ABSTRACT
Two facts about global consumption are particularly striking: the rich consume so much and the poor so little. So some suggest that those of us in the developed world must change the way that we consume. These people often believe that poverty and environmental problems are (at least partly) due to the fact that rich people are consuming a disproportionate share of the earth’s resources (Daly 2005, Wenar 2008). Are they right? What should we say about consumption practices that might harm the environment or violate rights? How can we figure out what to consume? This chapter focuses on these questions. It has two aims. The first is to summarize, and critically discuss, some of the important literature on consumption and global justice. The second aim is to contribute to the debate on this important topic and suggest a possible direction for further research by defending the following claim: the moral virtues of creativity and resolve require us to try to find alternatives to what seem to be tragic choices about (for instance) what to consume. The following section sketches some of the literature on consumption and global justice and argues that we lack a general philosophical theory that can tell us what kinds of consumption are im/permissible or required. The second section considers whether we can say more about a particular case where, it seems, consumption has some negative impacts. The third section argues that we can arrive at some conclusions about what to consume (and refrain from consuming) even in the absence of a complete account of what kinds of consumption are im/permissible or required. The final section concludes.
