Salam -
At yesterday’s Conversations session with Dr Ann Florini (Director, Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS) on Global Governance Amidst Financial Disorder, a couple of interesting themes werre discussed, one of which was the power of consumers’ choices shaping the economics and politics of global challenges.
An example was climate change – consequence-conscious consumers (brilliant alliteration, thank you) who, given enough information on the outcome of buying a certain product, can ultimately vote to change the path the Earth takes. That is, you make a choice to buy or use a product based on more than the pricing mechanism. If you knew the product you were buying cost not only $5, but cost the environment because 400 grammes of chemical waste was generated, 2 animals were tested on (and died!), and 96 cubic metres of CO2 was released, you would probably not buy it.
Would this work in saving our world? Maybe not. I think we’d just get too much more information which we’ll ignore and go on buying what we’ve always bought based on price. Because it takes too long to think about alternatives, and it’s inconvenient to change our HABITS. We’re essentially creatures of habit…
Wassalam – Jalees