How Much Is Enough —— Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth is the second book in a series of "Worldwatch Alerts" compiled by Worldwatch Institute in new york.
The book is divided into three parts: evaluating consumption, seeking wealth and taming consumerism. At first, the author questioned the return of consumption and discussed the relationship between consumption and happiness-there is no difference in the record of happiness level between rich countries and extremely poor countries. High-income people are often slightly happier than middle-income people, while low-income people are often the least happy. The upper class in any country is more satisfied with their lives than the lower class, but they are not more satisfied than the upper class in poor countries. Consumption is such a pedal wheel, and everyone uses who is in front and who is behind to judge their position.
Then the author thinks that the consumerist lifestyle has spread all over the world like lightning. In just one generation, most people have owned private cars, become TV viewers and become advertising-led consumers. Consumer society is only a short stage-because of its habitability and the future of the earth, we must realize that a comfortable life cannot be composed of unlimited growth of daily necessities, food and property, which exceeds a certain limit and brings less happiness to people. In addition, this situation also reflects the economic recession in many countries, and people's lives are not satisfactory. Now it is time to get out of the misunderstanding of consumption and move towards what the author calls a lasting cultural movement.
A lasting culture is a society that lives within its means; It is a society that draws interest instead of principal from the earth's resources; This is a society seeking enrichment in family, friendship and meaningful work network. The author says that consumerism makes us greedy, but it can't give us a sense of fullness and richness. We are still socially, psychologically and spiritually hungry.
The resources on the earth are limited, and many of them are non-renewable. The so-called "inexhaustible" statement is absurd. The more consumption, the more serious the pollution and the more natural resources. Excessive greed and uncontrolled consumption are not excessive, which will destroy the environment, waste resources and run out of energy. This book reveals the internal relationship between consumerism and environmental problems, and breaks this vicious circle by explaining the demand. The author points out that the fate of maintaining mankind and nature is in our hands-consumers. If we don't readjust our consumerist lifestyle, the earth will not be far from destruction.
The impact of population growth and technology on the environment has attracted people's attention, but wanton consumption is rarely mentioned. Such greedy, unrestrained and not too much consumption will be a devastating blow to the environment, leaving only more harm to the earth.
How much is enough-the consumer society and the future of the earth reflect the way of life of human beings. Only when people attach importance to consumption and re-establish a correct concept of consumption can the earth survive and the road of mankind go further and further.
Aristotle wrote as early as 2300 years ago: "People's greed is insatiable." This means that when a demand is met, another new demand will replace it. This sentence has become the first motto of economic theory and has been confirmed by many human experiences. In 1 century BC, the Roman philosopher Lucretius wrote, "We have lost interest in acorns. We have also abandoned those beds covered with grass and leaves, so wearing animal skins is no longer popular ... Yesterday was leather clothes, today is purple clothes and gold clothes-these are all flashy things, which aggravate the pain of human life with resentment. "
Nearly 2,000 years later, lev tolstoy imitated Lucretius's saying: "Looking for a man from beggar to millionaire, you won't find a person who is satisfied with his property among 1000 people ... Today we must buy a coat and a pair of matching shoes; I must buy a watch and a necklace tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, we must install a sofa and a bronze lamp in a big apartment; Then we must have carpets and velvet robes; Then there is a house, several horses and carriages, some paintings and decorations. "
Historians of contemporary wealth history have a thorough understanding of this. For decades, Lewis lapham, who inherited an oil fortune, has been asking people how much money they feel happy when they have. He said: "No matter what their income is, many Americans think that they can have twice as much money and they will get the level of happiness promised by the Declaration of Independence. A person with an annual income of $65,438 +0.5 million is sure that if he only earns $30,000 a year, he will be relieved of his worries. The person with an annual salary of $ kloc-0/10,000 thinks that everything would be better if he made an annual salary of $2 million ... "He concluded:" Nobody has enough money. "
If human needs can actually expand indefinitely, consumption will not be satisfied in the end-this is a logical result ignored by economic theory. In fact, social scientists have found surprising signs: a high-consumption society, like an individual living in luxury goods, will never be satisfied with more consumption. The temptation of consumer society is powerful, even irresistible, but it is also superficial.
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Consumer satisfaction can be achieved by comparing or surpassing others, or better than the previous year. In this way, personal happiness is more a function of improving consumption than a function of high consumption itself. Tibor Skotowski, an economist at Stanford University, proved that consumption is addictive: every luxury will soon become a necessity, and a new luxury will be discovered. Young workers in China factory changed their radios to black-and-white TVs, just as young German managers changed their BMW cars to Mercedes-Benz.
Between generations, luxury goods have also become necessities. People measure the present material comfort according to the standards set in those years, so each generation needs more things to satisfy than the previous generation. After several generations, this process can redefine wealth as poverty. Things like televisions owned by slums in the United States and Europe may have scared the richest neighbors centuries ago, but this has not reduced the contempt of the consumer class for slum dwellers, nor has it reduced the hardships of the modern poor.
With the continuous improvement of consumption level, it is really difficult for society to meet the definition of a "decent" living standard-the necessities of life of members in a good position in a consumer society-and flow upward endlessly. Parents didn't buy him the latest video games, and they felt embarrassed to invite friends to play at home. No teenager with a car will feel unequal to his peers. Economists simply say: "demand is defined by society and gradually improves with economic growth."
This is the relationship between consumption and satisfaction, which involves social standards that are compared according to the time process. However, the study of happiness is also an elusive fact. The main determinant of happiness in life has nothing to do with consumption. Among these factors, the most obvious is the satisfaction of family life, especially marriage, followed by the satisfaction of work and development potential, leisure and friendship.
These factors are more important indicators of happiness than income. Accompanied by ironic results, such as sudden windfall can make people miserable; Winners of millions of dollars are usually cut off from their social relationships, lose the integrity and meaning of their previous jobs, and even find themselves alienated from close friends and family. Similarly, psychoanalysts such as Skotovsky believe that the main reason why people with higher incomes are happier is that white-collar technical jobs are more interesting than blue-collar mechanical jobs. Managers, directors, engineers, consultants and other experts enjoy more challenging and creative affairs, so they get more spiritual rewards than those with lower business levels.
Allen Du Ning showed us the way out of the misunderstanding of consumption and towards a lasting cultural movement from different angles.
-American economist Ace Deger's "How much is enough-consumer society and the future of the earth" makes us re-examine the relationship between modern consumption patterns and the earth and deepen our understanding of the earth's environment, which is undoubtedly of great benefit.
-John buchs, British environmentalist