BY OSA AMADI
I reviewed a book once, starting by commending the excellent printing quality, binding, and finishing of the book. I was proud that the book was made in my own country, at the book making town of Ibadan. Let me start the review of this book, How Much is Enough?:The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth, written by Alan Durning, by discussing the cover illustration, of which, after reading the book’s content, you will agree with me that it effectively summarises the whole work.
The cover depicts a monstrous head of a white man (supposedly American) with a mouth wider than the largest crocodile imaginable. The large human head has a body made of the entire earth. Its crocodile mouth is spread wide open, receiving and gulping down all sorts of manufactured goods – cars, telephone, airplanes, TV sets, artificial trees, etc., made from rapidly dwindling earth’s resources.
The right hand of this leviathan clutches wads of US Dollars (no doubt in high denominations) which gives him access to all products and a lifestyle of profligate consumerism.
The major question upon which this ecological treatise hangs is cast on page 24: Is there a level of living above poverty and subsistence, but below the consumer lifestyle – a level of sufficiency?
This question recognises that poverty and subsistence on one hand, and unbridled consumer lifestyle on the other hand, are two extremes – ill winds that blow nobody good.
Other follow-up questions are: if the environment suffers when people have either too little or too much, how much is enough? What level of consumption can the earth support? The fact is, argues the author, the global environment cannot support 1.1 billion of us living like American consumers, much less 5.5 billion (over 7 billion presently) or a future population of at least 8 billion.
Based on a UN data, industrial countries whose people make up only one fourth of the global population, consume 40-86 % of the earth’s natural resources.
This reckless consumer lifestyle was born in USA and exported to other parts of the world.
Environmental damage is a subject most people, organisations, and governments, shy away from discussing because almost everyone – especially the affluent – are culprits. At best, they prefer to pay lip service to the problem and continue to live their unfriendly environmental ifestyles.
High consumption means huge environmental impacts. Fossil fuel burnt in industrial countries release carbon of which the consumer class is responsible for estimated two thirds of all emissions from this source and up to three fourths of the sulphur and nitrogen oxides that cause acid rain. The more than 450 million vehicles in USA (as at 1992), says the author, accounts for 13% of global carbon emission from fossil fuels.
Infected by the consumption virus, third world and developing nations, in an effort to attract foreign companies’ investments that will bring the American pattern of consumption to their countries, throw cautions and regulations to the winds.
“From global warming to species extinction, we (Americans) consumers bear the burden of responsibility for the ills of the earth,” Alan admits.
Ingrained in consumerism are the throwaway culture and what the author calls planned obsolescence. This is a deliberate manufacturing policy that makes machines and other gadgets impossible to repair when they spoil. Sometimes, the cost of repair, when weighed with the cost of new one, makes little or no economic sense. Some formerly recyclable stuff like papers and plastics can no longer be recycled due to some in-built components. The result is mountain of wastes in cities and diminishing sources of raw materials.
The rich are also obsessed with gold, diamonds, and other so called precious gems and metals which have no tangible or intrinsic values. As a result of their voracious appetites for these gems, miners tear the bowel of the earth into pieces, disturbing ecosystems and vandalising the environment.
There is a lie canvassed (supposedly by greedy consumption addicts) that without consumption of this magnitude, workers will lose their jobs and there will be no more markets for the raw materials of the over 42 poorest countries. Against this argument, the author says: “business will not do well on a dying planet either.”
Realising the environmental unfriendliness of their business practices, business organsisations now engage in what the author calls “green gimmicks” aimed at misleading the public and consumers into believing that they care for the environment, and that their operations are environmental friendly when in reality they are not.
How can these problems be solved? People who have cars and conscience must leave their cars behind and walk, bicycle, or ride public transport to and fro work and other destinations. We must build cities in which cars are used less because they are needed less, where people work and shop close to home, take excursion by public transit and travel longer distances mostly by train. The world, therefore, must return to the culture of repairing things, reusing and recycling materials. Caring for the earth, writes Alan, means caring for the things we take from it.
The ecological golden rule is: each generation should meet its needs without jeopardising the prospect for future generations to meet their own needs. This is what is called sustainable development, or in this case, sustainable consumption.
Very few authors have addressed ecological problems as did Alan Durning in this book. He has the required knowledge, data, statistics, and the precise creative language which makes How Much Is Enough? Irresistible to readers.
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