conscious consumption 185
Webster ’ s defi nes consumption as both “ a using up of goods and
services ” and “ a wasting away of the body.” Although the latter
defi nition tends to refer to diseases that cause this wasting away,
such as tuberculosis, it is ironic that our excessive consumption
has literally wasted away many individuals ’ health and potential, in
addition to the well - being of our one and only inhabitable planet.
Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite novelists and poets and an
extraordinary American, recently took up farming and embraced a
lifestyle in which she and her family choose to eat locally. She
describes her reasons for doing this in her book Animal, Vegetable,
Miracle: A Year of Food Life :
If a middle - aged woman studying agriculture seems strange,
try this on for bizarre: Most of our populace and all our lead-
ers are participating in a mass hallucinatory fantasy in which
the megatons of waste we dump in our rivers and bays are not
poisoning the water, the hydrocarbons we pump into the air
are not changing the climate, overfi shing is not depleting the
oceans, fossil fuels will never run out, wars that kill masses of
civilians are an appropriate way to keep our hands on what ’ s
left, we are not desperately overdrawn at the environmental
bank and, really, the kids are all right.Although her response didn ’ t cover all of the unconscious and
unhealthy choices we are making, it did nail the majority of them —
those that are of utmost concern for our personal and global health
and sustainability and are largely within our individual powers to
dramatically change. It is radically transforming and empowering
when we fully digest the fact that our moment - to - moment, con-
scious lifestyle choices pretty much determine whether we prevent
and cure our chronic diseases, save money, and help reverse global
warming. We can awaken to the power inherent in our lifestyle
choices to create win - win choices and consequences, individu-
ally and collectively. Welcome to our Ricer family, which has this
goal as a daily priority!