How Much Is Enough?: The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth

by Alan Thein Durning

An account of the detrimental effects of consumption and consumer behaviour on the world's natural environment. It discusses the use of resources, pollution, and the distortions created in the economies of both wealthy industrialized nations and Third World countries.

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

202 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 1992

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

There won't be much in this book that's a surprise to anyone who is a little knowledgeable about environmental issues related to consumption. The thing that I found most surprising was that it was written in 1992, and yet the exact issues are still being talked about 18 years later.

[Çağdaş · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't agree with the base idea that book stands on. I don't think humans are greedy by their nature. People are consuming too much today because they have born and raised in that greedy system. Except that, book is very good and everybody should read it.

[Özgür Atik · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Bir insan, kendi haline bırakmayı başarabildiği şeyler oranında zengindir."

Bu kitap 1992'de yazıldığı için mutluyum. Çünkü, öne sürdüğü bütün distopik savların hepsi yaşanmış ve bizler tarafından hazmedilmiş durumdadır. Tam anlamıyla geç kapitalist egonun nispeten yumuşak fısıltısını tekrarlamaktadır: "Yavaşla, sade yaşa ve doğayı koru."

Tam da bizi tüketime iten aynı ideolojinin vicdanlı gözüken bir versiyonu gibi paketlenmiş durumda. Marx'ın hayaletini yatıştırmak için biraz yoga, kapitalist suçluluğumuzu bastırmak adına internetten sipariş verdiğimiz "minimalizm"...

Bana kalırsa Durning 1992 yılında tüketim sonrası toplumunun kırılgan bir tarafından konuşuyor; ahlaki tüketim. Suçluluk hissinin kendisinin metalaşması ve dönüşümün içerisine katılması.

Durning’in metni daha çok Amerikan ahlak anlatısı gibi okunmalıdır. İçten, samimi ama sistemik olanı görmezden gelen. Çünkü, temel amacı tam anlamıyla çözüm olmayan bir çözüm yaratmak noktasında toplanıyor. Kapitalizmin sorununu, birey fazla alışveriş yapmamalı durumuna indirgemek, bir hastalığı termometreyle tedavi etme gayretine benziyor.

Bu kitabı okumak, tıpkı bir IKEA kataloğunu Lacan semineri gibi okumaya çalışmaya benziyor. Kendimizi suçlulukla temizliyoruz ve bu, günümüz ideolojisinin en temel isteği değil midir?

Belki de yeterli olan şey, yeterince suçluluk duymaktır. Belki de bir şeyleri bu değiştirecektir.

[せみ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt thankful while reading this masterpiece by Alan Thein Durning. It is a manifestation of the toxic side of the consumerism and materialism of contemporary society. The most striking aspect of the book, however, was that it juxtaposed materialism vs. consumerism. In other words, the former is not necessarily associated with consumerism. Since Durning elaborates on materialism as 'knowing the true value of material and goods,' it incipiently favors conserving and preserving the material along with its substance(s). This illuminating definition and understanding of materialism and what a material value means earned me a new perspective. Thanks to this book, I can now deem myself as a materialist yet not a consumerist.

[Simay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitap 1992’de yazilmis ancak hala cogu konuda bir arpa boyu yol alamamisiz. Okurken bu eski-yeni karsilastirmasini yapmak cok dramatik oldu benim acimdan. Kitaptaki cogu arastirmalar eski tarihli ve guncelligi sorgulanabilir ama ona ragmen gunumuz tüketim caginda nasil bir kümülatif etkiye sebep olup, yavas yavas gezegeni yok ettigimizi anlayabilmek icin herkesin mutlaka okumasi gereken bir kitap.

[Arda Yigit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitap 1992’de yazılmış olmasına rağmen hala aynı kaygıları taşıyarak üstüne bir de dünyayı tahmin edilenden daha felaket hale getirmemiz insanlık açısından utanç verici. Kendini doğadaki en akıllı canlı olarak tanımlayan insan, bile bile yaşadığı gezegenin sonunu getiriyor. Ne yazık ki bu tarz kitaplar arada beni toparlayıp olaylara bakış açımın değişmesine ve bazı alışkanlıklarımı değiştirme çabasına sebep olsa da bir süre sonra her şey çoğunlukla eski haline geri dönüyor. Direnmek çok zor...

[Ginger Gonzales-Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure that you'll learn much from this piece if you're already trying to be cognizant of your consumption habits and contribute to a more sustainable and mindful shift away from thoughtless consumption. I do think, though, that it was valuable to read just to try to get a little more context for emerging trends and see how, historically, our generational ideologies shape our consumption habits. I felt like this book wanted to deal with larger-scale issues but was also trying to keep the individual reader in mind and substantiate some of their claims about over-consumption while mostly trying to persuade the individual to consider their own consumption habits. It was accessible and didn't feel particularly dogmatic or pedantic to me. One thing which I continually thought while reading was that I cannot fathom what Durning's piece would look like if it could account for online shopping. The problems Durning addresses, while troubling on their own, are so much the worse in our contemporary society. 30 years has made such an enormous difference in our consumption habits -- and not in a good way.

[Ufuk Beyazova · Rating 4 out of 5]

kadarı yeterli / Alan Durning

Tüketici yaşam tarzının tüm dünyada durdurulamaz biçimde yayılması, daha fazla tüketme ve dünyanın daha fazla harap edilmesi demektir. Birkaç nesil içinde araba sürücüleri, tv izleyicileri, AVM müşterileri haline geldik. Veriler tüketim ile mutluluk arasındaki ilişkinin zayıf olduğunu göstermekte. Fazla tüketimin karşıtı yoksulluk bu sorun için çözüm değildir. Yoksulluk doğal dünya için de zararlıdır. Hiç bir şeyi olmayan köylüler latin Amerika'nın yağmur ormanlarını yakıp yıkarak kendilerine yol açmakta, aç göçebeler sürülerini narin Afrika meralarına sürüp buraları çöle çevirmekte, Hindistan'da küçük çiftçiler dik yamaçları ekip onları yağmurun aşındırıcı  güçlerine maruz bırakmaktadırlar. Eğer insanlar çok az ya da çok fazla şeye sahip olduğunda çevre zarar görüyorsa şu soru akla gelir; ne kadarı yeterli? Yoksulluk ve geçim sıkıntısının  üzerinde fakat tüketici yaşam tarzının altında olan  bir yaşam düzeyi var mıdır? Kitap bu sorunun yanıtını arıyor.

[Edward LeMaster · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is for sure a little old and outdated. However ! The point of this book stays true - we are living in an extremely consumeristic culture, and we cannot afford to go on this way for our health and the planets health. The big takeaway is obvious, but the details of this book are worth reading.

Side note - this author repeatedly mentions hating air conditioners (which are obviously high energy using) but I really don’t know if I could live in Tennessee without one. I would literally trade my left thumb to keep my air conditioner !

[Jake Belknap · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read. This book laid out the background of choices we make including the food we eat, transportation, and the general things that we consume. This was a well-researched, unemotional look at the cost of not considering the consequences of actions. This is not an indictment, just a wake-up call for what is going on in the world.

[Dilara Arslan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan explained todays problems in decades before. Its too sad, that we still have the same nature threats.. But the solutions are same…

[Sic Transit Gloria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite sadly, this book is less about "The Consumer Society" and more about "The Future of the Earth". Four chapters in, I could not tell the difference between this book and the environmentalists' gospel. And it get so old. The arguments of environmentalists are like a cow pasture laden with dozens of meandering dirt cow trails. To read this book is to walk those trails, and by the time I finished it, I had felt like I'd stepped in something awful along the way. I'm so sick of hearing about environmentalist claims that I no longer care about their validity.

An interesting note is this book's age: in 2017, it'll be 25 years old. A quarter of a century has gone by, and what has happened? Well, a couple of things have happened, but none of them predicted by the book. Firstly, our society has transformed (at least a little) away from consumerism. Polls conducted on Millennials indicate that many of them don't care about advancement, rejecting focusing on things like cars and houses. Secondly, the internet, which, admittedly, few people could predict. Information has become democratized, not only consumed by the masses, but also PRODUCED by the masses as well. We're only just discovering what this is doing to society.

Perhaps the only interesting way to view this book is to take a retrospective viewpoint. It's an argument that society will destroy itself and the world, taken from before 9/11, before the Internet really hit mainstream, before many environmental policies were created, heck, before many of you readers were born. The lack of change to the discussion is enlightening, if disappointing.

[lyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the modern consumer society more is better and our success is measured by our ability to afford possessions. The author examines the premises that form the psychological foundations of the consumer society and suggests that we would be much better off by rebuilding our lives on a more solid set of values and ideals.

[Varol Aksoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

okullarda okutulması hatta belediye hoparlörlerinden gün aşırı anons şeklinde tüm halka okunması gereken çevre ile ilgili enfes bir kitap. çok fazla istatistik ve rakam var bu bazen can sıkıyor fakat konudan kesinlikle uzaklaşmıyorsunuz. çevre bilinci, nereye doğru gittiğimiz, tüketim toplumunun nelere mal olduğu ve daha bizlerden neleri alabileceğine dair bilgilerle dolu şahane bir kitaptı..

[Beth Barnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is getting a little dated, but it is packed with interesting statistics, still relevant today, about overconsumption by the developed world as compared with the underconsumption by the poorest nations. Puts things in perspective, and reminds us about American consumerism.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty obvious stuff for the most part but the statistics are interesting. Also amusing to read about Potomac Mills being "in the countryside of rural Virginia" - now, only 20 years later, it is surrounded by sprawl.

[Claire Forbes]

very good on consumerism, makes me ashamed to be a part of the consumer class

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes you really think about your personal impact on the planet. There is some repitition, but I have made some positive changes because of this book.

[Forest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stating the obvious about hyper-consumption, nicely written.

[Willa Guadalupe Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be a real help in deciding what I really NEEDED as opposed to what I wanted.

[Jeff Youngstrom]

(March 1, 1998)

[Kathryn]

This was good but it didn't scratch where it itched for me. The Consumer Society and the Future of Earth put it out there somewhere and I'm more interested in discussion on Organizing Now.