Discussion Form Question

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSUMPTION ANT3CAE WEEK 11

GUEST LECTURER: DR. NATALIE ARAUJO

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY We acknowledge the Elders, families and descendants of the Wurundjeri people who have been and are the custodians of the land on which the University stands. We acknowledge that the land in which we meet was the place of age old ceremonies of celebration, initiation and renewal and that the local Aboriginal peoples have had and continue to have a unique role in the life of these lands.

DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

THE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT • Development has

traditionally been framed around economically driven models of social change

• Fundamental assumption that free markets and consumption drive not only economic prosperity but also political and social stability

• Traditionally argues that stages of development are linear and universal

ROSTOW’S FIVE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT (1956)

ROSTOW: STAGE 1: TRADITIONAL SOCIETY

Characterised by: Pre-nation state Subsistence economy – output not traded or recorded Existence of barter High levels of agriculture and labour intensive agriculture Primitive technologies Spiritual attitudes Hierarchical family/clan- based social structure

ROSTOW: STAGE 2: PRE-CONDITIONS

Pre-conditions for take-off include: State formation Development of manufacturing and mining industries Increase in capital use in agriculture Necessity of external funding and commerce (profit) Some growth in savings and investment (banks appear) Education expanded Emergence of new elites

ROSTOW: STAGE 3: TAKE-OFF

Characterised by: Increasing industrialisation Technological development (railways, factories) Further growth in savings and investment (5-10% of national income) Some regional growth Entrepreneur class expands Number employed in agriculture declines

ROSTOW: STAGE 4: DRIVE TO MATURITY

In this stage: Growth becomes self- sustaining Wealth generation enables further investment in value adding industry and development (savings rates are 10-20% of national income) Industry more diversified, and able to provide anything required by society Increase in levels of technology utilised

ROSTOW: STAGE 5: HIGH MASS CONSUMPTION

Characterised by: High output levels Mass production and consumption of consumer durables and services High proportion of employment in service/skilled sector Real income increases – able to consume beyond ‘need’ Spending on welfare services

CONSUMPTION AS DEVELOPMENT

How might consumption be seen

as a measure of development?

What are the challenges of approaches that frame consumption as integral to development/modernity?

(UN)SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

UNSUSTAINABLE GROWTH

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT

• 60% of major ecosystems degraded or used unsustainably

• An estimated 80% of fish-stocks are now fished at or beyond their sustainable limits

• More than 90% of paper still comes from tree, using about 1/5 of total wood harvest worldwide

DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT • Around 1.7 billion

people world-wide are entering the consumer class: adopting diets, lifestyles, and transportation systems previously limited to rich nations

• Increase in consumer class as overwhelming consensus emerges that human activity (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions) is leading to climate change

http://www.ipcc.ch/

Is environmental degradation an unavoidable by product of economic growth?

Is high emissions consumption an inevitable outcome of moderntiy?

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION • A multi-faceted approach that recognises the

interrelatedness of human well-being and environmental integrity

• Broad in scope: tackles climate change, biodiversity depletion, pollution, food and water security, global inequality, ecosystem loss, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, poverty . . . . while also maintaining world economy.

• Often refers to notions of environmental limits which we must adapt our practices and consumption to respect

SUSTAINABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT

What is the impact of compromised environments on development?

UN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT (2011): ‘ENVIRONMENTALIST’S PARADOX’

• We have seen increases in living standards and their convergence across countries

• BUT…. Trends run the risk of being reversed if environmental deterioration and social inequalities continue to intensify

• Report projects that least developed countries will diverge downwards from global patterns of progress by 2050

ENVIRONMENTALIST’S PARADOX • Conventional development thinking and practice

undervalues natural resources

• Over past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively to meet their increased needs for food, fresh water, etc., which unless reversed will diminish what future generations obtain from ecosystems.

• International protocols, driven by principles of sufficiency rather than profit-oriented market mechanism, are essential

‘OUR COMMON FUTURE’ (BRUNDTLAND 1987) – WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

• ‘Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland 1987)

• Sustainable development placed within economic and political context of international development: • development can erode environment; • environmental degradation can erode development; • poverty can cause global environmental problems

• Report not limited to simply ‘the environment’, as (for humans) this doesn’t exist as a sphere separate to our social and material concerns

POLICY OBJECTIVES • Reviving growth (as poverty puts pressure on

environment) • Changing the quality of growth • Meeting essential needs for jobs, food, water and

sanitation • Ensuring sustainable level of population • Conserving and enhancing the resource base • Reorienting technology and managing risk • Merging environment and economics in decision-making

ROLE OF THE ECONOMY • Brundtland report (1987) articulates need to maintain and

revitalise world economy. Expresses the global need for: • ‘more rapid economic growth in both industrial and

developing countries, freer market access for the products of developing countries, lower interest rates, greater technology transfer, and significantly larger capital flows, both concessional and commercial (1987: 89)

MORE CONSUMPTION!

QUESTIONING CONSUMPTION

SCALES OF INFLUENCE • Some environmental issues and

encounters locally bounded and many social practices and structures are informed by historical and environmental processes

• Consumer behavior may similarly locally informed, BUT..

