“Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.” – Jimmy Carter, former US President who died on December 29, 2024 quoted in Ron Lieber’s column in The New York Times.
Mr. Carter was amongst the earliest world leaders to acknowledge environmental degradation as an issue needing to be addressed. He promoted the idea of thrifty lifestyles, vastly expanded America’s park system, capped fuel guzzling vehicles, and cleaned up toxic waste as just some of the things to ensure sustainability.
Rather than being feted for it, he lost resoundingly to Ronald Reagan when he sought re-election; the latter put the fear of ‘Carternomics’ in the minds of the American electorate. Unfortunately, capitalists will not allow their interests to be compromised upon – either then or now. And we are paying the price for it – with adverse climate change, polluted air, disappearing bio-systems, pandemics and worse.
Mr. Carter was right all along: till personal consumption is not curtailed, the slide will not be checked. But that will require a new political and economic narrative to emerge – the world needs leaders to script this.