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?
Moderator:
Dr. Anthony Socci, Senior Science 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% from 1973 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. Biographies
Dr. Juliet Schor is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. Her most
recent book is, Born to Buy: the Commercialized Child and the New
Consumer Culture (Scribner, September 2004). She is also author of the
national best-seller, The Overworked American: the Unexpected Decline of
Leisure (Basic Books, 1992) and The Overspent American: Why We Want What
We Don’t Need. The Overworked American appeared on the best seller lists
of The New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, the Chicago Tribune, the
Village Voice, the Boston Globe as well as the annual best books list
for the New York Times, Business Week and other publications. The book
is widely credited for influencing the national debate on work and
family. Schor also the author of Do Americans Shop Too Much?, co-editor
of Consumer Society: A Reader (The New Press 2000) and co-editor, with
Betsy Taylor of Sustainable Planet: Solutions for the Twenty-first
Century (Beacon Press 2002). Dr. Schor is currently working on a book on
issues of environmental sustainability and their relation to American
lifestyles which will be published by The Penguin Press next year. She
is a co-founder and co-chair of the Board of the Center for a New
American Dream (newdream.org), a national sustainability organization
headquartered in Maryland.
A graduate of Wesleyan University, Dr. Schor received her Ph.D. at the
University of Massachusetts. Before joining Boston College, she taught
at Harvard University for 17 years, in the Department of Economics, and
the Committee on Degrees in Women’s Studies. Her scholarly articles have
appeared in professional venues such as the Economic Journal, The Review
of Economics and Statistics, World Development, Industrial Relations,
The Journal of Economic Psychology, Ecological Economics, The Journal of
Industrial Ecology, Social Problems and others. Dr. Schor has also
served as a consultant to the United Nations, at the World Institute for
Development Economics Research, and to the United Nations Development
Program. She was a fellow at the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation in 1995-1996 for a project entitled “New Analyses of Consumer
Society”. In 1998 Dr. Schor received the George Orwell Award for
Distinguished Contributions to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language
from the National Council of Teachers of English. In 2006 she received
the Leontief Prize from the Global Development and Economics Institute
at Tufts University for expanding the frontiers of economic thought.
Dr. Schor has lectured widely throughout the United States, Europe and
Japan to a variety of civic, business, labor and academic groups. She
appears frequently on national and international media, and profiles on
her and her work have appeared in scores of magazines and newspapers,
including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and People
magazine. She has appeared on 60 Minutes, the Today Show, Good Morning
America, The Early Show on CBS, numerous
stories on network news, as well as many other national and local
television news programs.
Betsy Taylor is the principal consultant with Breakthrough Strategies &
Solutions, a consulting firm that serves clients dedicated to addressing
climate change and promoting sustainable economic practices & policies.
She is co-founder and Board President of 1Sky (www.1sky.org) a national
campaign created in 2007 to focus the power of millions of concerned
Americans on a single goal: federal actions by 2010 that can effectively
address global warming and create five million green jobs. She
co-founded and served as president of the Center for a New American
Dream (www.newdream.org) a national organization that helps Americans
live and consume prudently in the interest of a more sustainable world
and improving the quality of life. During her tenure at
CNAD, the Center launched the Responsible
Purchasing Network, an association of socially and environmentally
responsible purchasers representing over fifty billion dollars in buying
power. The effort earned numerous awards, including being named in
Washingtonian Magazine’s as one of the top fifty places to work in the
D.C. metropolitan area. Betsy has appeared frequently on national
television and radio and is the co-editor and author of Sustainable
Planet: Solutions for the 21st Century. She previously served as
Executive Director of the Merck Family Fund, Stern Family Fund, and
Ottinger Foundation and has consulted with numerous foundations and
donors. She has an M.P.A. from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of
Government and a B.A. from Duke University.
American Meteorological Society
253 Russell
01/26/2009 at 12:00PM