Consuming in time of disorders

The “disorders” are numerous: from climate to endocrine disruptors, environmental damage has profoundly challenged our ways of producing and consuming. Initially not very noticeable in everyday life, these negative externalities have become more and more prevalent, so much so that many consumers have ended up changing their consumption habits. Nothing escapes this questioning: transport, food, health products, tourism, all aspects of our consumption patterns are impacted.

The health crisis is of a different nature, but it has imposed a thrifty lifestyle, temporarily reduced to the consumption of food and basic needs, and works of the mind (films, books, music…). It has also highlighted the danger of density and promiscuity, whether in the field of tourism or housing.

All of these movements are gradually but profoundly changing habits and seeing consumption patterns, an eminently private act, become a public policy concern.

Should processed products responsible for obesity be taxed? Are Western countries legitimate in wanting to influence, for others, the consumption patterns they themselves have used? Should we push for better quality consumption or a more frugal lifestyle?

These are some of the questions that will be discussed in this session.