12 May 2010
NEW YORK — Professor Tim Jackson doesn't hold back when describing today's consumer culture:
"We are encouraged to spend money we don't have, on things we don't need, to create impressions that don't last, on people we don't care about."
Professor Jackson, a member of the Sustainable Development Commission of the United Kingdom, made his comments at a panel discussion held this week in conjunction with the current session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.
The Baha'i International Community cosponsored the discussion, titled "Rethinking Prosperity: Forging Alternatives to a Culture of Consumerism." (click link to statement)
Countries are being driven further into debt – not to mention potential environmental catastrophe – by levels of consumerism that do not contribute to sustainability, Professor Jackson said.
The answer, the panelists proposed, is to reconsider the nature of the consumer culture that relentlessly urges people to adopt a lifestyle based on the acquisition of new and more material goods.... (read on)
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