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How to Be a Conscious Consumer? You can’t.

You have probably read about a million articles on how to be a conscious consumer. I have too, we all have. But I have come to the realization that this whole conscious consumer thing is a hoax and a lie. If you think we can be wasteful or not be wasteful, but being a conscious consumer will not save the world, you’re absolutely right! Unfortunately media wants to tell us that with small changes we can change the world.

I love small changes, my whole blog is filled with small changes! But I don’t believe those will change the world if we don’t also make big political changes. This is why I made this comic.

Title: I don't give a flying f**k about being a conscious consumer. Let me explain why. Image: H-P, a bald man in a green sweater is smiling a forced smile spreading his hands. This is clrearly not a how to be a conscious consumer comic.
Panel 1: Text: Our system is broken. It wants consumers to make a change, yet make it almost impossible. Image: H-P is looking at things in sale in a store. He looks worried. The things in sale have ads that say: Made by hand from dead kittens! $3,99. Made in USA from Puppies we killed, $2,45. Good people buy brand X, $1,09. Panel 2: Text: I'm not interested in that. Image: H-P looks at the reader looking angry. Panel 3: Text: I'm interested in changing the system. Image: H-P has a sly expression, he smiles, he touches his forehead like he just got an idea.
This page has two timelines. Timeline 1: Text: Here's an example. Right now I produce about 11kg of food waste a year. To reduce waste, I can compost it all in my own home. Working like this for 10 years I reduce 110kg of waste! Images: H-P first looks at a sack on waste sadly, he then puts it in bokashi compost, then he stands proudly next to 110kg of ready made compost! Timeline 2: Text: One pupil produces 0,10kg of food waste every day. A school of 600 students produces 1140kg of food waste every year. I work towards a policy change that leftover food is redistributed, thus reducing the food waste by 50%. I have reduced 570kg of waste every year. Images: A student's plate is almost empty, but there's 0,10kg of things they don't want to eat on it. A school cafeteria lady then takes a huge wheelbarrow full of waste on already big pile of waste. Then the lunchlady suddenly changes, she's now giving the food to a man who has a beard and his clothes are a bit broken. They both look happy.
Panel 1: Text: It would take me over 50 years of composting to come even close to the impact one school has in a year! Image: H-P has grown old. He has a bald head and the sides are growing long grey hair. He also has long grey beard and he's missing a few teeth. Panel 2: Text: Even if it would take me 10 years to get the policy change to get through, it's absolutely worth it! Image: H-P looks at calendar pages. They start from 2013 and they all have red crosses on them, expect the last one from year 2022 that says DONE and has a green chack mark on it.
Panel 1: Text: It's time to stop obsessing over our performative #zerowastelifestyles Image: H-P has a red shirt that says Brand X. He's in front of a video camera and he's holding a tube that says Eco-deo. He's clearly filming a conscious consumer ad. Panel 2. Text: Frankly that's (picture of a bull taking a dump) designed to make us feel like we're doing something when we're only using our limited time so we can't do what we actually need to do... Image: H-P is looking at his phone very nervously, he's sweating a lot.
One big image! Big text: We need to become politically active!!! Small text: Voting is a start. But it's not nearly enough. Image: H'P looks feral. His teeth are sharp and his eyes have no pupils. He's sliding a vote into a voting ballot box.
Panel 1: Text: Search for a small local environmental/leftist organizations. Join them! Image: H-P is walking towards people who are holding hands. He's waving at them. First in the line of people is a man with dapper style and a leather jacket who extends his hand to H-P. Next to him is a woman in traditional Finnish Roma dress, next to her is a woman with afro hair and casual shirt, hoop earrings, scarf around her neck and jeans. Next to her is an older balding man in a suit jacket and sweater. Panel 2: Text: Offer your skills! That's how I did it! Uhh, hello! I have no idea if I'm in the right place, but I can draw comics and comics are a really good way to make information accessible! If you have any ideas on how my skills could help you out, please let me know! Image: H-P is holding comics in his hand. He looks very nervous but he smiles. He's also shaking a bit. He's talking to a long haired woman and a man with glasses. Both people smile gently at him.
Panel 1: Text: When I first joined the Left Alliance of Vantaa I knew nothing! It's okay to just go in to learn first. I sat through a dozen zoom meetings just listening and learning before I said anything. Image: H-P is sitting in front of a computer, he's wearing a pair of headphones. There's a zoom conference going on on the screen. Panel 2: Text: Climate is in crisis! Start actively learning about local politics and activism now and stop pretending that buying a reusable straw will make any actual difference. Image: H-P looks very tired as he drinks something with a reusable metal straw.

When I first posted this comic on Twitter and Instagram, many people misunderstood my point. So let’s make this VERY clear. I am not saying this so that you can think “Okay, so the small things I do don’t matter, better just buy a big car, a big house and use as much energy and resources as I can! YOLO!” I am saying this because we shouldn’t be obsessing over the small details.

Did the climate activist eat imported soy? Who cares, they are trying to make bigger changes happen! Did the environmentally conscious politician wear fast fashion, that means nothing if they manage to stop big corporations from dumping waste water into our lakes! Are you watching people, trying to see their mistakes like this? You are wasting your time. Instead of making one person feel bad for what they eat, you can spend your time to get an office full of people change their morning lattes to oat lattes.

tl;dr

If you absolutely have to police someone, police yourself or police big corporations. Individual activists policing each other will not further our cause for a more sustainable world.