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 New Consumers: A discussion with Dr. Norman Myers

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Subsidiary Questions to be addressed

The main research work of the project, being documentation and analysis, will focus on the seven key points listed in the Key Questions section. To clarify and substantiate, note the following subsidiary questions to be addressed (these are illustrative of the evaluatory approach to be adopted; they are far from comprehensive):

Definitions: What do we mean by consumption--and by over-consumption and mis-consumption? (Stern et al., 1997; Sto, 1995)

Waste: Arising from the first item, how much consumption is wasteful? An average American is estimated to spend at least $2000 each year on wasted energy, metals, wood, soil, water and fibre, including the cost of moving them around. Nation-wide this amounts to $500 billion needlessly spent--and worldwide the total may approach ten times as much (Hawken, 1997). What else can be characterized as wasteful?

Road transportation: Cars and other private light vehicles are often perceived as one of the most environmentally harmful of all types of consumption. This is specially pertinent to new consumers in developing nations insofar as they are purchasing cars in fast-growing numbers. Fortunately there is much scope to modify traffic patterns. Contrast the divergent experiences of Bangkok and Singapore. Traffic congestion in Bangkok is so acute that it levies costs of $2.3-9.6 billion in lost worker productivity, plus $1.6 billion of energy wasted in idling car engines. Bangkok residents suffer one million respiratory infections each year linked to air pollution, and cancer rates are three times higher than in the rest of Thailand. In Singapore, on the other hand, there are no bumper-to-bumper problems. The government taxes cars heavily, and it even auctions the right to buy them. It engages in area licensing, plus a $3-6 daily user fee for cars entering the city's central zone. These measures have decreased traffic during peak periods by 75 percent (cf. Myers and Kent, 1998). What is the experience of Jakarta, Delhi, Lagos, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Budapest and Moscow?

Alternatives to conventional consumption: As well as controlling and even curbing some established forms of consumption, there are many alternative responses available. For instance, much scope exists with ready-to-go technologies to reduce the environmental impact of consumption. New consumers could avoid the high-throughput, high-pollution and high-waste route, and they could be steered toward lower impact alternatives. Whereas raw materials account for 40 percent of the value of that icon of the industrial age, the car, they make up 0.3 percent of the value of the icon of the IT age, the microchip--and all the microchips in the world comprise so little volume that they would fit inside a jumbojet (Manzini, 1993; von Weizsacker et al., 1997).

Economic efficiency and social equity: The discussion will not go far in considering the absolute needs of the 1.3 billion who live on less than $1 per day and should be consuming more. While their situation deserves to be addressed more urgently and vigorously than that of the new consumers, it belongs only marginally in this project. Special emphasis will be given, however, to the notion that over- consumption by the affluent can sometimes (and increasingly?) lead to under- consumption by the poor (Crocker and Linden, 1997). For instance, eating higher on the food chain can lead to greatly increased consumption of grain via livestock, pushing up grain prices in international markets and possibly placing grain imports beyond the reach of impoverished nations in, for example, sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Role of the media: Herein lies a powerful tool to modify consumers' perceptions, especially now that there are 2.3 billion television sets and 5.2 billion radios worldwide. Contrary to much popular wisdom, people can be persuaded to change their consumption habits, quite quickly too (Consumers International, 1995). Since 1985, 55 million Americans have quit smoking--a social earthquake, virtually overnight (de Yong, 1996).

Policy responses: What can be done to modify the new consumers' lifestyles so that they are less environmentally harmful?
  1. How far can the situation be helped through eco-technologies? Utilizing eco-technologies already available, we could enjoy twice as much material welfare while using only half as many raw materials and causing only half as much pollution and waste (von Weiszacker et al., 1997; see also Schmidt-Bleek and Weaver, 1999, on the "Factor Ten" strategy).
  2. What fiscal measures such as tax incentives are available? What more could be achieved if the entire tax system were to be shifted from income and profits to "environmental bads"?
  3. What can be accomplished through "full social cost" pricing of consumer goods and services (the total cost of burning a gallon of gasoline/petrol can be as high as $6-8)?
  4. How far could the consumption prospect be modified if the conventional measure of economic welfare, GDP, where to be superceded by a more realistic indicator such as Net National Product or an Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare?
  5. What scope is there for reform of "perverse" subsidies that penalize both economies and environments (Myers and Kent, 1998)?
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References
Consumers International. 1995. Beyond the Year 2000: The Transition to Sustainable Consumption. Consumers International, London.

Crocker, D.A. and T. Linden, eds. 1997. Ethics of Consumption: The Good Life, Justice and Global Stewardship. University Press of America, Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania.

de Yong, R. 1996. "Some Psychological Aspects of Reduced Consumption Behavior: The Role of Intrinsic Satisfaction and Motivation." Environment and Behavior 28.

Hawken, P. 1997. "Natural Capitalism." Mother Jones March/April 1997.

Manzini, E. 1993. Designing Eco-Efficiency and Getting Eco-Efficient. Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva, Switzerland.

Myers, N. and J. Kent. 1998. Perverse Subsidies: Tax $s Undercutting Our Economics and Environments Alike. International Institute for Sustainable Development, Winnipeg, Canada.

Stern, P.C. et al., eds. 1997. Environmentally Significant Consumption: Research Directions. National Research Council, Washington DC.

Sto, E., ed. 1995. Sustainable Consumption. National Institute for Consumer Research, Lysaker, Norway.

von Weizsacker, E. et al. 1997. Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use. Earthscan, London.
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