AMS seminar on Monday
American Meteorological Society's Environmental Science Seminar Series
Coming to Grips with Sustainable Practices: Where Do We Go from Here?
What are the forces that shaped consumer culture in the U.S.? How does per capita consumption in the U.S. compare with that of other countries, especially in the realm of energy usage? What impact has consumerism had on resources and living standards in the U.S. and elsewhere? What are the implications of maintaining our present level of consumption? What are the implications of other countries aspiring to levels of per capita consumption on a par with ours? How might our society begin to identify and embrace more sustainable habits and practices, and what might such practices be? What policy steps might the new Administration and Congress consider codifying in the interest of promoting a more sustainable lifestyle and economy?
Public Invited
Monday, January 26, 2009
New Time: 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm
Russell Senate Office Building, Room 253 Washington, DC
Buffet Reception Following
Moderator:
Dr. Anthony Socci, Senior Science and Communication Fellow, American Meteorological Society
Speakers:
Dr. Juliet B. Schor, Professor of Sociology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Betsy Taylor, Consultant, Breakthrough Strategies & Solutions, Strategic & Philanthropic Consulting on Climate Solutions & Sustainable Development, Takoma Park, MD
Program Summary
Sustainability, Consumption and the Path Forward At the center of the US ecological dilemma lies consumption. We have been a consumer nation for more than a century, having made a directed choice in the 1930s toward that path. Today, in the midst of the simultaneous crises of the economy and the environment, we are again faced with choices about how to move forward. Although it has gotten far less attention, business-as-usual spending is as problematic as BAU energy use. The US ecological footprint, which is twice the level of comparably rich European countries, exceeds the equitable global sustainability level by a factor of 5. Rising per capita consumption underlies the ecological overshoot of the world economy, which now exceeds biological capacity by 40%. In the United States, inflated-adjusted personal consumption expenditures increased 88% from1973 to 2003, which resulted in a 37% rise in our ecological footprint. This is important because it has accompanied decades of attempts to save energy and de-materialize production, all of which have proved inadequate. Fortunately, there is increasing awareness of these issues, and a grassroots movement to transform consumer patterns and habits is underway. However, it has had virtually no legislative presence to date.
In Dr. Schor's presentation, the issue of consumption will be placed into its historical and comparative context. New data will be presented on the magnitude of the 'cheap import' boom in material (and therefore ecological terms) over the last 15 years. Underlying economic factors such as labor market policies and the distribution of income affect the path of consumption and ecological impact. A medium term consumption path will be sketched out, which yields high levels of human well-being, is becoming broadly popular, and is ecologically sustainable.
Ms. Taylor will discuss an array of policy instruments that could promote a more sustainable standard of living and more sustainable consumerism. In the lead-up to address climate change through cap & trade or carbon fees, it would serve our collective interests to simultaneously address the root causes of ecological degradation and collapse. Ms. Taylor will also call for a rekindled debate on policies and programs that might steer our economy and culture in a more sustainable and durable direction.
Labels: climate change, energy, environmental, meetings
1 Comments:
I came across this post through a Google Blog Alert for the words "per capita consumption." It's a subject in which I'm intensely interested, to the point where I've developed a new economic theory rooted in the relationship between population growth and per capita consumption - which I've explained in my book.
High "per capita consumption" by Americans gets a lot of blame for resource depletion and environmental degradation. However, it's total consumption that is the problem. Total consumption can be reduced by reducing per capita consumption or by reducing the population, or some combination of both. But when discussing reductions in per capita consumption, everyone forgets that that also translates into a reduction in per capita employment - in other words, rising unemployment and poverty.
Also, something that no economist yet understands is that beyond some "optimum" population density, further population growth erodes per capita consumption, due simply to a lack of space for using and storing products. Consider the per capita consumption of dwelling space. In Japan, a nation ten times as densely populated as the U.S., their homes are less than a third the size of Americans', not because the Japanese like to live in tiny homes but because there is no room for anything larger. So per capita employment in industries engaged in building, furnishing and maintaining homes is dramatically reduced. The problem is that their per capita consumption of virtually everything is impacted the same way, with the exception of food and clothing. This makes nations like Japan utterly dependent on manufacturing products for export in order to sustain their badly bloated labor forces. Essentially, they become parasitic economies, preying on the markets and jobs of less densely populated nations like America.
The only way to sustain high levels of employment and a high standard of living, while simultaneously reducing our environmental impact to a sustainable level, is by focusing on reducing the population.
Pete Murphy
Author, "Five Short Blasts"
Post a Comment
<< Home