From Silicon Valley to French Green Politics: My Nuanced View on Consumerism and Sustainability

I’ve spent most of my career in Consumer Electronics.

Yes, I admit I thoroughly enjoy dreaming, inventing, building, marketing, and selling devices that improve lives. The products I helped create have touched millions of artists, musicians, photographers, videographers, business professionals, gamers, runners, or simply “consumers.”

While working in Tech has meant inventing—and failing—a lot, our commercial successes were only made possible by a formidable consumer economy and consumerism inherited from the post-war economic model based on ever-increasing demand.

But as I prepare to spend a few days in my native France, I can’t help but think of the mounting voices there—and worldwide—calling for an end to that consumerism model and pointing fingers at industries like consumer electronics.

Understandably, they’re denouncing over-industrialization, individualism, and inequities. 

More specifically, they’re targeting the suicide rates among young people, the increasing consumption of anxiolytics and antidepressants, work interruptions for medical reasons, and the number of people who say they are suffering.

The cause of all that? The violence of the economic system and consumerism are turning against us.

So, what should we do? Seek happiness outside any material possessions?

Not sure about it.

Take people like Sandrine Rousseau and other Green politicians in France, for instance. They’re passionate advocates for urgent climate change and women’s rights.

I wholeheartedly support this.

They also want us to challenge the notion that social progress is made possible through economic growth and redistribution.

Sandrine Rousseau prioritizes slowing down, consuming less, and reflecting. For her, it’s all about addressing environmental concerns collectively while creating new norms for animals, the earth, work, and equality.

That’s a radical departure from traditional political and economic thinking, as it prioritizes ecological concerns and quality of life over economic growth and consumption.

I still find their proposal attractive, despite my respectable age and after twenty-five years of living in the US, the temple of consumerism.

There are significant flaws, though, in their approach and ideology. 

Dismissing our entire economic model as unsustainable fails to recognize its achievements in fueling innovation, reducing absolute poverty, and improving living standards.

Radical proposals, such as criminalizing unequal housework or promoting a “right to laziness,” are likely economically unsound. 

In addition, the ongoing confrontational style and focus on divisive identity politics alienate many voters and hinder building broad coalitions.

So here’s my suggestion to Sandrine Rousseau and other Green politicians:

We can address environmental and social concerns while proposing pragmatic, economically viable solutions.

Should the profits of consumerism be better redistributed? For sure, but not on a shrinking pie!

So, seek to balance environmental goals with a growing consumer economy to ensure broad support for reforms.

Make concrete policy proposals rather than provocative rhetoric and unrealistic radical changes.

By tempering ideological zeal with pragmatism and inclusivity, other green politicians across the Globe have achieved more meaningful progress on their core issues while avoiding the pitfalls of divisive extremism.