The Prosumer Economy

We have disintegrated planetary maintenance with the environmental problems that we have created, such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution. In the next 30-40 years, we need to take action to prevent more irreversible damage to the planet. Our government is failing to address these environmental issues, and their outdated systems aren’t offering sustainability solutions when they are most needed.

Since the Industrial Revolution, CO2 concentrations have been increasing rapidly. As CO2 levels increase, so does the atmospheric temperature. Although 1ºC of global temperature rise may not seem like much, it significantly impacts weather conditions. As temperatures are increasing very quickly, this puts humans at prominent risk. As predicted for the year 2050, certain cities such as Los Angeles, New York and London will not experience temperatures under 50ºC. These temperatures are a considerable health threat to humans as we are not meant to survive in such circumstances. If the global temperature continues to accelerate at the same rate, human civilization will collapse, and a new one will have to be implemented. Although this may be frightening to accept, high CO2 concentration levels aren’t the only reason humans might need a new civilization, per The Prosumer Economy.

Many people have recently begun buying locally grown foods from supermarkets. While this does lower their carbon footprint, it brings up more environmental issues in agriculture. As the supply & demand for locally grown foods is increasing, the agricultural land is also increasing. In addition to releasing greenhouse gasses, agricultural land also takes up so much space that biodiversity is decreasing. This is due to these species' habitats being destroyed to provide for human needs. Species lose their homes, and they can no longer survive in other habitats. As a result, many species and organisms are going extinct at a much faster rate than ever before. A loss of biodiversity isn’t only affecting the climate patterns but also affects us directly. This is because the environment provides us with many services such as de-pollution, recovery from natural disasters and even water. If biodiversity is lost, the access or production of these services will be unobtainable.

Our modern-day economy targets profit maximization and social deterioration in addition to idolizing competitiveness as its core values. This harms other factors, such as human freedom and the environment. As a solution, the prosumer economy has been founded. The prosumer economy consists of ethical and sustainable alternatives. In this economy, all exchanges of products will be completely transparent, and prosumers will take full accountability for their services. This allows the prosumers to know where their products are coming from so that there is no exploitation or detrimental effect on the Earth. The supply and demand of this economy happen from prosumer to prosumer; therefore, there is a circular system as each prosumer supplies their markets from another, per The Prosumer Economy.

Furthermore, the prosumer economy encourages core values such as honesty, justice and trust. Competitiveness will be eliminated as a value for prosumers. This will be achieved by removing product and wealth leakage. Once a business's profit becomes greater than its loss, the economy will grow, and therefore, no product or wealth leakage will happen. As a result, the economy will shrink (reducing competitiveness), meaning that the unbalanced income distribution will not be a significant problem.

As an example, an organization called Good4Trust started in Turkey. This organization is based on a prosumer economy, meaning it sees nature as an entity, not a resource. In addition, Good4Trust encourages non-competitiveness, ecological and sustainable development, a socially just hierarchy and ethics. Based on a monetary reward system, for every good act, purchase, or level of encouragement with the organization, a water drop is given to growing a plant from a seed that each prosumer starts with. This seed will begin as a young tree, then become mature, then be a flowering tree, and end as a fruit-bearing tree. Monetary reward systems are known to cause improved work quality, higher attendance, quicker work completion, and more satisfaction with the work. Good4Trust is claimed to be a growing organization; it is currently maintained through 3% of the sales and memberships from prosumers who can afford it, per The Prosumer Economy.

If we want to maintain our civilization, save many species’ lives and protect the home we were given by mother Earth, we need to take quick action. The prosumer economy is a great solution to retain the Earth’s resources and end work practices such as exploitation, competition, profit maximization and the casual use of non-ecological resources. However, as impactful as the prosumer economy would be, we need many people’s participation. Younger generations, such as millennials and generation Z, can access many resources on how to help the planet and can spread their ideas very quickly through technology. With the young generations' abilities to spread awareness of this issue, we have to gather enough participants to join the prosumer economy and pave the way for a promising future.

Article by Naz Kaya