• Consumption patterns and ecological impacts of consumption have global implications

• Global supply/commodity chains • Global impact of CO2 and other

emissions • Flow-on impacts to ecosystems • Moral economies of care

Director: Louis Fox

THE STORY OF STUFF (2007)

RESPONSE TO UNSUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

What might be meaningful responses to unsustainable consumption patterns?

How might these be achieved?

China’s Response to Energy Consumption: Three Gorges Dam

CASE STUDY: INNOVATION

CHINA’S DEVELOPMENT • China is the world’s most

populous nation and 2nd largest economy

• Since late 1970s has sustained 10% per annum growth in GDP

• 800 million individuals “graduated” out of poverty

• Met all MDGs by 2015 • Classified by the World Bank

as a developing country with “Middle Income Country” (MIC) status

CONSUMPTION SNAPSHOT

• Chinese development has expressed itself through rapid growth of a consumer class

• Demand for consumables and lifestyle changes have had a radical impact on global share of resource and energy allocation

THREE GORGES DAM • Construction began in

1994, completed in 2008, and reached peak productivity in 2012

• Was projected to meet 10%+ of China’s energy requirements at static rate of demand

• Project displaced over 1.4 million people

• Arguably addressed flooding that impacted 300 million people

Discover: Three Gorges Dam

CRITICAL QUESTIONS • Human Rights

• The rights of flood victims and displaced persons • The rights of individuals to partake in “modernisation”

• Environmental Impact • China is home to 20% of vascular plant life and 50% of China’s flora

and fauna found no where else in the world • 6,000 species in a nature reserve surrounding the dam and

vulnerable to dam induced changges • Fish diversity reduced and baiji dolphin extinction • Impact on other sovereign nations

• Future Growth • Increased energy demands mean functional impact is reduced

• Cultural Heritage • Loss of important archeological sites • World heritage

Approaches and Case Study

ETHICAL CONSUMPTION

ETHICAL CONSUMPTION • A loose collection of practices and approaches focused

“best practices” in consumption • Currently transitioning from “alternative” to mainstream in

many HICs but also gaining traction in MICs • Argues that one of the ways to address the climate-

development-consumption nexus is through ethically focused consumption practices

• Example: Starbucks Corporate Social Responsibility

ETHICAL CONSUMPTION • Broad working definition:

• Conscious consumption of products which were ethically produced and/or which are not harmful to the environment and society.

• Focus on conditions of production • Local and seasonal products • Small scale production or low(er)-impact • Dignity of human and non-human person

APPROACHES TO ETHICAL CONSUMPTION • How might we understand ethical consumption through

the lens of the three paradigms analysed by Wilk: • Individual choice: healthy means of objectification and

individuation (p. 6) • Social theories: maintain and challenge social group

boundaries, cultural meaning out of diverse experience (pp. 6-7)

• Cultural theories: expressive means of communication aimed at creating a culturally ordered environment (p. 7)

• Multigenic analysis???

CASE STUDY: CONTEXT AND METHODS • Originally part of a four year study of the mainstreaming of

ethical consumption practices in Australia • (Ongoing) study examined ethical consumption through a

supply chain from producerà retailerà consumer

• Mixed methods approach: participant observation, interviews, survey data, and document, discourse, and policy analysis

THE ECONOMY AND THE MORAL ECONOMY • Expression of values may be materially impacted by economic,

psychological, knowledge, and material limitations: • “While I endeavour to eat by my values, I often have to compromise

because of hefty premiums.”

• “My consumption and waste are impacted by resources available for example not having a compost bin [readily available] means I don't compost. Level of stress/tiredness too-- when I am more stressed I tend not to care as much about food waste”

• “Although the origin and production methods of our food is very important to me, it is sometimes difficult to attain this information”

• Worldly care and embodied encounters may shift: • “I lived in India and volunteered in slum communities for 7 months last

year. On returning home I have tried to live frugally and avoid consumerism/over consumption in order to save money to send to friends and organisations there. I find it difficult to spend excess on specialist [ethical] products, knowing what my money can do for others.”

PERPETUATING DEMAND

Q: Why have you stopped your ethical purchases?

“The premium prices and the marketing that goes on about healthy food choices makes me cringe a little. I feel like I'm being sold an ideology about wellness that serves to feed the market

and push up prices.”

Turning our back on growth-focused consumption

POST-DEVELOPMENT?

KEY THEORIST: ARTURO ESCOBAR • Argues that development

emerged from US hegemony and response to anti-colonial struggles

• Results in pauperisation, disintegration of social institutions of developing world

• Colonisation of reality through development discourse

• Escobar questions the very concept of development

ESCOBAR ON DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

POST-DEVELOPMENT PROPOSITIONS Radical pluralism: actions shouldn’t be global, but local (think and act locally)

• you can only improve what you actually know • local groups and initiatives

Simple living • down-sizing • reduce demand on ecology • return to less material pursuits such as moral/spiritual growth

Reappraising non-capitalist society • life in ‘non-developed’ world actually not non- developed

CONCLUSION