In continuation to this post, on “The world’s first mall for recycled goods”, I just came across this thought provoking article in the Guardian….“Forget ‘developing’ poor countries, it’s time to ‘de-develop’ rich countries.”
Although written in September 2015, after the UN was renegotiating the new sustainable development goals (SDGs), the author Jason Hickel argues that we need to stop thinking of growth as the answer to eradicating poverty, but instead try to encourage richer countries to tone down their excesses.
Here is a small excerpt:
“What does this mean for our theory of development? Economist Peter Edward argues that instead of pushing poorer countries to “catch up” with rich ones, we should be thinking of ways to get rich countries to “catch down” to more appropriate levels of development. We should look at societies where people live long and happy lives at relatively low levels of income and consumption not as basket cases that need to be developed towards western models, but as exemplars of efficient living.”
I am inspired and hope to hear more of this out of the box way to approaching the complex relationship between global consumption and poverty.
*Picture on top from the Article: Recent reserach found 70% of people in middle and high income countries believe overconsumption is putting our planet and society at risk. Photograph: Seth Wenig/Reuters
Modest Jerusalem 