About Us

by Bruce Henry and Martin Leckey

The LEAS (Living Ethically and Sustainably) group of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad consists of a small group of people based in Melbourne.  We generally meet the third Wednesday of the month, 7.30pm, at the home of Martin Leckey, 181 Amess St, Carlton North.

The articles on this site, which together form a document titled "Consumption - What's Fair?" were writtem by ourselves and others; namely Noel Blencowe, Christine Carolan, Justin Coburn, John Hepburn, Dr. Constance Hill, Nalini Kasynathan, John M. Legge, Cathy Love, and Rodney Vlais. (Click on authors names for short biographies and contact details.) Many thanks to Barbara Hadkinson for her assistance in developing the material for this site.

The remainder of this page gives an introduction to the contents of the site.

Introduction

Many of us have flirted with the idea of "living simply" as part of being responsible citizens. We might turn off lights, avoid over-packaged goods and grow our own food, for instance. We don't consider ourselves to be Greenies and maybe doing these things feels like an add-on (even a nuisance) to an already busy life. It is neither convenient or simple to use public transport when there is a car in the garage. Organic vegetables are more expensive than the alternative. The cost of installing solar power is prohibitive for many of us. So "living simply" is not really simple. And why live simply anyway?

We, members of the LEAS (Living Ethically and Sustainably) group of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad have been struggling with the contradictory issues relating to consumption - trying to understand them better and trying to make some changes in our own lives. We are motivated by Community Aid Abroad's vision of a fair world for all, and follow this simple logic:

• The present affluent lifestyles of people in rich countries (including us) result in their consuming more than three-quarters of the world's resource output despite the fact that they have only 1/5 of the world's people; and their contribution to the world's environmental damage is even more disproportionate. Meanwhile about 2 billion people are under-nourished and more than 40,000 children die each year from poverty-related causes.
• To raise the living standards of the poor of the world to that of the rich world would require a TEN-FOLD increase in resource use. This would be environmentally disastrous.
• To continue our present patterns of consumption would lead to greater and greater inequality, and an increase in tension, riots and wars as the rich defend what they have from those who have not. Alternatively, we can aim for a way of life which is sustainable and could be enjoyed without depriving others or future generations. This would require a big shift in our patterns of consumption in the rich world. This would also fly in the face of the prevailing economic wisdom - that consumption boosts economic growth, and that growth is good.
• The small steps we take towards sustainability are difficult ones. It's hard for both individuals and the wider community to break habits of a lifetime, especially when the economy is headed in the direction of greater consumption. However, the momentum for change is growing, at the personal, neighbourhood, national and global levels, and every action encourages another. There is now much support for change.

We hope the articles on this website will be interesting while demonstrating the importance, the complexity and the interdependence of these issues. The articles are grouped in three broad sections:

• our relationship with poor communities
  
• discussion of the global economy
  
• possible responses

In addition, as CAA members, we consider the re-building of community to be an essential part of living more sustainably. There are several articles on building community.

Community Aid Abroad has produced an AWARE poster with the pithy sentence "Ignorance causes Poverty". This can be understood on many levels. Certainly, by ignoring these issues and doing nothing, we encourage the growth of poverty (and environmental destruction). Therefore we hope that after reading these articles you, the reader, might initiate more discussion about consumption issues and take further action towards a sustainable and equitable world. Consumption -- What's Fair?