Environmental threat of "American" consumerism

   

Friedman is worried about meeting of the crowded world with the flat world so that more people from crowded side would follow "American" consumption level and multiply threats to the planet. He pleads for changes to initiate from the first place and shows several options of green economy for the rest of the world. Although the green economy sounds quite appealing, I would be particularly interested to know how Clapp and Dauvergne's various worldviews propose their own versions of green economies. Certainly it will not be a single animal.

Assadourian discusses western consumerism as a cultural practice and reaches to its historical root. He argues that consumerism was developed as a social response in the particular political-economic context of the west. Assadourian's interpretation complements Friedman by elaborating why the west developed such level of consumerism and what is the force behind its expansion to the other parts of the world. I think besides media, there is still a larger political-economic force for the expansion of consumerism in other parts or the globe.

While reading about consumerism as cultural practice in the west, I come up with a question: Does consumerism in the west also have some ecological roots that can be interpreted in terms of cultural ecology?

Tierney's optimism is solely based on environmental Kuznet's curve, which is largely unconvincing if we take account of environmental costs for a larger space and longer time. Apparent environmental improvement in one region at a particular time might have implications for other regions and for future. Similarly, he has overlooked the role of environmental movement behind any improvements made so far.