State of the World 2004; Special Focus: The Consumer Society.

• Author: Kocabas, Ali
• Position: The Chronicle Library Shelf - Book Review

State of the World 2004

Special Focus: The Consumer Society

Brian Halweil and Lisa Mastny, Project Directors

Published by W.W. Norton/Worldwatch Institute, 2004 245 pp., ISBN 0-393-32539-3

Good Stuff?

A Behind-the-Scenes Guide to the Things We Buy

Published by Worldwatch Institute, 2004, Online edition only

At first glance, State of the World 2004--Special Focus: The Consumer Society, published by the Worldwatch Institute, might be seen as an excessive report that consists of numeric and monotonous jargon. Instead, it is an excellent and timely study that shows how people heedlessly consume our limited natural resources and produce harmful waste that threaten to wipe out our planet. In eight lucidly argued chapters, ranging from energy choices to water productivity and from food consumption to globalization and governance, the report sets out to establish an overview of the social and environmental consequences of consumption.

As Worldwatch Institute President Christopher Flavin states in the preface, the report examines "how we consume, why we consume, and what impact our consumption choices have on our fellow human beings". At the same time, the report discusses solutions for global sustainability. In his foreword, Borge Brende, the Norwegian Minister of the Environment and Chairman of the Commission on Sustainable Development states that "the challenge is formidable, that the alternative is unthinkable". Written by the Institute's team of senior researchers, the report explores in detail ways in which consumption can be restrained and redirected to improve the well-being of people and the planet. It highlights the patterns of consumption and production that are required in order to create a new balance consistent with global sustainability.

In the opening chapter, "The State of Consumption Today", Gary Gardner, Erik Assadourin and Radhika Sarin contend that "consumer society clearly has a strong allure" and that attitudes have shifted from necessities to luxuries. People usually attempt to obtain goods and services beyond their needs to satisfy themselves. Although consumption is necessary for human beings to survive and meet their basic needs, excess harms them and the Earth that provides the natural resources human beings use. In today's world, there are an estimated 1.7 billion consumers, almost half of them in developing countries. In contrast, there are still 1.2 billion people living in abject poverty on less than $1 a day and more...