Product details
Publisher : Random House Canada (May 18 2021)
Language : English
Hardcover : 352 pages
ISBN-10 : 073527553X
ISBN-13 : 978-0735275539
Item weight : 530 g
Dimensions : 15.93 x 2.9 x 23.57 cm
In a brilliant work of imaginative non-fiction, prize-winning author J.B. MacKinnon asks what would happen--to our economy, our ecology, our products, our selves--if we stopped consuming so much? Is that alternative world one we might actually want to live in?
"We can't stop shopping. And yet we must. This is the consumer dilemma."
The planet says we consume too much: in North America, we burn the earth's resources at a rate five times faster than they can regenerate. And despite our efforts to "green" our consumption--by recycling, increasing energy efficiency, or using solar power--we have yet to see a decline in global carbon emissions.
The economy says we must always consume more, because, as we've seen in the pandemic, even the slightest drop in spending leads to widespread unemployment, bankruptcy and home foreclosures.
Addressing this paradox head-on, J.B. MacKinnon asks, What would really happen if we simply stop shopping? Is there a way to reduce our consumption to earth-saving levels without triggering an economic collapse?
At first, this question took him around the world, seeking answers: from America's big-box stores, to the hunter-gatherer cultures of Namibia, to communities in Ecuador that consume at an exactly sustainable rate. Then his thought experiment came shockingly true, as the coronavirus brought shopping to a halt and MacKinnon's ideas were tested in real time.
Drawing on experts ranging from economists to climate scientists to corporate CEOs, MacKinnon investigates how living with less would change our planet, our society and ourselves. Along the way, he reveals just how much we stand to gain.
Imaginative and inspiring, The Day the World Stops Shopping will empower you to imagine another way.
About the Author
J.B. MacKINNON's most recent work of non-fiction is The Once and Future World, a national bestseller that was nominated for every major non-fiction prize in Canada, and won the US Green Prize for Sustainable Literature. His previous bestseller, The 100-Mile Diet, cowritten with Alisa Smith, catalysed the local foods movement, and inspired a Food Network TV series, cohosted by MacKinnon, that aired in 30 countries. Currently an adjunct professor at UBC Graduate School of Journalism, MacKinnon is a regular contributor to such influential publications as The New Yorker and The Atlantic; his journalism has also appeared in National Geographic, among many other publications, including most of Canada's major outlets. He's won a dozen National Magazine Awards, as well as several U.S.-based awards (most recently an AAAS-Kavli Award for Science), and the Charles Taylor Prize for Non-Fiction for his first book, Dead Man in Paradise. He lives in Vancouver with his partner, Alisa Smith.
