Deep Economy
I’ve decided to track the books I’m reading here on tadfad. I added a new page across the top (it’s called “books”) and I’ve added two mini-reviews thus far. Here’s the latest:
tadfad » books via kwout
Filed under climate change, culture, energy, environment : Comments (5) : Feb 9th, 2008 by tadfad
February 9th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Looks like a book I will check out. I think about this stuff a lot, too. One question though–Did you accidentally type an extra zero when you said “..the last 400 years..”? I dont’ think our economic growth has been that long?!?
February 9th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I was using the more general term of “we”–human civilization as a whole has been steadily increasing economic output over the last 400 or so years, with rapid growth in the past ~150 with the advent of steam & oil energy.
The problem is (as explored in the book) this economic output is often a net-loss if you consider the exhausted natural resources.
February 10th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Woot, Middlebury College!
February 12th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Tad, so glad you read this. Bill McKibben is one of my favorite authors - first to write a book about climate change for a general audience, advocate for the environment and living simply, and generally a pretty smart guy.
But do you think his ideas of localized economies are possible? I’ve been hearing lately that people, faced with tons of scientific proof, will still refuse to change their lifestyle if it means they have to give something up. The idea of living simply or locally doesn’t appeal to most people. Knowing that localizing might make us happier still won’t motivate us to do it
February 12th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Michelle, I think you’re on to something. People will rarely (never?) give up something they value voluntarily. That said, authors like McKibben and Kunstler have found that often people discover that the benefits of living more locally (i.e. moving back into a community from the suburbs) far outweigh the costs (i.e. giving up a 1/2 acre back yard).
Over at Packerland Annals, there’s an interesting article about marketing that may shed some light on this discrepancy.