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Consuming Passions: Educating the Empty Self

1998; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 14; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0814062600003943

2049-775X

John Hillcoat, Eureta Janse van Rensburg,

Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution

ABSTRACT The paper considers the connections between the environmental crisis and patterns of consumption in the Western, and Westernised, worlds. These patterns are named as ‘malconsumption’, a concept which is defined and then discussed In terms of its importance to the work of environmental educators. Malconsumption as a means of ‘meaning-making’ and of countering ‘the empty self, and as a consequence of the activities of the advertising and other industries is explained. The paper closes with a summary of the orientation and activities associated with the practice of permaculture, and a proposition that a consideration of this practice in environmental education might contribute to a countering of the drive towards malconsumption.