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GEOG 352: Day 19

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GEOG 352: Day 19 The State Private Sector Civil Society – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: GEOG 352: Day 19


1
(No Transcript)
2
Housekeeping Items
  • For the first part of the class, we have a
    special guest Samantha Letourneau from the V.I.
    Heritage Food Service Co-operative.
  • Any comments/ thoughts about WDCAG in general or
    Homer-Dixon in particular?
  • Today, we have tool presentations by Shaunda and
    Shallice.
  • Relevant to Matt's presentation and Bhutan's
    advocacy of Gross National Happiness, see
    http//thetyee.ca/Life/2009/03/09/Bhutan/?utm_sour
    cemondayheadlinesutm_mediumemailutm_campaign0
    90309
  • I also want to show a very short video that's
    relevant to something we were talking about last
    week and again today http//carrotmob.org/
  • I would also, if we have time, like to go back
    and review the notes on Ridley and Low that we
    didn't get to talk about http//web.viu.ca/alexan
    der2/courses.htm

3
Civil Society (Porritt Chapter 15)
  • If we acknowledge that governments and private
    businesses/ corporations are two key players in
    initiating the shift to sustainability, it is
    important to recognize Porritt suggests the
    third point of the triangle civil society.
  • Civil society is comprised of citizens, consumers
    and the various organizations through which they
    act. It also arguably consists of the social
    economy, which we'll talk about that later.
  • Porritt's point is that business and governmental
    action is incomplete, even useless, if the public
    does not reward good companies with their
    purchasing power and good politicians with their
    votes.

4
Civil Society (Porritt)
  • Porritt says that survey after survey tells us
    that the majority of people are broadly content
    with our greed-driven consumer society (even if
    it doesn't make them any happier), and election
    after election tells us that only a minority to
    vote for the only party (the Greens) that has, as
    yet, honestly confronted those macro-trends.
  • Al Gore, in a recent video, also notes that,
    while the majority of Americans acknowledge the
    reality of global warming and its anthropogenic
    origins, it remains low on their list of
    priorities for action.

5
Civil Society (Porritt)
  • He suggests that it is easier to get consumers to
    fight bad things than to fight for good, but if
    the Carrot Mob model catches on, that could
    change.
  • Another factor that impedes the abandonment of
    environmentally damaging consumerism is the
    attractiveness of products associated with speed,
    fashion, convenience, variety, luxury, and status
    values of importance to middle classes both in
    the developed and developing world.
  • This again is a manifestation of the tragedy of
    the commons why sacrifice if one believes one
    will be essentially alone in doing so?

6
Civil Society (Porritt)
  • Sustainability considerations have to become as
    important as other desirable qualities in
    products and services, and consumers have to be
    willing to pay more for something 'green' at
    least in the short-term. One can only hope that,
    in the longer term, we start rewarding people for
    doing good, rather than penalizing them.
  • There's also the issue of the 'rebound effect'
    if people start saving money through greater
    energy or fuel efficiency, will they merely spend
    the savings on other consumables?

7
Civil Society (Porritt)
  • Currently, consuming less is associated with
    depri-vation and wearing a 'hair shirt.' Paul
    Ekins has argued that we need to make a
    'sufficient' lifestyle appear more attractive
    than a consumerist one ...sufficiency in
    consumption permits a greater emphasis to be
    placed on other aspects of human experience,
    which are actually more rewarding and fulfilling
    than consumption. Far from entailing self-denial,
    sufficiency... is a means of liberation. An
    all-absorbing concern with consumption is
    replaced by the pursuit of other values that
    yield more happiness.

8
Civil Society (Porritt)
  • Any idea as to how to encourage people to see
    that equation?
  • Porritt feels that not only do we have to get
    people to see the benefits of 'downshifting,' we
    have to be serious about tackling and conquering
    poverty, without which a low-intensity lifestyle
    will never have appeal in countries where people
    don't have the basics. He does note, however,
    that poor people in the developing world are
    often happier that people with medium and high
    incomes in the developed world.
  • John Robinson at UBC talks about two strategies
    dematerialization and resocialization.

