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Why do we lack and adherence or reverence for nature. This is a very good book and anyone who is at least slightly concerned with the way life is going in this country needs to read it. It comes down to the simple fact that most of us (Americans) would like our lives to go a little different. Why do we spend all the extra hours at work, when we could be spending them on the things/people most important to us. Why are we all so stressed, all the time. We all wish we did not have so much debt, so little time to spend with friends and family.
Why aren't we regularly involved in the community. It is not a global warming, or green movement debate, though more sustainable ways for living are a big topic in this book. Why are we so isolated. We all, after a couple of months start to realize that the "perfect" house in the "perfect" suburban neighborhood, is extremely unfulfilling. It comes down to asking the questions such as: What are the most important things to us. Why don't we understand the awful consequences of debt.
This book, with excellent dialogue and statistics, bring to light a concept that deep inside, all of us really already know, that more (money, material possessions, GDP, status, house, car, work), is not better.
But I have found that just asking the question has changed my behavior. Ninety five percent of those came in plastic pots. I am consuming far more consciously, and I hope less, which has freed up my time to read more. Joe Biden says we must spend money to get out of this crisis - should I have bought the shirt.
But I was in the midst of Affluenza so I didn't buy it. And it was on sale. And that is the problem in a nutshell. I actually stood in the store for several minutes contemplating those questions.
Is there a number of books I can read on my Kindle before it dies or becomes obsolete which will cause the ecological cost of my book consumption to tip in favor of the Kindle. Net/net I am not sure that decision on how to allocate resources was a good one. We are faced with thousands of resource allocation decisions every year, and it is impossible to know with any certainty what the right decision is 9/10ths of the time. Do I buy the huge tub of sour cream because it costs less and has less packaging per ounce than the smaller one knowing that I might end up throwing some of the larger one out. I really wanted the black tee shirt because, unlike the 10 other black tee shirts I have, it has some sequins around the neck.
I read the book on my Kindle and I have to wonder what the authors would think about that. Less trees killed for sure, but yet another round of plastic objects which will either (1) have to upgraded the next iteration because at some point, Amazon will stop supporting this version, or (2) fail some day and end up in the landfill or the ocean. I haven't a clue. There is just too much of everything, and the messages we get about what to do or not do are so mixed there is no making sense of it. If we all go vegan, what happens to him. Instead I bought and planted flowers and herbs. - but we also need to increase our savings - should I not have bought the flowers.
And what about the dairy farmer. And what happens to the guy who runs the machine that makes all those plastic tubs. This book frames the issue very well, but I felt it was a little simplistic, tried to cover way too much ground, and was short on real answers, probably because there aren't any. That has to be good.
With all the pining for the limited technology/luxuries of past eras in this book, i suspect there might be a general issue with progress as well as the overconsumption of expensive gew-gaws. It comes from a good place and i see what the authors are trying to accomplish. So i have mixed feelings.this book echos some of my already set sentiments about modern spending habits and classism. Overall, the book has a good message that could really do people some good. but i found the tone, slight paranoia and misplaced nostalgia to be a bit of a turn off. I was hoping to come away with a renewed, positive urge to carefully choose what i buy but instead began to resent being painted as a stupid, miserable, empty, American cubicle slave that hates their job and exists only to consume and defecate plastic flotsam all over my environment.
This book brings light to a disease specific to our time in history and culture. Yes, we all know there's a lot of consumerism, but this book presents ideas in ways that may just change the way you choose to live your life.
However, there are some negative points I want to make about Affluenza. All in all, Affluenza is a good book, but it needs to be more factual than opinionated while clearing up the nebulousness surrounding the definition of the word. In reality, they are blocked because there is money to be made. If I choose the latter route, I am wasting natural resources and causing more pollution, but I am saving money. It is like everybody knows what is the problem, but not many are doing anything about it. How can they live simple when they are besieged by hardness of living. Somehow, the philosophy doesn't fit them since they are stuck in the same place with the same job because that's the only option they have.
As a matter of fact, I knew where I stood before I read the book, and afterwards, there is a further examination of my positions. I read the book Affluenza when it came out, and I enjoyed the book a lot. It is a "painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more." If I choose the former route, I am wasting money. Meanwhile, fourthly, I didn't like the third part of the book which deals with treatment. Now, let's look at the definition of affluenza. Another situation is that I might happen to live in a house that is totally green and energy efficient. At this point, especially what had happened last year with the stock market, the only opportune time to solve the problem is when the country has reached the breaking point and then people start scrambling and blaming. Secondly, the book doesn't seem to be written for people who do not live in Seattle or at least in the Northwest region or who are uneducated, live in the slums, and work in minimum wage jobs.
Actually, the writers of Affluenza perfectly foresaw this in page 218 where they talk about the economy boom not lasting forever and that this country will be hit with a recession. When growing up, I was pretty much naïve about how the world works because it was something that was not always told to anyone through television or news. Hm, I could think of other situations, but I am not satisfied at all with the explanation by the book. That means a twenty mile round trip each time. But the problem is that I have to drive ten miles to get there because it's the only road that will reach to there.
One thing the writers did in the book is to restate the points over and over throughout the book, but they do not really explain how they are achieved. Let me bring up a couple of hypothetical situations. If I only had two choices of flying, I can fly either from San Antonio, TX to Atlanta, GA for $750 dollars or the same route but stop at Chicago, IL for $250 dollars. I've never forgotten the experience because it made me to think about the choices I would make in my life. Which method is better: waste 20 miles each time or demolish the landscape and pave the way to save 18 miles of pollution and natural resources.
However, there is a way to avoid this by building a road that reaches the house by one mile. If I decided to buy the book Affluenza (which I did from a used bookstore), have I become a hypocrite and committed an affluenza. Or if I buy books and build up a library, is that affluenza. I thought the supporting details were weak and not well-defended, and I wasn't convinced by the solutions.
The last several years or so, the truth has finally emerged yet nobody really cares. Is that affluenza. Thirdly is the unclear definition of affluenza. Which one would I take.
What happens if it is for my scholarly work. Regardless, I still agree with the main points outlined by the authors and support them.
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