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 enlarge | Author: Bill Mckibben
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 4213
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0805087222
Dewey Decimal Number: 301
EAN: 9780805087222
ASIN: 0805087222
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 46-50 of 50 | | « PREV 1 ... | | |
 Absolutely Essential Reading...In Conjunction with 'Only One' April 8, 2007
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
Bill McKibben's concepts in his book 'Deep Economy' should be read by everyone in the world. This book should be required reading in all schools and for all political leaders as well, for it describes some key concepts we humans need to implement (now) to increase the odds of humanity surviving, and even prosepring, well into the future.
These concepts are summarized as:
1) We need to consume fewer goods and services per person (Past a certain point, More does NOT equal Better)
2) We need to produce the goods and services that we do consume in a much more efficent and environmentally sustainable way.
Mr. McKibben seems to have left the obvious 'third leg of the sustainability stool' on the woodshop-room floor:
3) We need to achieve population stability...that is, zero population gowth.
However, fear not, for this essential element of the suatainability triad is the subject of another one of Mr. McKibben's books, 'Only One'.
Even if we achieve huge strides in ideas #1 and #2, if the total number of people in the human population increases unchecked long enough, then humanity will inevitably exceed the carrying capacity of our planet.
'GNP Growth' and 'Be fruitful and multiply' should not be suicide pacts...'The Truth Shall Set You Free'...
I highly recommend reading 'Deep Economy' in conjunction with 'Only One'. Even though I have not read 'Only One' yet, I am sufficiently impressed with Bill McKibben's thinkging and writing that I am confident it will be just as enjoyable and necessary as 'Deep Economy'.
Mr. McKibben's easy-going, non-pretentious, conversational writing style combines with his inescapable logic to make this an enjoyable and profitable read.
Peace, Hope, Understanding, Love and Compassion for All.
McMe is the dilemma we face, Me first you last! April 5, 2007
5 out of 13 found this review helpful
How old are you? the writing has been on the wall for a long time now and this is just the beginning race to global domination, even more than we are already. To put it simply we just need to down size everything we do and put passion and real thought into city planning like our European counter parts.
Orange coast college, Student
 Wake Up! Wake Up! March 22, 2007
13 out of 18 found this review helpful
McKibben's wake-up call must not go unheard. It's the antidote to 'global' go-go grow-grow chearleading by the likes of Thomas Friedman's 'World is Flat.' Another excellend wake-up is THE WORLD IS FLAT? A Critical Analysis of Thomas Friedman's NYT's Bestseller," by Aronica and Ramdoo. In that book they extend the discussion to 'not killing the earth' and 'America's former middle class.'
I hope 'Deep Economy' will help us all start a journey so that we may somehow avoid Bill Moyers' 'Welcome to Doomsday,' and rekindle that thing we used to call 'community.'
WakeUp! WakeUp!
a book that really might change lives --- at least wake readers up March 12, 2007
152 out of 161 found this review helpful
"Deep Economy" may be the most disturbing and challenging book published this year.
Disturbing? It's like the doctor telling you that you have cancer. And not just you --- you and everyone you know.
The good news: There is a cure. And with the energetic support of business and government, you and everyone you know can be saved.
The bad news: Our economic system is based on a crude, outdated model: More = better. Blinded by the mantra of growth, our leaders will try to make that model last as long as possible --- even if they destroy the planet in the process.
The challenging action item: You want to help save the world? Think local. Think community.
Your reaction is mine: No way. Shopping at a farmer's market: nice, but unimportant. Better bus service: handy, but inconsequential. Solar panels and wind turbines: of anecdotal importance. At best, the "economics of neighborliness" will divert us as the temperature and water rise.
On the other hand, this is Bill McKibben talking. And only a fool doesn't pay attention to this guy. In 1989, he published "The End of Nature," the first book to call attention to global warming. He's written about population control and television and the challenge of remaining human as the world becomes digitized. (And he's not just a brainiac. In "Long Distance," the 37-year-old McKibben put himself through Olympic-intensity training to see how good a cross-country skier he could become.)
McKibben has the ability, rare among writers, of identifying a problem, reporting on it, thinking it through and proposing solutions --- all in 225 pages. Here the problem he sees is unchecked growth. The usual suspects say we're in no danger of draining the planet's resources. McKibben points out that we --- that's Americans --- suck resources out of all proportion to other countries.
McMansions: Until 1970, Americans lived in houses about the size of today's garages.
Food: 75% of the apples sold in New York come from the West Coast or overseas, even though New York produces ten times more apples than its residents consume.
Energy: Americans use twice as much as Europe.
McKibben's argument gains force when he gets down to examples. His idea of name-dropping is charming: "When I was last in Bangladesh...." Other stops on his travels: Brazil, China, India. And in each place, he discovers some brilliant innovation that saves energy and boosts the quality of life. (But that doesn't take America off the hook. If rich countries don't change, he says, the poor ones won't --- they take their dreams from us.)
The great sociologist Philip Slater points out, "The first cure for illusion is despair." These pages give you plenty to mope about; our earliest prophet of global warming unleashes some gloomy predictions here. One hundred eighty million dead Africans by century's end if we don't change our wasteful ways. Twenty per cent of the global economy sheared off. The rich in bunkers, the poor at the gates --- it's not a pretty picture.
But life wants to live. And so, like grass pushing through the cracks in cement, people --- nameless, uncelebrated people --- find a way to sane living and greater satisfaction. After he scares the hell out of you, Bill McKibben shows you where to look for those people and tells you why you'll be happy if you join them.
Prepare to be very, very excited.
Be a yokel, buy local March 8, 2007
20 out of 23 found this review helpful
Humanity is in a crisis. The IPCC has turned out more than enough reports for policy makers. It has outlined the economics and warned of the imminent threats. The danger is real, the danger is now, and it's up to us.
Bill McKibben has shown us how it can be done. He shows no disillusionment in regards to the truth; the future will not sustain this method of madness. Unlimited growth from the stored hydrocarbon fuels is in need of being phased out, quickly. China and India have gotten a foot-hold on this destructive path and their progress must be made more sustainable before it's too late.
Let's lead the way and quantify it all for the hyper-individualistic capitalist with compromised morals.
Be a yokel, buy local. Your future depends on it.
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