State of the World: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustaina

I've become someone jaundiced about the State of the World series, while always respecting the persistence of Lester Brown (Peter Drucker called people like us "mono-maniacs" essential as change agents), but this one knocked me off my seat just with the table of contents. From there I went to the Notes and saw a number of books new to me. You can visit Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog to see the 1,600+ that I have reviewed, sorted into 98 non-fiction categories. My first note: A triumph, the most interesting, diverse, and relevant of the series to date. A bold departure, "just in time." The book opens with a timeline over multiple pages with illustrations, and the notes are worthy. The timeline is compelling broad view that I found very helpful, and would like to see more of. There are 50 pages of notes, and this is where I spent my first 40 minutes or so. While the notes do not range as widely as I have, they are solid and do not overlook Herman Daly as well as Paul Hawkins, but they do miss Paul Ray and a few other Cultural Creative icons. The book in one long line: Culture is critical, traditions can help, education's new role is to teach holistic systems and sustainable values, business must go green, government must design cities and life in general to be sustainable, media integrity must be restored (in part by teaching media literacy, memorably cast as the literacy that matters in our time), and power of social movements. Five examples of marketing-driven idiocy: bottled watter, fast food, disposable paper products, personal vehicles, and pets (buy the book, I am not going to touch pets and their methane and consumer habits here). QUOTE (15): Perhaps the greatest critique of schools is that they represent a huge missed opportunity to combat consumerism and to educate students about its effects on people and the environment. Few schools teach media literacy to help students critically interpret marketing; few teach or model proper nutrition, even while providing access to unhealthy or unsustainable consumer products; and few teach a basic understanding of the ecological sciences--specificially that the human species is not unique but in fact just as dependent on a functioning Earth system for its survival as every other species. QUOTE (23): Pan (Vice Minister of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection) realizes that the ecological crisis is also a crisis of culture and of the human spirit. It is a moment of re-conceptualizing the role of the human in nature. QUOTE (55): For a shift away from consumerism to occur, every aspect of education--from lunchtime and recess to class work and even the walk home--will need to be oriented on sustainability. Overall this book provides a really fine overview of the possible roles of religion (as well as where it does not go). It addressess population policy as a likely non-starter but notes the effect of education and prosperity on declining birthrates. Most importa

I read State of the World for the first time in 1990. Earth Day was just starting to be "cool", and that publication put just about everything together. The message: Act now. Hmm... we didn't. This year's theme: consumerism. Within the first few pages, the editors lay out the case for why our consumption habits need to change. For everyone on the planet to earn and consume as we Americans do, the planet could only safely sustain 1.4 billion of us. Even consuming (and producing the carbon footprint that goes with it) as Europeans do is still leaving the planet in detriment. Unimaginable for a civilization that has been told it has an obligation to improve it's standard of living continuously, even the income and consumption levels of the Jordanians and Thai are just a little too excessive for the planet we have to share with 6.8 billion people. Yes, we need to improve our technology and methods, but even still we need to cut back on what we consume... and produce. There are chapters on Business and Technology, Education, Government, Media, Social Movements and Traditions, not necessarily in that order. I was disappointed with how little the Business and Technology had of case studies of companies that had successfully transitioned to responsible production. Do such companies really not exist? The other chapters were excellent. I was particularly impressed with the Education chapter, particularly the article "Commercialism in Children's Lives". I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Traditions and Government chapters. For all those who bemoan the futility of fighting without helpful institutions, these chapters show that with just a little examination we can find allies already entrenched in our culture and structures. This should be required reading for everyone.

State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability (State of the World) This book is a significant contribution to understanding the process of sustainable development worldwide. It is a courageous contribution in that things are said that many people still do not want to hear. Specifically, it is about cultural values and the kinds of cultural changes that (with high probability) will be required in order to reverse consumerist human behavior that is destroying the human habitat. The linkage between behavior modification and ecosystem services is not clearly articulated. A more explicit explanation of this linkage would have been useful. Another issue that would have deserved more attention is the negative role that most religious institutions are playing in the struggle for gender equality, which is a precondition for sustainable development. This is of course a controversial issue, but it needs to be faced. Overall, however, the book is an outstanding piece of work and a reassuring message of hope for the future of humanity. The complete book review was published in the Pelican Journal of Sustainable Development, Volume 6, Number 2, February 2010. [...] Luis T. Gutierrez, Ph.D. The Pelican Web Editor, PelicanWeb Journal of Sustainable Development [...]