Mitigating Environmental Impact of Global Middle Class Consumption

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This chapter discusses the impact of the global middle class's consumption on the environment, particularly in terms of carbon emissions and waste disposal. It explores strategies to reduce greenhouse gas consumption, including the shift to renewables, changing consumption habits, and government regulations, taxes, and subsidies. The chapter also emphasizes the importance of individual actions, such as avoiding long-distance flights and car usage, promoting public transport and local produce, and improving energy efficiency.

Co-host Janet Bush talks with Homi Kharas. Kharas is a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution and also cofounder of World Data Lab. He studies policies and trends influencing developing countries, the emergence of the world's middle class, and global governance. He's collaborated with the McKinsey Global Institute on research into consumers in emerging markets and economic empowerment, and his latest book is The Rise of the Global Middle Class: How the Search for the Good Life Can Change The World.

In this podcast, he covers topics including the following: