In the excerpt from Kallis (2014), the author reflects on how North American cities are built for being a consumer. The author argues that we should take a step back and reflect on where the things we buy come from and that we should reflect on our relationship with consumerism.
“As our newer North American cities and towns are designed for the automobile, so too they are designed for the human being and consumer (Kallis, 2014, pp.20).
When I read this sentence, I started wondering if Schefferville, a remote town, is also designed for the human being a consumer. In the town, we have very few stores: a grocery store, a depanneur, two restaurants, and a hardware store. On the surface, it looks like the town is the exception to the author’s argument. Although, now that Internet reaches every house in the town, most of us partake in online shopping. I remember when Canada post went on strike (the only post service that reaches us), we were struggling with not being able to buy anything. Thus, yes, even remote areas without many stores are impacted by the need of being a consumer.
“[S]ometimes the options are limited and funds are scarce (Kallis, 2014, pp.20).”
This statement resonated with me because I struggled with the lack of more ecological options when I first arrived in Schefferville. Here, our grocery store is small and does not have that many product options. We do not have variety or choices between different products. For example, I cannot buy dried beans and have to rely on canned beans. Also, most of the fruits and veggies come wrapped in individual packaging to keep them fresher (since their journey is long).
It is a shame that it is difficult to make more ecological decisions in our town knowing that Naskapi and Innu used to live with a balanced and healthy relationship with the Earth. Nowadays, they cannot even hunt caribou often enough to not have to buy meat at the grocery store. And because they do not have access to hunting, very few are able to skin the caribou and collect the skin to create a piece of clothing. It makes me wonder what and how they taught their youth to pass the values of interrelatedness with the Earth. It makes me think of Gatarek’s et al. (2025) argument for the need of a STEM curriculum that is less centered on the human and challenges the conception that the human is superior. If we had a curriculum that includes more elements to foster respect for living things and looks into where the things we buy are coming from, we might be able to teach our youth to become more than consumers.
“Once we can begin to visualize this reality, we need to put the mandates in place to make sure to support the changes we want to make (Kallis, 2014, pp.21).”
When I read that sentence, I immediately thought about education being the backbone of the support for the changes we want to make. In What is education for?, Orr (2010) mentions the need for reshaping our education system to make sure students understand whole systems, can make clever decisions about long range, and that knowledge comes with the responsibility of making sure it is well used. I believe that such an education system could help our society to move away from consumerism by giving the tools to individuals to make choices for a better future.
How would this look like in a classroom?
First, a simple step we could take is to spend more time outside building relationships with the place around us. After all, Leopold mentions beautifully that “we can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, love, or otherwise have faith in (2001, pp.179)”. Another simple step could be to bring more social and environmental justice activities in the classroom to foster students’ empathy, critical thinking, and a sense of agency. Finally, teaching students how to build different objects themselves could share a strong message that we might not need to buy something new because there is a way to make it ourselves. They might even be surprised about how fun or how easy creating can be!
Questions:
What do you think we can do in the classroom to reduce our dependance on consumerism?
What object(s) would you like to try building in the classroom with your students?
References
Gatarek, B., Langont, S & Martinovic, D. (2025). Humanizing STEM: Integrating Humane Education and Biocentric Values. [Conference presentation]. MACAS, New Brunswick, Canada.
Kallis. S. (2014). Common threads: weaving community through collaborative ecoart. New Society Publisher.
Leopold, A. (2001). Sand county almanac: With essays on conservation. Oxford University PressOrr, D. W. (2010). Hope Is an Imperative: The Essential David Orr. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-017-0
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