The western lifestyle has become increasingly absurd, resulting in growing mental illness, widespread depression, poor health, social alienation, and it turns out, environmental catastrophe. We should never have been so stupid, and we must return to a more balanced life as soon as possible.
If those in the west - Europe, America, Australia, Japan - make this change, those seeking to become like westerners in China, India and elsewhere will get the message. If westerners do not change, only disaster waits.
If we can change, a new economy, a new politics, and a new society with different values will emerge that can deal with the global environmental problem. They may well turn out to make life a whole lot more interesting and enjoyable as well.
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We don’t really have a choice in this, and we are just wasting time. To avoid global catastrophe the whole of western society needs to mobilise and change our ways. If we do the rest of the world will follow and civilisation will escape the trap we so carelessly laid for ourselves.
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About the Author
Dr Peter McMahon has worked in a number of jobs including in politics at local, state and federal level. He has also taught Australian studies, politics and political economy at university level, and until recently he taught sustainable development at Murdoch University. He has been published in various newspapers, journals and magazines in Australia and has written a short history of economic development and sustainability in Western Australia. His book Global Control: Information Technology and Globalisation was published in the UK in 2002. He is now an independent researcher and writer on issues related to global change.
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