Tuesday, April 27th at 7:30 pm VIA ZOOM

We thought we’d mix it up for our last BVN winter speaker series by bringing in author, J.B. Mackinnon for an interview style presentation about his new book, ‘The Day the World Stops Shopping.’  Our consumption habits and our economy based on perpetual growth are at the heart of so many environmental issues, including the TSMV development in front of Canmore town Council now.  How many times are we told we need to keep growing for the sake of our economy?  This talk promises to bring a refreshing alternative perspective.

THE DAY THE WORLD STOPS SHOPPING- an interview with author J.B. Mackinnon

 In a brilliant work of imaginative non-fiction, prize-winning author J.B. MacKinnon asks what would happen–to our economy, our ecology, our products, ourselves–if we stopped consuming so much? Is that alternative world one we might actually want to live in?

“We can’t stop shopping. And yet we must. This is the consumer dilemma.”
The planet says we consume too much: in North America, we burn the earth’s resources at a rate five times faster than they can regenerate. And despite our efforts to “green” our consumption–by recycling, increasing energy efficiency, or using solar power–we have yet to see a decline in global carbon emissions.
Addressing this paradox head-on, J.B. MacKinnon asks, What would really happen if we simply stop shopping? Is there a way to reduce our consumption to earth-saving levels without triggering an economic collapse?
Drawing on experts ranging from economists to climate scientists to corporate CEOs, MacKinnon investigates how living with less would change our planet, our society and ourselves. Along the way, he reveals just how much we stand to gain.

 

J.B. MacKinnon is the author of The Once and Future World, a national bestseller in Canada and winner of the U.S. Green Prize for Sustainable Literature. The 100-Mile Diet (with Alisa Smith), was a bestseller widely recognized as a catalyst of the local food movement.  As a freelance journalist, MacKinnon is currently a contributor to The New Yorker on consumer issues and ecology. His work also appears in publications ranging from National Geographic and Reader’s Digest to vanguard outlets such as Adbusters and Nautilus. He has won more than a dozen national and international writing awards.