[SustainableTompkins] Luxury Fever

[Valorie Rockney]

Why is it often so hard to live a simple and sustainable life in our
culture? Why do we often feel pressure to upgrade, or experience
"feature creep," when we build a house, or buy a car or a computer?  Can
we make changes on a societal level, or are we limited to individual and
small group resistance?

 

Please join us tomorrow, Saturday, from 2-4 pm, at the public library to
hear Robert Frank examine these and related issues in his free talk
"Luxury Then and Now."  Professor Frank is an economist at the Johnson
School of Management at Cornell, and the author of "Luxury Fever" and
other books on excess and social class in America.  You may want to read
his article, "Our Climb to Sublime:  Hold On.  We Don't Need to Go
There," on his Cornell website. Professor Frank will compare the
free-wheeling world of F.Scott Fitzgerald's 1920s with our economic
picture today. This talk is part of the library's Community Read series,
an annual collaboration between the Tompkins County Public Library and
Cornell.

 

There will be a Kick-Off reception before the talk, at 1:30.  Please
invite your friends.  We hope to see you there!

 

Best,

Valorie

 

PS. Please also mark your calendars for the next talk in the series.  

Michelle Moody-Adams will speak this Wednesday, September 13, at 7 pm,
on "Ethical Issues in The Great Gatsby."  Professor Moody-Adams is a
philosopher who is firmly committed to community engagement, and a
lively and accessible speaker. She will examine the ethical issues
presented by the novel's characters - including racism, anti-Semitism,
greed, and disloyalty - and their meaning in today's world.

 

 

 

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Valorie Rockney

Public Programming & Community Relations Coordinator

Tompkins County Public Library

607.272.4557, ext. 219

http:www.tcpl.org