rising.
They may speak different languages, but they share the same truth:
The system must evolve. Or rather, be replaced.
Or we won’t survive.
This paradox can’t be solved by better shopping.
Or green labels.
Or more efficient waste sorting.
It can only be solved by transformation.
By designing a new system where:
- Needs are met without trade and overconsumption.
- Nature is not a resource, but a relative.
- Work is expression, not survival.
- Giving is the foundation, not the exception.
That world is not a fantasy.
It’s a choice.
Yes, we have to consume to live — we need food, water, shelter, connection, joy.
But we do not need to consume in order to prove our worth, maintain the GDP, or keep an insane system alive.
We no longer live in order to consume.
We consume in order to live — simply, sustainably, and sanely.
In my novel Waking Up: A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity, this transformation is not theory — it is lived reality.
A society has emerged that hasn’t reformed the monetary system, but transcended it.
Experience this new world through the confused and surprised eyes of Benjamin Michaels, the former multi-billionaire that tries to escape cancer through cryogenic preservation. He dreamt of awakening in a world where he could be healed and continue the expansion of his trillion dollar empire. Awaken he does, and healed he is, but the world? It’s not what he expected…
The whole system he depended on for his empire is gone.
There is no trade.
No price tags.
No ownership.
No money.
Only joyful giving and receiving and a global relative abundance.
🌱 The Resolution of the Paradox has happened.
💡 A Call to Courage
We don’t have to solve everything today.
But we do have to name the paradox.
We do have to break the silence.
We do have to imagine something truly new.
Because behind the fear of collapse…
is the opportunity for emergence.
If you’re ready to explore that world, Waking Up is one possible inspiration.
Not as fiction. But as a seed.
🟣 And maybe that seed has already been planted in you. If this vision resonates with you, feel free to order the book and spread the vision.