12/26/11

Consumerism depleting Earth's resources

Even the Pope decried it from arguably the most decadent religious palace on Earth:
In his homily, Benedict lamented that Christmas has become an increasingly commercial celebration that obscures the simplicity of the message of Christ’s birth.
-AP, Washington Post

Truthout may have said it even more succinctly, h/t Lynn:
But what if all roads to prosperity don't lead to the shopping mall, as most economists would have us believe? What if, in fact, all that shopping -- and the imperative to grow corporate profits quarter after quarter and continuously expand the economy -- was actually the root of many of the problems we face today? That's the view of a renegade but increasingly influential band of economists, who say the myth of perpetual economic growth and "the iron cage of consumerism" are the chief causes of world economic dysfunction and environmental crisis -- and the biggest obstacle to our very happiness.
Royal Hassrick in his 1964 groundbreaking work on the Plains Indians said, "the Sioux practiced Communism with extreme prejudice." -The Sioux: Life and Customs of a Warrior Society.

Rewild the West.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://youtu.be/gLBE5QAYXp8 http://youtu.be/Xbp6umQT58A

larry kurtz said...

Link 1

Link 2