In the era of globalization, economic growth issues confront the challenges of environmental sustainability. Because of constant development of the richest economies, such as the United Kingdom, and United States, the consumption levels of the global population surpass the actual amount of natural resources that the Earth has prepared for the population.
As a result, the developed economies consume resources in excess amount, which results in significant reduction of biodiversity and global climate change. The rivalry between economists and environmentalists increases because of different angles, views and concepts they operate. Such a consideration is presented in the article called Why Our Economy Is Killing the Planet and What We Can Do about It.
In the article called The Voraciousness of Growth, emphasis is placed on the analysis of material patterns of consumption that are not congruent with the environmentalists’ plan of sustainable development of society.
As a result, the emergent problems lead to the confrontation between the environmental disasters and population growth. In order to present the created challenges, a total transformation of societal needs is necessary; otherwise, the world can be placed on the edge of extinction because of the scarcity of available resources.
The above-presented report reflects the ideas presented in the next article called Trickle-down Myth. The author is specifically interested in defining the consequences of inadequate global growth aimed at eradicating poverty and increasing the social and economic welfare of the global population.
However, the level of social living in the developed countries does not provide similar perspectives for other countries. In other words, in case the entire world reaches the level of economy in the United Kingdom, the world will need eight planets to sustain human activities. As a result of such calculations, a dilemma emerges.
The point is that the problem of poverty can be solved at the expense of the standards of living reduction in developed economies, which is almost impossible unless the society becomes fully conscious of the environmental problem.
The problem of society transformation also lies in reluctance of economists and manufactures subject their needs to the environmental programs. As a result, the article called Spreading the Virus emphasizes the culture of consumption as the cornerstone for creating a sustainable society with environmental orientation. Specifically, the society should realize and reshape its attitude to product consumption.
Because of the power of marketing and advertising, some of the people are confused about the actual purpose of buying a particular product. To work out the new concepts of consumption, specific attention should be given to a new vision of environmental production.
In other words, the people should consume products in accordance with their primary needs, but not in accordance with the principles dictated by the market. The advertising, therefore, falsely creates demands and makes people buy products they do not actually need. The new patterns on consumptions are consistently exposed in the article called How We Kicked Our Addiction to Growth.