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The Forum > Article Comments > Sustainable consumption and young Australians > Comments

Sustainable consumption and young Australians : Comments

By Daniel Donahoo, published 15/9/2005

Daniel Donahoo argues Australia should encourage youth to assist in ideas for sustainable consumption.

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G'day Daniel

Thanks for another insightful and well written article.

I am pleased to say that I am a "baby boomer", and I am pleased to say that you always give me heaps of things to think about.

Even so Daniel, I regret to say that I meet few young people who contend with or aspire to your views. For me that is very sad.

Can you tell posters about how you and your family do it?

Cheers
Kay
Posted by kalweb, Thursday, 15 September 2005 8:52:57 PM
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Hear! Hear! I am a Generation Xer, but there are plenty of Generation Y's out there, moving and shaking the political shackles. An Australian band KillTV (www.killtv.com.au) have a song - Consumed. Read the lyrics. This politically-tinged radio-rock band has their finger on the pulse, and it's not the pulse of a dying generation!
Posted by Dr Mac, Friday, 16 September 2005 12:09:50 AM
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Cheers Kay -

I guess some of 'why we do it' is in articles at http://www.danieldonahoo.com

How we do it?

Well, it is an ongoing challenge and compromise. I wrote an article for the newsletter of one of the groups responsible for the Sustainable Consumption report.

It can be found here: http://www.iypf.org/Downloads/Culture-shifting-full-article-aug05.pdf

Thanks for your encouraging words.
Posted by Daniel Donahoo, Friday, 16 September 2005 1:05:27 AM
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Some commentary here:
http://larvatusprodeo.redrag.net/2005/09/16/i-must-be-generation-x-or-something/
Posted by Mark B, Friday, 16 September 2005 1:23:52 PM
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People across all generations find the concept of sustainable consumption quite confronting. It poses questions as to how we distinguish between ‘wants’ and ‘needs’. It challenges us to rely on ways of belonging outside conspicuous consumption. Most consumption is now basically for the purpose of ‘self-completion’: bringing our ‘actual self’ closer to the image of our ‘ideal self’.

It is simple and naïve to dismiss the pursuit of sustainable consumption as some misguided ‘hippie’ ideal. In truth, consumption patterns in Western cultures waste immense amounts of energy and generate immense amounts of waste, which the global environment must somehow absorb; the repercussions of which are slowly becoming more evident.

We may assert our right to ‘buy stuff’, asking what’s so wrong with liking to have lots of stuff around us. And what’s wrong with buying stuff to construct our identities? My take is this: pursuing ever-increasing materialistic goals inhibits our ability to maintain personal relationships. When social acceptance depends on our ability to buy the ‘right’ stuff, those who cannot ‘compete’ are marginalised. And when we’re happy to rely on consumption to ‘construct’ our identities, our relationships are based on superficial facades. Sustainable consumption means living outside of our comfort zones.

It is challenging to imagine how we may construct our identities if we can’t buy the ‘right’ products, the ‘right’ brands, hang out at the ‘right’ shops or bars. But challenging ourselves to do this presents opportunities to interact with our world in a way we currently would never challenge ourselves to do.

Our culture consumes to find acceptance, consumes to belong and consumes to find meaning. And this is unsustainable.
Posted by Tracy, Friday, 16 September 2005 11:01:48 PM
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"Our culture consumes to find acceptance, consumes to belong and consumes to find meaning. And this is unsustainable. "

Absolutely - hear, hear! Unfortunately, given that endlesssly expanding consumption is the driver of capitalist economies, I fear that we'll collectively continue to overconsume in profligate folly until the next global economic collapse. Ironically, the crunch may be softened to some extent by the impending massive reorganisation of production and consumption that is about to be precipitated by the "Peak Oil" phenomenon that is just beginning to bite.

As an example, I was chatting with my 15-y.o. son about cars, driver's licenses and that sort of thing the other day, when it became apparent that he and his mates have already internalised to some degree the likelihood that their future lifestyles will be far less automobile-oriented than was my youth (I am a 'boomer').

Where we expected to be able to own our own cars (in my case, I bought my first - a Morris Minor - while still at high school) and to be able to cruise all over the place in them at will, it seems highly unlikely that the majority of individuals who are growing up in the present time will be able to do the same.

Similarly, we boomers have come to take cheap air travel for granted, such that overseas and interstate travel were for a time within the reach of virtually anybody with a job and a penchant for travel. I seriously doubt that this will be the case for much longer - and with the world the way it is, who would really want to subkject themselves to the rigours of even trying to board a plane these days, not to mention the risks awaiting one on arrival at one's destination?

Brave New World indeed! Thanks for the article Daniel :)
Posted by mahatma duck, Saturday, 17 September 2005 10:36:01 AM
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This is very sweet but quite inconsistent with most statistics about consumer behaviour.

There is little reason to believe that 'youth' are - or will be - committed to sustainable consumption: rhetoric about 'saving the planet' (or 'ending world poverty' by for example buying a bracelet) is not reflected in personal spending choices. Youth are into 'consumption' in a big way. They make less of an impact on the environment than their parents only because they have less money and because they can borrow the family car (or live in the family home).

For those who are skeptical about youth as an embodiment of Blakean innocence (idealistic, energetic, communitarian) and equipped to assist with viable ideas for sustainable consumption the Donahoo line sounds like the latest version of the Children's Crusade or a green version of Richard Neville. Why not encourage ALL people rather than putting yoof in a ghetto?
Posted by Amoskeag, Saturday, 17 September 2005 9:16:57 PM
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Whilst I think Daniel's concerns are admirable, I think Amoskeag's views are unfortunately closer to the mark.

Since the beginning of the 20th century each generation has consumed markedly more than its predecessors. Young people might spend more time talking about sustainable consumption, but I haven't seen any evidence to show that they are consuming less than their parents did. In affluent western nations there hasn't been any significant movement to lower consumption since the hippy scene of the 60's, and even this was only on a small scale.
Posted by AndrewM, Sunday, 18 September 2005 7:35:47 PM
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