Will the Financial Crisis Put an End to Reckless, Planet-Destroying Consumption?

The nation has faced the spectacle, in recent days, of auto industry leaders appearing before Congress to plead for their companies’ lives, asking for bailout funds. This extraordinary turn of events comes in the wake a 32 percent drop last month in auto sales, one of the steepest declines in history and a decline that occurred across all product categories and companies within the industry. The woes of this single industry highlight deeper worries for American manufacturing and retailing in general, as companies like Linens ‘n Things and Circuit City file for bankruptcy and many others brace for a bleak holiday season as consumer spending evaporates.

And yet we would like to pose a heretical question: is the drop in auto sales — and general decline in consumption — really a bad thing for America?


The over-consumption of material goods, such as cars, is in large measure the cause of our environmental problems. The transportation sector continues to be the largest source of CO2 emissions in the U.S., with cars alone contributing about 20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Amid the deepening economic crisis, the window of opportunity for bold initiatives has been flung open and Obama