The shadows of consumption : consequences for the global environment / Peter Dauvergne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dauvergne, Peter.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumption (Economics)--Environmental aspects.

Consumption (Economics).

Environmentalism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (332 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

An environmentalist maps the hidden costs of overconsumption in a globalized world by tracing the environmental consequences of five commodities.The Shadows of Consumption gives a hard-hitting diagnosis: many of the earth's ecosystems and billions of its people are at risk from the consequences of rising consumption. Products ranging from cars to hamburgers offer conveniences and pleasures; but, as Peter Dauvergne makes clear, global political and economic processes displace the real costs of consumer goods into distant ecosystems, communities, and timelines, tipping into crisis people and places without the power to resist. In The Shadows of Consumption, Peter Dauvergne maps the costs of consumption that remain hidden in the shadows cast by globalized corporations, trade, and finance. Dauvergne traces the environmental consequences of five commodities: automobiles, gasoline, refrigerators, beef, and harp seals. In these fascinating histories we learn, for example, that American officials ignored warnings about the dangers of lead in gasoline in the 1920s; why China is now a leading producer of CFC-free refrigerators; and how activists were able to stop Canada's commercial seal hunt in the 1980s (but are unable to do so now). Dauvergne's innovative analysis allows us to see why so many efforts to manage the global environment are failing even as environmentalism is slowly strengthening. He proposes a guiding principle of "balanced consumption" for both consumers and corporations. We know that we can make things better by driving a high-mileage car, eating locally grown food, and buying energy-efficient appliances; but these improvements are incremental, local, and insufficient. More crucial than our individual efforts to reuse and recycle will be reforms in the global political economy to reduce the inequalities of consumption and correct the imbalance between growing economies and environmental sustainability.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Abbreviations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction The Ecological Shadows of Rising Consumption

1 An Unbalanced Global Political Economy

2 Dying of Consumption

I Automobiles

3 Accidental Dependency? The Road to an Auto World

4 A Better Ride: Selling Safe and Clean

5 The Road Tolls

6 The Globalization of Accidents and Emissions

II Leaded Gasoline

7 Leaded Science: Pumping Out Profi ts and Risks

8 Lead Must Go

9 Taking the Lead Out of Africa

10 The Globalization of Risk

III Refrigerators

11 Refrigerating the Ozone Layer

12 Phasing Out CFC Refrigerators

13 Selling the "Superior" Refrigerator

14 The Globalization of Plugging In

IV Beef

15 The Efficient Steer: Fast, Fat, and Cheap

16 The Ecology of Big Beef

17 Sustainable Beef? Chasing a Stampede of "Regular" Steers

18 The Globalization of More Meat

V The Harp Seal Hunt

19 To the Red Ice: Heroes and Overharvesting

20 The Brutes! Killing Markets with Activism

21 Hunting Beaters for Globalizing Markets

22 The Globalization of Slippery Markets

Conclusion Transforming Global Consumption

23 The Illusions of Environmentalism

24 A Brighter World Order of Balanced Consumption

Notes

References

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-287) and index.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

9780262260572

0262260573

9780262271233

0262271230

9781435665620

1435665627

OCLC:

251630753