Empire's Footprint: The Ecological Dimensions of a Consumers' Republic

Consumers and consumption cannot be separated from workers and livelihood for very long. [...] the material resources themselves are important: as I have shown, evaluating the environmental impacts of consumption depends on ecological specificity - the kind of whale, banana, or sport fish all mattered a great deal. [...] there are those dreadfully boring tax codes, tariffs, trade agreements, and subsidies that have greatly influenced patterns of consumption. [...] consumption is probably best used to lead students into the less glamorous worlds of working environments to encourage students to think about the relationship between production and consumption.