peevish pontifications
Start young for sustainable consumption habits

Ameer Hamza

A UNEP/UNESCO brochure entitled, 'Is the future yours ?' published in the last decade, seeks to guide young people into becoming informed consumers ------ that is 'thinking', rather than mindless buyers and users of goods and services. The fond hope is that such discerning consumers could make a difference to the world, a world overwhelmed by the consumption patterns of the rich everywhere, including those in Third World pockets who like to emulate their peers in the west, thus adding to the fast depletion of the earth's limited natural resources and the generation of mountains of waste.

According to the UN Population Fund, 86 per cent of all consumer goods are owned by just a fifth of the global population, and if the rest of the aspiring consumers were to be admitted into this club, it would require the resources of at least three earth-like planets !

The target group of the UNESCO brochure, obviously,is made up of people who have a lot of disposable income,and therefore a lot of choices. In other words, the well-fed, well-clothed sections everywhere. Here is a sampling of the questions conspicuous consumers are encouraged to ask themselves: Do I really need what I am about to buy ? Who made it and how ? Were the working conditions fair ? Do I really need the airconditioner ?

The young are advised to choose goods that can be easily repaired, including shoes, clothes, appliances, furniture; opt for public transport or a bicycle or their legs rather than papa's posh car to move about the city; not to waste water, to turn the tap off when brushing their teeth; to turn off the TV when not watching, to choose products made by companies with proven social and environmental accountability ; etc etc.

The most important criterion for a thinking consumer, therefore, is the ability to cut everything that's unnecessary. Sounds unachievable. After all, this is the era when 'necessary evils' keep good sense at bay. As they say, a necessary evil becomes more and more necessary and less and less evil. But this scribe did come across one young European woman sometime in the 1970s who had woken up one morning and had done just that ---- given up creature comforts. She claimed to have been inspired by the frugal lives of Bangladesh's people living at the bottom of the heap ! 'They smile, they share and they're warm, even though they have virtually nothing !'declared Sue.

She had come to the newly independent country with a lot of pre-conceived notions about the miseries of the poor, but had found in their human condition a great deal to marvel at and learn from. Most importantly, she had learnt to shed the burden of too many material possessions and to be content with the wealth of a 'spiritually empathetic heart,' which Sue claimed to have acquired as she journeyed through the lives of the poor here ! But that's hardly an everyday experience.

Even in Bangladesh, UNESCO's guidelines may prove to be a very tall order for the small minority of filthy-rich and upper middle class yuppies, given the 'conveyor-belt, brand-obsessed, consumer monoculture' the world has been experiencing over the past half century or so. According to one UNEP/UNESCO survey, carried out in 30 cities of 24 countries, both rich and poor, most 18 to 25 year olds define themselves increasingly by what they buy. Although only some have the money to buy genuine up-market products, all are 'egged by omnipresent advertising, seduced by the same products,' so much so that counterfeits of the brands are more pleasing to the less well-off than non-brand goods ---- so potent have been the marketing practices of big firms. Consider this: in 1979 advertising budgets in the United States was around $50 billion. By 1998 it was nearly $200 ! Turn to Naomi Klein's best selling book, 'No Logo' for more interesting data.

In the face of so many powerful and cunning want-makers, using behavioral science to brand and sell their products ---and lifestyles too --- how many well-to-do youngsters can choose not to give in ? Even in Bangladesh ? Intelligent parenting perhaps could equip the young with the strength to choose right. But such are the times that even enlightened guardians may fail. Those who are inclined to internalize the Gandhian pointer ---- 'the world has enough for everyone's need, not everyone's greed' ---- and adopt a waste-not-want-not philosophy, may end up being unpopular with their children and their friends. They may find themselves utterly alienated amidst the consumer generation of today, shunned or shot down for being 'stingy' and held up to ridicule, even by graduates of 'Environmental Studies', regardless of what the best ecoliterate minds have to say about sustainable consumption! Such are the times !