You can't consume your way to growth

Sunita Narain of Centre for Science and Environment has a great editorial about the current economic crisis:

The fact is we have been taught, and have practised what has been preached, we can consume our way to growth and consume our way through and out of any slow-down period. “Don’t worry, just consume” is the mantra. If we cannot ‘afford’ to consume, then, too, we should not worry. The financial systems will ensure we get cheap loans to buy homes, cars, washing machines, or anything else we may not need but desire. After all, it is only if we consume that growth indicators will look rosy again, and the world will remain happy.

It would be way cool if "contientious consumption" became the in thing. People thinking about their footprint on the world--how much they give/create vs. how much they consume.

Stay tuned for some Jiva articles by Dr. Satya Narayana Dasa and Dr. Partap Chauhan about the Vedic/Ayurvedic perspectives of consumption.