Consumed: The need for collective change; colonialism, climate change & consumerism

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This powerful, speaking-truth-to-power book is an essential read for everybody who wants to stop feeling clueless and helpless about the impacts of consumerism, and start doing their part to help create a more sustainable world. From a structural standpoint, Aja could have omitted rhetorical questions and statements like “I couldn’t agree more,” which cheapen the content of the preceding paragraphs.

When it was published I waited a few weeks (as Aja would suggest) to make sure that I really wanted it and sure enough it did not leave my mind, so I got myself a copy. In the second 'unlearning' half of the book, I will help you to understand the uncomfortable truth behind why you consume the way you do. I loved Aja provided concrete actions on how to go initiate change and I look forward to seeing how I can adjust my habits to help reduce my consumption. The fashion industry has pulled the wool over our eyes but with this book Aja rips it off, finds out who made it, pays them back and then convinces you to join her in holding the industry accountable. She is passionate about racial justice and exposing endemic injustices in our consumer and fashion industries.This book is a great entry-point for folks who haven’t yet, or are very newly considering their position within systems of oppression. The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report.

She will also reveal how we spend our money and whose pockets it goes into and whose it doesn't (clue: the people who do the actual work) and will tell her story of how she came to learn the truth. In fact, one of her chapters is titled, “How Society Works,” a bold claim, since she doesn’t explicitly disclaim that she’s referring to society in the Global North. This book had some really great points in it and a few things I was grateful to learn about that I hadn't come across before, but I don't think I'm the target audience for this.Regardless, Consumed misses the mark, as its shortcomings eclipse some of the most important discussions in the book: the impact of textile waste in Ghana's Kantamanto Market, Anannya Bhattacharjee’s take on labor rights for garment workers in Asia, and Aja’s tips on how to get off the hedonistic capitalist treadmill as a Global North consumer.