[MCN] Do. Not. Read. This. Message. 'Tis the season to be jolly

[Lance Olsen]

~~~~~~~~~~     !!     S E A S ON S    G R E E T  I N G S   !! ~~~~~~~~~~

Why We Should Stop Celebrating Consumerism <https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiYGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZvcmJlcy5jb20vc2l0ZXMvam9zaHVhYmVja2VyLzIwMTkvMDkvMTcvd2h5LXdlLXNob3VsZC1zdG9wLWNlbGVicmF0aW5nLWNvbnN1bWVyaXNtL9IBZGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZvcmJlcy5jb20vc2l0ZXMvam9zaHVhYmVja2VyLzIwMTkvMDkvMTcvd2h5LXdlLXNob3VsZC1zdG9wLWNlbGVicmF0aW5nLWNvbnN1bWVyaXNtL2FtcC8?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen>
Let's continue to admire success. But it is time to stop celebrating consumerism. Our society is longing for people who can tell the difference.

Forbes magazine
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuabecker/2019/09/17/why-we-should-stop-celebrating-consumerism/#25c3d1a142b4 <https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuabecker/2019/09/17/why-we-should-stop-celebrating-consumerism/#25c3d1a142b4>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Church of Stop Shopping doesn't pull punches on its ... <https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/27/reverend-billy-church-of-stop-shopping-black-friday>
 <https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/27/reverend-billy-church-of-stop-shopping-black-friday>
Nov 27, 2015 - Reverend Billy Talen and his group are returning to New York City this Black Friday to deliver a simple message to Americans: resist consumerism

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/27/reverend-billy-church-of-stop-shopping-black-friday <https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/27/reverend-billy-church-of-stop-shopping-black-friday>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The big challenge is still to deliver emissions reductions at the pace and scale needed, especially in a world where economies are driven by consumption.”

Sonja van Renssen.The inconvenient truth of failed climate policies.
 
Nature Climate Change  MAY 2018  Published online: 27 April 2018 
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0155-4 <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0155-4> 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I just want it to be clear that the mainstream environmental movement has been asking very little of people for decades,” said Bea Ruiz, also an organizer with the U.S. national [ Extinction Rebellion ] team. “There’s no element of, ‘We are in an emergency. We all need to do more than what we’re doing.”

Extinction Rebellion’s radical philosophy
July 22 2019
https://thinkprogress.org/the-radical-philosophy-of-extinction-rebellion-5857d3955b57/ <https://thinkprogress.org/the-radical-philosophy-of-extinction-rebellion-5857d3955b57/>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What we are witnessing is a temper tantrum against the mere suggestion that there are limits to what we can consume.” 

Naomi Klein
https://theintercept.com/2019/09/15/trump-straws-plastic/ <https://theintercept.com/2019/09/15/trump-straws-plastic/>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Consumer expectations of ever-higher living standards were fuelled by more lenient and readily available bank lending, …. 

“Social status and identity became closely associated with consumption, in particular with the concept of luxury. 

"Identifying oneself with the good life meant being able to live beyond traditional understandings of basic needs. Debt was the price one paid for the joys of being part of a hedonistic consumer culture.”

Kenneth Dyson. The Morality of Debt. Foreign Affairs. May 3, 2015
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2015-05-03/morality-debt <https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2015-05-03/morality-debt>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The ecological systems upon which humans rely for life support are in crisis, 
and human behavior is the root cause.”
 
Elise Amel, Christie Manning, Britain Scott, Susan Koger

Beyond the Roots of Human Inaction. Science 21 April 2017
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6335/275 <https://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6335/275>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The American way of life is not negotiable.”

George H. W. Bush. 1992

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
"We are not able even to think adequately about the behavior 
that is at the annihilating edge."

R. D. Laing. Introduction, The Politics of Experience. 
1967, New York. Pantheon Books, a division of Random House

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A recent Ambio article by some heavyweights in climate science sets out the situation well enough. 

A team including the likes of Will Steffen, Paul Crutzen, Veerabhadren Ramathan, Johan Rockstrom, Marten Scheffer and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber begin the abstract of their article <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3357752/> by saying “Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced …”  

They end it saying,“we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
$$$  Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who’s the richest of them all ? $$$

We're All the 1 Percent – Foreign Policy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/02/27/were-all-the-1-percent/ <https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/02/27/were-all-the-1-percent/> <https://www.google.com/search?q=%2434%2C000+1%25&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS737US737&oq=%2434%2C000+1%25&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.27159j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#> <https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yapyloaVjVoJ:https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/02/27/were-all-the-1-percent/+&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us>
Feb 27, 2012 - But the global average is about a fifth of that. So by global standards, America's middle class is also really, really rich. To make it into the richest 1 percent globally, all you need is an income of around $34,000, according to World Bank economist Branko Milanovic.
Half the world's richest 1% live in the United States - Jan. 4, 2012
https://money.cnn.com/2012/01/04/news/economy/world_richest/index.htm <https://money.cnn.com/2012/01/04/news/economy/world_richest/index.htm> <https://www.google.com/search?q=%2434%2C000+1%25&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS737US737&oq=%2434%2C000+1%25&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.27159j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#> <https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hBEabNzxQO8J:https://money.cnn.com/2012/01/04/news/economy/world_richest/index.htm+&cd=11&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us>
Jan 4, 2012 - The United States holds a disproportionate amount of the world's rich people. It only takes $34,000 a year, after taxes, to be among the richest 1% in the world. ... The rest are mainly scattered throughout Europe, Latin America and a few Asian countries.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Reduce, baby, reduce ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The big challenge is still to deliver emissions reductions at the pace and scale needed, especially in a world where economies are driven by consumption.”

Sonja van Renssen.The inconvenient truth of failed climate policies. 
Nature Climate Change  MAY 2018 Published online: 27 April 2018 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0155-4 <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0155-4> 


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