New World Notes - Consumed (Part 2 of 2)

This week on New World Notes: radio program #260, February 26, 2013, from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m., host Kenneth Dowst looks at consumerism and overconsumption, from the perspectives of sociology, economic history, and especially psychology. Our two-part series features the video documentary, Consumed: Inside the Belly of the Beast.

I'm not so sure of the "evolutionary" part of "evolutionary psychology." It's hard to see what is gained by asserting that people act in a certain way because, through natural selection, we evolved to act that way. But there's much more to the movie than this--and the conventional psychology, anthropology, sociology, and economic history brought to bear here all seem insightful.

As Annie Leonard puts it (in The Story of Stuff), we're trashing the planet, and we're not even having fun. So why can't we stop? Well, maybe we can.

Plus additional reflections by philosopher/economist Charles Eisenstein and K.D.

Of note, in the documentary: a long-overdue appreciation of the "hippie" culture of the late 1960s, by Prof. Alastair McIntosh. Acting less like yuppies and more like hippies may indeed be the sanest option in the 21st century.

Adapted to radio by K.D. Thanks to Robin Upton for introducing me to the video. Robin's own radio adaptation of "Consumed" may be found in installment #634 of his show, "Unwelcome Guests," available at unwelcomeguests.net.

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Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want--and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut dates shown)

March 5 -- GMOs-2

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