Financial Times

Shopping for a better world
By Random Access Memory (RAM)
Hurray for the United Nations Environment Programme's Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer, for his initiation of the programme "Shopping for a better world". At the European Commission's Green Week opening early this week in Brussels UNEP recognized that the way ahead for the world to sustain itself would be to focus on taking a grip on the consumption front.

UNEP thinks that the $ 7 trillion strong global retail industry is where it should begin. "Consumers, especially the young, are often confronted with the seemingly contradictory choice of wanting to help the planet and the hedonistic desire to buy the latest 'must-have' brands. But, what can be more modern, more fashionable, than caring about our planet. By working with the retail and fashion industry, we can help change attitudes towards consumption, and ultimately people's actions." Toepfer is quoted to have said. In a world where lifestyle solutions are sought after by the 30 percent that consume 70 percent of the world's resources, this indeed makes 'fine sounding' sense.

We do have a few thoughts we need to add on to the agenda of the UNEP Chief. If we were to list them that would form a long shopping list. In the interest of conserving newsprint to help save a few tree parts if not trees, we chose only to highlight a few of them on a priority basis. We recommend that UNEP also look at the consumption patterns and wasteful use of resources, in the so-called defence industry and then move on to the even more wasteful industries of corruption and lawlessness.

Of course, the two have a symbiotic relationship and may in a guesstimate account to be well over $ 10 trillion in value. In little Sri Lanka, action is already taken to conserve resources in some of these areas.

The LTTE after 20 long years of wasteful firing of weapons and expending human bombs on targets in a 'shotgun' approach, has now taken on a more 'rifle shot'/ focused approach of knocking informants of the government with small firearms and only acquiring the most needed weapons. Codes of conduct and standards for good governance are being groomed all around us.

They include the recently appointed top level government committee to clean up the doings of unclean politicians, putting a stop to the unruly behaviour of MP's through a proposed Code of Ethics and a top directive to do away with the 'security personnel' for MPs except for those who have an imminent threat on their lives by virtue of the positions they hold.

On the professional front too, the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA) has presented a commendable paper on Professional Ethics and Society. The various professional institutions are also busy getting their acts in order, after the Enron affair and several other similar global corporate mishaps. On the local front we had to deal with the Pramuka Bank and SEC fiascos, which are still to be resolved.
In our quest in 'Shopping for a better world', there is no doubt we need to do our utmost to cut out the waste, focus on the leanest and take on the most efficient solutions.

Taking lifestyles for granted and offering solutions to meet those wasteful needs is one thing. Learning from our past mistakes and resolving to change the very core of the wasteful lifestyles is another. Within the framework of Asian philosophy where we look inwards in silent contemplation and meditation, the latter is considered more important strategy. Hypocrisy has no place here. But, we admit…talk comes easy…walking the talk has been tough. The proof of the pudding after all, is in the eating.

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