Confronting Consumption

by Thomas Princen (Editor), Michael Maniates (Editor), Ken Conca (Editor)

Comforting terms such as sustainable development and green production frame environmental debate by stressing technology (not green enough), economic growth (not enough in the right places), and population (too large). Concern about consumption emerges, if at all, in benign ways; as calls for green purchasing or more recycling, or for small changes in production processes. Many academics, policymakers, and journalists, in fact, accept the economists' view of consumption as nothing less than the purpose of the economy. Yet many people have a troubled, intuitive understanding that tinkering at the margins of production and purchasing will not put society on an ecologically and socially sustainable path. Confronting Consumption places consumption at the center of debate by conceptualizing the consumption problem and documenting diverse efforts to confront it. In Part 1, the book frames consumption as a problem of political and ecological economy, emphasizing core concepts of individualization and commoditization. Part 2 develops the idea of distancing and examines transnational chains of consumption in the context of economic globalization. Part 3 describes citizen action through local currencies, home power, voluntary simplicity, ad-busting, and product certification. Together, the chapters propose cautious consuming and better producing as an activist and policy response to environmental problems. The book concludes that confronting consumption must become a driving focus of contemporary environmental scholarship and activism.

Genres: Environment, Nonfiction, Economics, Sociology, Politics, Academic

390 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2002

Reviews

[Phoebe Mrozinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for class sophomore year and wanted to finish, but it's been sitting around for a few years and I'm tired of looking at this book. It's good but very dense

[Ponder · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing compendium of essays that attempt to re-frame the global climate and consumption crisis as consumption rather than production oriented. Re-configures all acts of production as forms of consumption. The essay on the individualization of responsibility is my favorite, a real fish-noticing-the-water opportunity

[Adam]

http://web.utk.edu/~arouthe/mli/To%20...

"(if redistribution is taboo, the only way to lift the poor from their plight is to ‘‘grow’’ the economy)"