"Citizens, Consumers and the Environment: Reflections on The Economy of the Earth"

Keat, Russell | from Multimedia Library Collection:
Environmental Values (journal)

Keat, Russell. “Citizens, Consumers and the Environment: Reflections on The Economy of the Earth.” Environmental Values 3, no. 4, (1994): 333–49. doi:10.3197/096327194776679674.

This paper presents a critical evaluation of Mark Sagoff’s critique of economistic approaches to environmental decision-making in The Economy of the Earth. Whilst endorsing many of Sagoff’s specific arguments against the use of extended versions of cost-benefit analysis in making such decisions, it criticises the conceptual framework within which these arguments are developed. In particular, it suggests that what Sagoff represents as a tension between consumers and their public roles as citizens is better understood as one between culturally shared values concerning both the protection of nature and the pursuit of consumption; and that this conflict has itself to be resolved by them as citizens.

— Text from The White Horse Press website

All rights reserved. © 1994 The White Horse Press