Consumptionomics: Asia's Role in Reshaping Capitalism and Saving the Planet. by Chandran Nair

The current crisis is over money tends to obscure bigger crises over the whole direction of out society. Chandran Nair well brings out the need for us to think again: about our consumption of diminishing resources, the way we measure economic wealth and social health, the changing balance of power between East and West, and the damage we are doing to the natural environment - in short, the future of human society in a vulnerable world. Most important he points to a better way ahead." - Sir Crispin Tickell"Two virtually certain major trends will create a massive global collision. First, Asian living standards will rise spectacularly. This is good. Second, Asians will replicate Western consuming patterns. This is bad. How do we gain the good and avoid the bad? This will be one of the biggest questions of the twenty-first century. Chandran Nair's book could not be timelier. We need to seriously address the major questions that he raises and heed his valuable advice." - Kishore Mahbubani, former Singapore Ambassador to UN and author of "Can Asians Think? And The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East""Reconciling the needs of billions of new consumers with the requirements of a planet that is already showing the strains of ecological carelessness, overexploitation and unsustainable pollution, is one of the urgent challenges facing humanity. "Consumptionomics" shows what it will take to rise to this challenge and what the consequences of failing to do so would be, while also offering ideas about what to do. A fascinating read about an indispensable debate." - Moises Naim, former editor of "Foreign Policy" magazine and author of "Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy""Terrifying, but terrific! "Consumptionomics" is an outstanding analysis of what the rise of Asia means for our world. Chandran makes an incredibly compelling argument about why business (i.e. consumption) as usual just won't do. Rather than acting as an impediment to growth for the region, addressing this issue head-on becomes an opportunity to innovate and shift towards a low-carbon economy, growing even more, faster and better." - Jose-Maria Figueres, former president of Costa Rica, and former MD of the World Economic Forum