Videos of note

In: Uncategorized

1 Aug 2010

Living Outside the Box: Sustainable Lifestyles.  A video produced for the United Nations Environment Programme by Sweden’s environment ministry. Through the tale of Angie (who lives in an unspecified rich country) and George (who lives in an unspecified poor country) argues that more “stuff” does not make us any happier. It also threatens the planet’s natural resources. Draws the conclusion that we should all live “sustainable lifestyles” – implicitly suggesting the poor should remain poor.

RJ Smith on the history of environmentalism. Competitive Enterprise Institute. An interesting but one-sided video. Right to argue that American environmentalism at least partly grew out of the New Left and anti-war movements of the 1960s. But fails to recognise that the left’s adoption of green ideas was a response to defeat – the failure of socialism to meet its objectives – rather than a step forward.