Raj Patel's Blueprint for a Better World

The new book The Value of Nothing asks us to take a hard look at our consumer society.

January 27, 2010 at 10:48AM by Brian Clark Howard | comment

I hadn't heard of the author Raj Patel before (no offense, but that name has to be the Indian equivalent of John Smith in the West), but his latest book sounds interesting: The Value of Nothing. Patel is likely to take some ribbing, especially from close-minded detractors, since he isn't giving it away for free, he's selling it (for exactly $14 apparently, according to his video, though one can already pick up used copies for less now).

That being said, Patel makes some thought-provoking observations. The British-born journalist, academic and activist has a great hook in describing the fun he had with a price gun (a la Dexter's Laboratory) when he was a kid banging around his parents' convenience store. Patel has lived in the U.S. and Africa, and is best known for his 2008 book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. Patel has a Ph.D. from Cornell in Development Sociology and formerly worked at the World Bank, World Trade Organization and the United Nations. He then turned against his former employers, and has criticized their policies through writing and activism, claiming to have been tear-gassed on four continents as a result (he was even at the 1999 "Battle for Seattle").

Patel has been advocating for the world's poor for years, and argues that we need better accounting systems for the well-being of our societies than just GDP, accounting that takes into consideration environmental quality and community health as well as jobs and exports. His arguments are not dissimilar to Annie Leonard's in the "Story of Stuff," or Barbara Ehrenreich's work, including her new book Bright-Sided.

Patel is likely to be attacked as anti-capitalist by detractors, but hopefully people will give serious thought to the issues he raises. It's good to take a step back from our consumer culture and question if the institutions we have are really working for people and the planet.