Confronting Consumption

by Thomas Princen, Michael F. Maniates and Ken Conca (Eds.)

• ISBN13: 9780262661287
• ISBN10: 0262661284
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-07-01
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

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 Consumptionplaces 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.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Confronting Consumption	1	(20)
Thomas Princen
Michael Maniates
Ken Conca
I The Consumption Angle	21	(80)
Consumption and Its Externalities: Where Economy Meets Ecology	23	(20)
Thomas Princen
Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the World?	43	(24)
Michael Maniates
Commoditization: Consumption Efficiency and an Economy of Care and Connection	67	(34)
Jack Manno
II Chains of Consumption	101	(96)
Distancing: Consumption and the Severing of Feedback	103	(30)
Thomas Princen
Consumption and Environment in a Global Economy	133	(22)
Ken Conca
The Distancing of Waste: Overconsumption in a Global Economy	155	(22)
Jennifer Clapp
Environmentally Damaging Consumption: The Impact of American Markets on Tropical Ecosystems in the Twentieth Century	177	(20)
Richard Tucker
III On the Ground	197	(132)
In Search of Consumptive Resistance: The Volunatary Simplicity Movement	199	(38)
Michael Maniates
Jamming Culture: Adbusters' Hip Media Campaign against Consumerism	237	(18)
Marilyn Bordwell
Think Globally, Transact Locally: The Local Currency Movement and Green Political Economy	255	(20)
Eric Helleiner
Caveat Certificatum: The Case of Forest Certification	275	(26)
Fred Gale
Citizens or Consumers: The Home Power Movement as a New Practice of Technology	301	(16)
Jesse Tatum
Conclusion: To Confront Consumption	317	(12)
Thomas Princen
Michael Maniates
Ken Conca
Notes	329	(46)
Contributors	375	(2)
Index	377