Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Caitlin Johnstone offers a grim but fair evaluation of the barely-existent left in the U.S. and elsewhere – while recognizing that the obvious implication is the need to build capacity to demand systemic change. And David Suzuki discusses how an obsession with perpetually
Continue readingTag: Consumerism
Things Are Good: Buying Time Provides More Than Buying Objects
Start 2022 with a new mindset of buying time instead of material objects. Researchers continue to find more evidence that for a fulfilling life one should eschew material gains for temporal gains. In practice this means that, when given the choice between spending your money on a consumer good or
Continue readingThings Are Good: Affordable Ethical Shopping
It’s that time of year when people buy consumer goods to express their appreciation that other people exist. Yet, the world around us in suffering from consumerism-led climate change, what is a person to do? The simple solution is to not buy physical gifts, but that’s not always practical. Tanja
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Graham Thomson discusses how the UCP has put politics over public well-being in choosing to let COVID run rampant (while now seeking to fund-raise off of opposition to even the most basic measures to let people reduce their own risk). And Carrie
Continue readingScripturient: Montaigne on Ketchup-Flavoured Cheetos
In his famous work, Essays, Michel de Montaigne, channelling the Epicureans, wrote that, “All the opinions in the world point out that pleasure is our aim. (Book I: On the Power of Imagination).” And I have to admit that what we euphemistically call “junk food” is a widespread pleasure that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Jenna Gettings et al. study the massive effect masking and improved ventilation have in reducing the spread of the coronavirus in elementary schools. But Sheila Wang reports on the outdated assumptions still being used to inform public health advice about COVID-19. And Michael
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – John Smith discusses the importance of recognizing and repairing the weaknesses in our social fabric which have been laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic. And George Monbiot discusses how the force of consumerism has warped the way we live. – Rachel Aiello reports
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Sarah Schulman discusses the importance of sleep as a determinant of health, arguing that a safe bed is the first step toward addressing all kinds of social ills. – Laura Lynch interviews Adria Vasil about the massive amount of avoidable waste generated
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Joseph Stiglitz writes about the dangers of measuring economic and social progress solely in terms of GDP: It is clear that something is fundamentally wrong with the way we assess economic performance and social progress. Even worse, our metrics frequently give the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Dan Hancox discusses how both work demands and consumerist force are causing people to lose sleep. And Jodi Dean writes about the need for a sense of comradeship to counter the impossible expectation of self-reliance. – Anand Giridharadas argues that the wealthy
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Towards a Green Social Democratic Economy
Background/Context Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.[1][2][3][4] Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labor, voluntary exchange, a price system and competitive markets.[5][6] In a capitalist market economy, decision-making and investments are
Continue readingThings Are Good: Campaign to Label Carbon Footprint of Consumer Goods
A team has started a Kickstarter campaign to label a product’s carbon footprint so consumers can make better decisions about which brand to buy. The labels are meant to bring attention to the additional cost of wasteful production and a bunch of brands have already joined the initiative. Of course
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Greg Wilpert interviews Julia Wolfe about the contract between soaring incomes for CEOs, and stagnant ones for workers. And David Cooper observes that everybody benefits from a fair minimum wage. – Christopher Cheung points out that the presence – or absence – of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Lana Payne discusses the need for outrage about the lack of enforcement even of corporate tax obligations which have been slashed for decades. And Hassan Yussuff writes about the obvious merits of a universal pharmacare system, along with the wealthy few determined to
Continue readingThings Are Good: Examples of Ways People Already Live a Low Carbon Lifestyle
As the climate crisis continues there are many ways that we all can try to slow it down. The biggest changes need to happen at the political level enforcing sustainable practices, in the meantime there are things you can do as an individual. The easiest thing to do is buy
Continue readingThings Are Good: From Fast Fashion to Sustainable Style
Fast fashion relies on mass production and mass consumption in order to survive. The fashion industry as a whole requires a lot of energy, water, and logistics to function in its current form, which means the days of current fast fashion will have to come to an end. People are
Continue readingThings Are Good: Further Greening Your Green Practices
Seeing so many “green” products on store shelves can be confusing as you might not know what the right decision is. Over at The Guardian they’ve written up a handy guide to help you and it basically comes down to take a moment and think about lifecycles of products. Their
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: New Year, New Wage, New Me
Happy New Year to everyone! You may be wondering where I have been for the past five months, since The Political Road Map has become quite lonely. I decided that I would try out working in print media and took a position with a local newspaper. The work is hard,
Continue readingThings Are Good: An App That Rewards You for Riding a Bike
Biko rewards cyclists with free stuff just for riding their bike! Rewards include small things like coffee to very expensive consumer items. The idea of rewarding cyclist for not killing the environment using cars isn’t new, Stockholm basically pays cyclists. When it comes to using Biko please consider that they
Continue readingThings Are Good: New bank Account Morally Monitors Your Purchases
money Aspiration financial firm is a B-corporatoin that wants to help people “vote with their wallets”. It’s incredibly hard for individuals to stay up to date on the damage that large organizations do despite that a lot of people care. Consumers want to punish companies for some of their actions
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