The Shadows of Consumption: Consequences for the Global Environment

by Dauvergne, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780262042468
• ISBN10: 0262042460
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-10-31
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

Winner of the 2009 Gerald L. Young Book Award in Human Ecology given by the Society for Human Ecology. The Shadows of Consumptiongives a hard-hitting diagnosis: many of the earth's ecosystems and billions of its people are at risk from the consequences of rising consumption. Products ranging from cars to hamburgers offer conveniences and pleasures; but, as Peter Dauvergne makes clear, global political and economic processes displace the real costs of consumer goods into distant ecosystems, communities, and timelines, tipping into crisis people and places without the power to resist. In The Shadows of Consumption,Peter Dauvergne maps the costs of consumption that remain hidden in the shadows cast by globalized corporations, trade, and finance. He traces the environmental consequences of five commodities: automobiles, gasoline, refrigerators, beef, and harp seals. In these fascinating histories we learn, for example, that American officials ignored warnings about the dangers of lead in gasoline in the 1920s; why China is now a leading producer of CFC-free refrigerators; and how activists were able to stop Canada's commercial seal hunt in the 1980s (but are unable to do so now). Dauvergne's innovative analysis allows us to see why so many efforts to manage the global environment are failing even as environmentalism is slowly strengthening. He proposes a guiding principle of "balanced consumption" for both consumers and corporations. We know that we can make things better by driving a fuel-efficient car, eating locally grown food, and buying energy-efficient appliances; but these improvements are incremental, local, and insufficient. More crucial than our individual efforts to reuse and recycle will be reforms in the global political economy to reduce the inequalities of consumption and correct the imbalance between growing economies and environmental sustainability.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction: The Ecological Shadows of Rising Consumption	p. 1
An Unbalanced Global Political Economy	p. 3
Dying of Consumption	p. 19
Automobiles	p. 33
Accidental Dependency? The Road to an Auto World	p. 35
A Better Ride: Selling Safe and Clean	p. 43
The Road Tolls	p. 53
The Globalization of Accidents and Emissions	p. 61
Leaded Gasoline	p. 65
Leaded Science: Pumping Out Profits and Risks	p. 67
Lead Must Go	p. 79
Taking the Lead Out of Africa	p. 89
The Globalization of Risk	p. 93
Refrigerators	p. 97
Refrigerating the Ozone Layer	p. 99
Phasing Out CFC Refrigerators	p. 107
Selling the "Superior" Refrigerator	p. 119
The Globalization of Plugging In	p. 129
Beef	p. 133
The Efficient Steer: Fast, Fat, and Cheap	p. 135
The Ecology of Big Beef	p. 147
Sustainable Beef? Chasing a Stampede of "Regular" Steers	p. 155
The Globalization of More Meat	p. 165
The Harp Seal Hunt	p. 169
To the Red Ice: Heroes and Overharvesting	p. 171
The Brutes! Killing Markets with Activism	p. 183
Hunting Beaters for Globalizing Markets	p. 193
The Globalization of Slippery Markets	p. 203
Conclusion: Transforming Global Consumption	p. 207
The Illusions of Environmentalism	p. 209
A Brighter World Order of Balanced Consumption	p. 219
Notes	p. 233
References	p. 263
Index	p. 289
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