Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic Read online

  “Affluenza is an engagingly conversational, thought-provoking look at where we have perverted the American dream. Though the nature of books like these is to preach to the converted, Affluenza offers enough support to the arguments and enough depth to the solutions to have a good chance of reaching the unconvinced.”

  —DETROIT FREE PRESS

  “You’ll laugh. . . You’ll cry. . . You’ll cheer. . . You’ll growl. But you’ll be challenged and moved by this book. Affluenza looks at our epidemic of over-consumption and shows how we can live simpler, more meaningful lives. It’s a fantastic book, very funny yet deeply serious.”

  —PETER BARNES, COFOUNDER, WORKING ASSETS

  “If you sometimes suspect that American life has become a nightmare, but you dare not admit the truth to yourself or talk about it to others, take a peek inside Affluenza. The way to end a nightmare is to wake up, and this book is an alarm clock. We have created a world that dishonors all that is honorable, good, and meaningful. There is another possibility.”

  —PAUL HAWKEN, AUTHOR

  Ecology of Commerce AND Natural Capitalism

  “Affluenza brings society’s consuming malaise into sharp focus. But rather than dwell only on the illness, it provides suggestions for healing on an international, national, local and individual level. I’ve recommended that our community read and discuss its concepts as a first step toward living more carefully and consciously. As we find each other in conversation, good things are happening.”

  —AMY LEVEK, MAYOR, TELLURIDE, COLORADO

  “. . . one of the wittiest, most dynamic treatments of the linked problems of our frenetic lives and the destruction of the planet. If you want to feel exhilarated, like jumping up and down and cheering humanity on as we find ways to save the Earth and ourselves, read this book!”

  —CECILE ANDREWS, AUTHOR

  The Circle of Simplicity

  “Using humor, facts, and compelling stories, [Affluenza] exposes the disease of over-consuming that threatens our health, families, budgets, friendships, communities, and the environment. But it doesn’t stop there; it offers concrete ideas that can contribute to healthier, happier lives and a more livable planet. You should read it. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you might even change your life—or extend it!”

  —DAVID R. BROWER, CHAIRMAN, EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE,

  AND FOUNDER, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

  “The material basis for the American way of life is not sustainable here and is not replicable elsewhere. Our feverish mindset is burning up the natural systems that support us. Affluenza provides a witty, informed roadmap out of this unfulfilling dead end, and describes sustainable alternatives that are stimulating, healthy, diverse, and fun.”

  —DENIS HAYES, CHAIR, EARTH DAY NETWORK

  “Affluenza lays out the symptoms, the causes, and (gratefully) the cure. With wit, intelligence and pizzazz, this trio of authors has brought together a complete guide to the disease that most ails America. Proof of having read the book should be a requirement for opening a charge account, applying for a boat loan, or running a large corporation.”

  —Yes!

  A JOURNAL OF POSITIVE FUTURES

  AFFLUENZA

  AFFLUENZA

  The All-Consuming Epidemic

  SECOND EDITION

  John de Graaf

  David Wann

  Thomas H. Naylor

  In association with Redefining Progress

  With new research by Pamela Rands

  Illustrations by David Horsey

  New foreword by Vicki Robin

  Affluenza

  Copyright © 2005 by John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas Naylor

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

  235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650

  San Francisco, California 94104-2916

  Tel: (415) 288-0260, Fax: (415) 362-2512

  www.bkconnection.com

  Ordering information for print editions

  Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” at the Berrett-Koehler address above.

  Individual sales. Berrett-Koehler publications are available through most bookstores. They can also be ordered directly from Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626; www.bkconnection.com

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  Berrett-Koehler and the BK logo are registered trademarks of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

  Second Edition

  Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-57675-357-6

  PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-60509-647-6

  IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-60509-648-3

  2010-2

  Interior design and composition: Seventeenth Street Studios

  Copyeditor: Karen Seraguchi

  Indexer: Medea Minnich

  Cover design: Mark van Bronkhorst, MvB Design

  In memory of

  DAVID ROSS BROWER

  (1912-2000)

  a giant of twentieth-century thought and action on behalf of

  the earth. He hoped that one day

  We may see that progress is not

  The accelerating speed with which we multiply

  And subdue the Earth, nor the growing number

  Of things we possess and cling to.

  It is a way along which to search for truth,

  To find serenity and love and reverence for life,

  To be part of an enduring harmony...

  And in memory of

  DONELLA MEADOWS

  (1941-2001)

  Scientist and sheep farmer, she pointed us all

  toward a more sustainable society.

