A new reality today is the conundrum of consumerism.

Ironically, most of humanity is still at a bare subsistence level. There are some who survive at a slightly higher level of consumption. And then we have a few who participate actively in the global consumer market. And it is the lifestyles of this "few" which has led to a steep rise in wasteful and excessive patterns of consumption.

With globalisation, came wasteful consumption patterns. High-consuming lifestyles, that were once confined to the wealthy North, can now be found in the South too. The indicators of patterns of excessive consumption and the indiscreet use of resources are now visible virtually everywhere. Discarded plastic bottles, corroded cans, used tyres and rusting automobile parts form a part of the landscape even in the poorest nations. Children in our remote villages drink branded colas, eat potato chips out of flashy plastic packets manufactured by multinational corporations and demand gizmos they see advertised on TV- satellite and cable.

Unless this trend is reversed, the spread of high-consumption lifestyles will eventually exhaust the Earth’s resources. Poised on the brink of the twenty first century, we must find ways to bring our "Consumer Society" in balance with the carrying capacity of the earth.

These consumption patterns contribute to a wide range of serious problems across the earth.

Well-known environmental effects include increased air, land, and water pollution, deforestation and desertification, depletion of natural resources, habitat and wildlife destruction, migration of villagers lured by the citylights and interference in the ecosystem.

A consumerist culture also magnifies socio-economic disparities between rich and poor and political tensions are exacerbated between North and South over issues of industrialisation.

And, of course, the processes of production of consumer items for the constantly growing consumer markets are not eco-efficient.

These problems caused by acutely consumerist lifestyles can be arrested if all of us consciously adopt sustainable consumption patterns.

From an conjectural perspective, sustainable development will be seriously jeopardised unless and until sustainable consumption is attained. Production processes and economic development, depend a lot on consumer choice and thus these processes can be deeply affected by changes in consumer habits.

Agenda 21 did not define sustainable consumption, but clearly indicated that policy attention should be focused on the demand and the usage pattern of natural resources, so as to reduce pollution and prevent their fast depletion. The role of value judgements with respect to notions of equity in the given political-economic framework, was also given by the Agenda 21 statement which is as follows: "Measures to be undertaken at the international level for the protection and enhancement of environment must fully take into account the current imbalances in the global patterns of consumption of production", thereby throwing light on the existing consumption-inequity nexus.

The Second Oslo Symposium (1995) on Sustainable Consumption stated: "Sustainable consumption is an umbrella term that brings together a number of key issues, such as meeting needs, enhancing the quality of life, improving resource efficiency, minimising waste, taking a life cycle perspective and taking into account the equity dimension. Integrating these parts is the central question of how to provide the same or better services to meet the basic requirements of life and aspirations for improvement of both current and future generations".

A campaign has been launched by Centre for Respect for Life and Environment (CRLE), to promote sustainable consumption. This project is designed to educate the public about the need to reduce excessive and wasteful consumption. The campaign, Transforming the Consumer Society, focuses on informing and sensitising strategic personnel in the world media community. A series of dialogues between representatives of the media and leading thinkers on consumption issues is under way.

The first of these events was held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on December 4, 1997; and the second, co-organised by Development Alternatives, took place in New Delhi on March 6 ( see box ). Subsequent events are scheduled to be held this year in Rio de Janeiro on June 5, in Beijing on July 29, in Kampala on September 25, and in London on November 5.

Dialogue participants include experts on consumer movement, media strategists, educators, government officials, and corporate executives. At each dialogue, a media campaign against excessive consumerism, which is appropriate to that region is drafted, and planning for a series of subsequent media briefings on selected issues in the sustainable consumption arena is initiated. A kit for the media is in the process of being prepared which will be translated into the languages of the dialogue participants, for distribution to their colleagues and grassroots organisations active in sustainable consumption initiatives.

Four products will result from the series of dialogues. First, a printed report on the findings and conclusions of the dialogues will be published. Second, videotapes of the dialogues and interviews with key experts, business and governmental leaders will be compiled. These will later be edited to create PSAs for television and radio, as well as educational videos for distribution to schools, universities, and civic organisations. Third, a global information and communication network will be established on the World Wide Web to link organisations and interested individuals around the world actively supporting sustainable consumption projects. The network will provide libraries of resources, contacts and best practices, and international electronic discussion groups. The fourth product, to be prepared at the conclusion of the dialogue series, will be information resource kits for use by the media. These kits will provide specific information on projects that are successfully implementing sustainable consumption objectives, including contact information in order to encourage and facilitate coverage through feature stories, interviews and media programming.