9
This is a Challenge in View of Our Dependence on
Certain Forms of Technology
  • New Economy, Not Clean Economy
  • In 2001, about 520 million people used the
    Internet, which encompassed 147 million host
    computers, almost double the number in 1999. And
    the number of mobile telephone subscribers rose
    to almost 1 billion in 2001, nearly pulling even
    with the number of fixed-line connections.
  • A single semiconductor plant may use between 500
    and 1,000 different chemicals, making the
    semiconductor industry one of the most chemically
    intensive ever known.
  • A computer monitor contains 1.8 to 3.6 kilograms
    of lead, a heavy metal that damages the nervous
    system and poisons blood cell development.

10
This is a Challenge in View of Dependence on
Certain Forms of Technology
  • In some American businesses, one computer is used
    per user per year, fueling a growing waste
    crisis. And at least 315 million computers in the
    United States are predicted to become obsolete by
    2004.
  • 300-500 million metric tons of hazardous waste
    were generated worldwide each year during the
    past decade, amounting roughly to 50-83 kilograms
    per person in 1999 alone.
  • Discarded cell phones are a growing contributor
    to electronic waste, as consumers seek the latest
    technology and manufacturers introduce disposable
    models.
  • http//www.gdrc.org/sustbiz/green/doc-cons_example
    s.html

11
Gains in Green Consumerism
  • Nonetheless, there have been signifi-cant gains
    in the green consumption field organic produce
    and other food products, fair-traded coffee and
    other products, the 'buy local' movement, natural
    toiletries products, a decline in the purchase of
    furs, a ban on the export of elephant and rhino
    ivory and exotic animals, a rise in 'ethical
    investment' portfolios, and other examples.
  • Can you think of some?

12
Consumer Sovereignty
  • A big issue that Porritt confronts is that of
    whether the consumer is truly 'sovereign,' or
    whether he or she is grossly manipulated by the
    advertising industry, the media, and packaging.
    (For one perspective on the history of
    advertising and generated demand, see the article
    by Jeffrey Kaplan) http//www.orionmagazine.org/i
    ndex.php/articles/article/2962
  • What do you think? If consumers are sovereign a
    centerpiece of traditional economic thinking
    then responsibility for changing the market lies
    almost exclusively with consumers themselves.

13
Consumer Sovereignty
  • People don't like to think of themselves as being
    constrained in their choices. Thus, groups like
    Smart Growth BC in arguing for more compact,
    transit-friendly development often talk in
    terms of increasing transportation and housing
    choice.
  • There are always trade-offs one set of choices
    may limit other choices, both for society as a
    whole and for specific groups. One group can
    enhance its choices, but at the expense of
    another group.
  • Can you think of examples of these?

14
Consumer Sovereignty
  • Do you think it's true, as Porritt suggests, that
    people tend to define themselves more based on
    what they consume than on the basis of what they
    do (as in the past)? and that the perception of
    products has become largely divorced from their
    supposed utility, and instead with the images and
    values associated with the product be it a
    strong, nurturing family life, or with being
    cool, sexy, or whatever?
  • While ordinary consumers are one potential lever
    for change, governments, and institutions like
    universities, have huge purchasing power.
    Activists have expressed concern about the
    implications of free trade agreements such as
    MAI, NAFTA, and TILMA in this regard.

15
From Consumers to Citizens
  • So far in this chapter, Porritt has focused on
    our role as consumers, but another side of the
    equation that needs a lot more emphasis is our
    role as citizens. We need a lot more
    participation and accountability. We also need a
    lot more discourse as Homer-Dixon suggested
    on what constitutes the good life and the kind of
    world we want to achieve for our children and
    grandchildren. Somehow, we have to overcome the
    disconnect between our concern for our children
    and our desire for instant gratification.
  • Al Gore, for his part, suggests that to address
    the climate crisis, we need to address the crisis
    of democracy see http//www.ted.com/index.php/ta
    lks/al_gore_s_new_thinking_on_the_climate_crisis.h
    tml

16
From Consumers to Citizens
  • Certainly, the rise of civil society
    non-government organizations at all levels of
    society, from the local to the global has
    played an important role in raising environmental
    and sustainability issues to a point where major
    private and public decision-makers have to at
    least pay lip service to them, and where large
    sections of society have had their views, if not
    necessarily their behaviour, significantly
    impacted.
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