  CONTENTS

  Foreword to the First Edition

  Foreword to the Second Edition

  Preface

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction

  PART ONE: SYMPTOMS

  1. Shopping Fever

  2. A Rash of Bankruptcies

  3. Swollen Expectations

  4. Chronic Congestion

  5. The Stress Of Excess

  6. Family Convulsions

  7. Dilated Pupils

  8. Community Chills

  9. An Ache for Meaning

  10. Social Scars

  11. Resource Exhaustion

  12. Industrial Diarrhea

  13. The Addictive Virus

  14. Dissatisfaction Guaranteed

  PART TWO: CAUSES

  15. Original Sin

  16. An Ounce of Prevention

  17. The Road Not Taken

  18. An Emerging Epidemic

  19. The Age of Affluenza

  20. Is There a (Real) Doctor in the House?

  PART THREE: TREATMENT

  21. The R
oad to Recovery

  22. Bed Rest

  23. Aspirin and Chicken Soup

  24. Fresh Air

  25. The Right Medicine

  26. Back to Work

  27. Vaccinations and Vitamins

  28. Political Prescriptions

  29. Annual Check-Ups

  30. Healthy Again

  Notes

  Bibliography and Sources

  Index

  About the Contributors

  About Redefining Progress

  FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION

  When I was first approached to host the television program Affluenza, the idea sounded just about as appealing as a lukewarm cup of boiled root tea. I imagined a stern sort of brew that would make me cringe with every breath and sip, while earnestly pious activists in earth sandals and dun-colored parkas spun from discarded soda pop bottles hectored innocent bystanders strolling into coffee bars and shopping malls: “Materialist stooge! Self-gratifying spendthrift! Polluting pirate!” I opened their proposal determined to quickly fill my schedule with conflicting activities.

  But I had worked with this production group before, had liked and respected them. More: I enjoyed spending time with them. And then, I read. And I was impressed. The program they proposed had wit, feeling, and style. It was pointed without being overbearing. It had character. And it held my interest.

  I enlisted. I didn’t imagine that Affluenza would become wildly popular. At most, I thought it might present a few significant scenes and ideas to an interested audience. It would impart a warm feeling and then, like most broadcasting, evaporate, leaving only a small, wet spot in its place.

  What I hadn’t figured on was timing, timing. Affluenza was aired in the late 1990s, a time when more Americans were feeling fatter bank accounts—and more hollowness inside. Shopping and stock market speculation were becoming the genuine national pastimes. But at the same time, greater numbers of Americans were seeking to cash themselves out of what was becoming to them a daily rough-and-tumble struggle for mere things. So, against all expectation (or at least mine), Affluenza generated a small but fierce enthusiasm. Discussion groups were convened. Tapes and transcripts were passed around, read, and replayed. Viewers who were drawn in by unexpected flashes of wit in the program stayed around to find that their consciences could be tickled, too.

  This book is the cheerful result of accumulated curiosities from people who would like to run some of Affluenza‘s thinking through their minds and hearts. It is not a how-to book, so much as a what-if book. While it contains some staggeringly practical suggestions for small and large proposals that could reform our cities, reorder our tax code, and build new kinds of communities that emphasize sharing over competition, it is not a book that shakes a finger in our faces and reprimands hard-working Americans for wanting a little more comfort, elegance, and enjoyment in our lives. On the contrary. Affluenza respects those perfectly human desires and seeks to create ways that make comfort, elegance, and enjoyment more genuine and durable than purchasable, perishable commodities. More than most start-ups or dot-coms, it creates something of real value—a new way of accounting for true happiness in our lives.

  Scott Simon

  Weekend Edition Saturday Host

  National Public Radio

  Washington, D.C.

  February 2001

  FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

  Thinking back nearly a decade to the first time Affluenza coauthor John de Graaf and I talked over coffee in the KCTS cafeteria about making a documentary on Americans’ habits of “buying, having, and wasting too much,” I can see we’ve come a loooooong way.

  On the plus side, there are now numerous organizations touting simplicity, conscious spending, fiscal responsibility, sustainable lifestyles and livelihoods, green consuming, and more. In 2001, John and I, along with other authors, artists and activists on simplicity issues, started the Simplicity Forum (www.simplicityforum.org). Even highly commercial ventures are now guaranteeing simplicity if you buy their products—from magazines to cars to computers to hair dye. The Simplicity Forum members have puzzled over this development. . . does this mean we are succeeding, or succumbing to a voracious commercial machine?

  Looking at other trends, though, you could conclude that the tsunami of the global marketplace has overtaken the simplicity trend. Hummers are multiplying. The savings rate in the United States is almost zero, and household debt is rising. National debt, too, has taken an odd turn with a Republican president at the helm. The political party of fiscal conservatism is at this writing ratcheting up the deficit in service to the global war on terror. Indeed, America’s response to September 11 turned us away from a half century of social and environmental legislation that in one way or another nudged our nation toward material prudence and generosity of spirit. Spooked and nervous, America under George W. Bush is investing in arming a fortress while gutting domestic programs that support the underdog (or tree or child or endangered species).

