Consumptionomics: Asia's Role in Reshaping Capitalism and Saving the Planet - Hardcover

Nair, Chandran

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9780470828571: Consumptionomics: Asia's Role in Reshaping Capitalism and Saving the Planet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470828579 ISBN 13: 9780470828571

Publisher: Wiley, 2011

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“The current crisis is over money tends to obscure bigger crises over the whole direction of out society. Chandran Nair well brings out the need for us to think again: about our consumption of diminishing resources, the way we measure economic wealth and social health, the changing balance of power between East and West, and the damage we are doing to the natural environment – in short, the future of human society in a vulnerable world. Most important he points to a better way ahead.” – Sir Crispin Tickell

“Two virtually certain major trends will create a massive global collision. First, Asian living standards will rise spectacularly. This is good. Second, Asians will replicate Western consuming patterns. This is bad. How do we gain the good and avoid the bad? This will be one of the biggest questions of the twenty-first century. Chandran Nair’s book could not be timelier. We need to seriously address the major questions that he raises and heed his valuable advice.” – Kishore Mahbubani, former Singapore Ambassador to UN and author of Can Asians Think? And The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East

“Reconciling the needs of billions of new consumers with the requirements of a planet that is already showing the strains of ecological carelessness, overexploitation and unsustainable pollution, is one of the urgent challenges facing humanity. Consumptionomics shows what it will take to rise to this challenge and what the consequences of failing to do so would be, while also offering ideas about what to do. A fascinating read about an indispensable debate.” – Mois�s Na�m, former editor of Foreign Policy magazine and author of Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy

“Terrifying, but terrific! Consumptionomics is an outstanding analysis of what the rise of Asia means for our world. Chandran makes an incredibly compelling argument about why business (i.e. consumption) as usual just won’t do. Rather than acting as an impediment to growth for the region, addressing this issue head-on becomes an opportunity to innovate and shift towards a low-carbon economy, growing even more, faster and better.” – Jos�-Maria Figueres, former president of Costa Rica, and former MD of the World Economic Forum

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From the Inside Flap:

Asia’s role in reshaping capitalism and saving the planet

Consumption has been for many years the fuel that drives the engine of global capitalism. The recent financial crisis has seen the west’s leading economists and policy makers urging Asia to make a conscious effort to consume more and thereby help save the global economy. This is a view shaped b conventional wisdom which conveniently refuses to acknowledge both the undesirable effects of consumption and the limits to growth.

In Consumptionomics, one of Asia’s leading sources of new ideas, Chandran Nair, tackles head-on what is certain to prove the most controversial political challenge of the next two decades,

Consumptionomics argues that the blinkered conventional view needs to be replaced by a more rational approach to such challenges. If Asians were to achieve consumption levels taken for granted in the West the results would be environmentally catastrophic across the globe. Needless to say, it would also have significant geopolitical impacts as nations scramble for diminishing resources. Asian government and leaders find themselves with a dilemma. The solutions will entail making sensitive political choices and adopting certain forms of government to affect a fundamental change of direction. If Asia is willing to take on this responsibility it will help to save the planet whilst reshaping capitalism.

About the Author:

Chandran Nair is the founder of the Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT), an independent social venture think tank dedicated to advancing understanding of the impact of globalization through thought leadership and positive action to affect change. He was chairman of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in Asia Pacific until 2004, establishing the company as Asia’s leading environmental consultancy. For more than a decade he has strongly advocated a more sustainable approach to development in Asia, advising governments and multinational corporations to instill their policies and key decision-making processes with these principles. In addition to his work with GIFT, Chandran Nair continues to provide strategic management advice and coaching to business leaders.

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