An economics professor from the USA said that scientists and all stakeholders must not take economics for granted when it comes to environmental science and management. Dr. Madhavi Ventakesan, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Economics, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts highlighted this during her lecture entitled “A Lifecycle Evaluation of Conscious Consumption: Promoting Conscious Consumption” last March 09, 2018 at the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM) Lecture Hall.

Dr. Ventakesan, who is concurrently the Associate Director of the Center for Economics Education, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, with post-graduate degrees from Harvard University, Vermont Law School and a post-doctoral degree from Washington University.

The purpose of her lecture is to analyze the individual consumption behaviors and to increase the understanding of the divergence between present consumption patterns.

Dr. Ventakesan emphasized that we live in a supply driven market and in a manufacture-demand economy. She said for example, there are so many gadgets in the market and due to the marketing strategies, we give in and the next day, we will buy one. But she reiterated that consumers must be aware of the adverse effects of what they buy and urged them to research first the things that they would like to purchase and should also look into the environmental footprint in relation to the production of these gadgets. “Values drive behavior, our consumption behavior is tied to our usage of resources”, she added.

“We cannot talk about environment without economics”, Dr. Ventakesan stressed. She said in every stages of the lifecycle process map– from production, to use and disposal, we use energy and it generate wastes as well. “And of course during the production stage, we need raw materials”, she added. She mentioned that the process map must always be re-evaluated and updated.

The presentation was a Fullbright Sycip Distinguished Lecture organized by the SESAM and the UPLB Environmental Science Society (Envisoc). More than 100 students, faculty and staff attended the lecture.