  It’s a great puzzle, in such times, to know what combination of carrots and sticks will get the attention of our people. Conditions for families are getting worse, with two wage earners needed to afford a hefty mortgage, health insurance, and the river of requisite games that kids are sold on and parents must buy. Yet family-oriented Americans are supporting policies that will make it harder for them to live. Indeed, the commercialization of cradle-to-grave life in America is making us all poorer in spirit, in security, in a sense of belonging, and in a wholesome environment. Yet we persist in our ways. Well, perhaps you have right-sized your consumption, but collectively it’s becoming an ever-greater global menace.

  So I wonder how affluenza—the epidemic, not this book—might be like other seemingly intractable social problems. If it is, we can possibly learn from their more effective interventions.

  Could affluenza be like smoking? As the effects of smoking became clear, action groups lobbied for warning labels on cigarettes. As the effects of secondhand smoke became clear, we set limits on how much the smoker could endanger nonsmokers. How is affluenza similar to smoking? It exposes frugal and rational consumers to a haze of unwanted advertising and shopping malls and social bills to remediate the side effects of affluenza. Sadly, we don’t yet dare as a society to place restraints on junk consumption, even though it’s noxious to people and other living things. It endangers all of us through generating waste and toxicity, overtaxing natural resources, and making landfills a booming business. We leave it to personal choice, to people sufficiently principled to refrain from buying polluting or overpackaged products. It forces us to battle the demands of kids in order to research—and pay a premium for—nontoxic products.

  With smoking you could easily point an accusing finger at cigarettes and go after their production and consumption. The costs of affluenza, however, are multiple, as this book shows. We don’t have loved ones who die of it, fueling our political passion. But read this book and you will see so clearly where you need to change—and your need for others to change as well, including lawmakers.

  Perhaps, however, affluenza—the epidemic, not this book—is more like a sexually transmitted disease. Something pleasurable in the short run is that painful and even deadly in the long run. A lot of unprotected sex happens between people with condoms in their pockets or purse. It just doesn’t feel as good, they often say. Likewise, a lot of reckless shopping happens with all but one credit card maxed out. The drive to “keep up with the Joneses” means that we catch affluenza by proximity.

  Polls show that people would be willing to lower their consumption if everyone else did it too. All together now, one. . . two. . . three. . . let’s buy smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. Indeed, one common reason people buy SUVs is to have a better chance of surviving collisions with other SUVs. We ratchet up our own consumption to protect at least our status if not our lives from other people’s increased consumption. If affluenza is lethal or at least debilitating, it’s a public-health issue. Our co
llective will, expressed through cultural and political leaders, should fight it.

  Maybe, though, affluenza is an addiction, or at least a pernicious habit. Advertising has trained us to solve problems with products; the deep structures of our personalities have been wired to medicate any uneasiness with our favorite drug, consumption. Divorce: splurge. Get married: splurge. Graduate with honors: splurge. Feel like a failure: splurge. Economy slows down: splurge. . . collectively. The late and sorely missed Donella Meadows saw affluenza as the tendency to fill nonmaterial needs materially.

  If shopping is a response to joy and sorrow, good fortune and bad, despair and hope, I think that’s substance abuse. If so, might we learn from the 12-step programs? Step one: We admit that we are powerless over our personal and collective shopping habit and that our lives have become unmanageable. Y’know what? That sounds true to me. Our personal lives are unmanageable—overextension, stress, loss of relationships, and debt combine to put us into a downward spiral. Our collective lives are unmanageable: we overharvest, overmine, overbuild, overheat the atmosphere, and suffer from a rise in asthma, cancers, and autoimmune diseases. All of this and more depletes our capacity to sustain life and give the next generation a planet as healthy as the one our forebears gave us. One hope of this book is to show—gently and with humor—that we’ve already hit bottom.

  Affluenza—the book —then, could be seen as an intervention. With kindness and firmness it asks us to face our consumption-generated problems. It doesn’t ridicule us, but it doesn’t pull punches. And, like an intervention for other substance-abuse problems, it offers the experience, hope, and strength of those who’ve kicked the habit and regained their self-respect, integrity, and belonging through “the program.” In this case, though, the programs offered at the end of the book work on many levels, from making personal choices to changing the rules of the game to reward all actions moving us toward a thriving, just, and sustainable future. So enjoy! This is a great book about a tough-to-face set of problems. . . but a spoonful of humor really helps this medicine go down.