|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Bill Mckibben
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $8.10
You Save: $5.90 (42%)
New (48) Used (61) from $7.47
Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 2344
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
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Deep Economy December 12, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I believe this book should be required reading for every citizen. Bill McKibben challenges the conventional dogma that continuous growth is necessary for a healthy economy. He suggests that perpetual economic growth is no longer making most people better off. He traces the roots of the doctrine back to the advent of the steam engine. During the 19th and early 20th centuries economic growth accelerated exponentially. Improving efficiency became very nearly a religion. Reliance on individualism and the free marketplace became the new mantra. It seemed that we could have the best of all worlds -- unlimited individual freedom and a chicken in every pot. This belief took a hit during the Great Depression, but it was revived following World War II. For the period between World War II and 1960 as GNP increased, poverty decreased, reinforcing the conventional wisdom that advocated perpetual economic expansion. However since 1979, real income has declined steadily for 90% of Americans. The gap between rich and poor has become ever wider. As productivity increased, individual earnings decreased. Proposed remedies range from ever more reliance on market forces and less on government (privatization), to more governmental redistribution of wealth through social programs. But no one questions the wisdom of promoting more and faster growth as a way to increase wealth. It is not a "left" vs. "right" issue. Democrats and Republicans compete as to who can grow the economy fastest! "Growth" is always the un-trumpable hand, even as more and more "middle income" people fall into poverty and inequality keeps on growing.
The problem with this race for growth is twofold -- we are running out of the resource that fuels it (oil), and we are increasingly interfering with the delicate balance of CO2 in the atmosphere, creating dire consequences for the climate. We have created a vicious cycle -- utilization of finite environmental resources has led to greater wealth which has enabled us to live in ways that are contributing to greater and greater environmental destruction. This destruction threatens to lead to catastrophic climate change. No one at the center of our economic or political lives perceives climate change to be a reason to question the doctrine of endless economic expansion.
Ecological economists have figured out a way to calculate the cost of carbon emissions, and to include the "embedded energy" cost into the final value of a product. A pound of factory-farmed peas, for example, includes the cost of fertilizers, pesticides, preparation, packaging, and distribution, all of which produce carbon emissions. The result is many times the cost of the original product grown on a small farm and sold locally, say in a farmers' market. This calculation is easier for an economist to follow than a politician. McKibben says we need to help them understand!
He presents evidence that suggests small farms produce more food. This seems counter-intuitive, as we think of machines freeing us to do more productive work. But close observation by attentive farmers can greatly increase the quantity and quality of produce per acre. Also mega-farms are energy inefficient. Fossil fuels replaced human and animal energy with a natural resource that came cheap and was seemingly inexhaustible. The move to mechanized, centralized agriculture supposedly created a "more efficient" and abundant food system. The irony of this system is glaring as we see food banks giving out cornflakes in Iowa! It is true that producing more is better up to the equivalent of about $10,000 per person. Then the marginal utility of increased wealth begins to fall, and all that extra "stuff" becomes a burden.
McKibbon offers a new way to look at how to structure our productive lives. Centralized production vs. local cooperatives each have their advantages and disadvantages. Localized economies require more man/hours but produce better quality and benefit the environment rather than depleting it. Contrary to what one might expect, they can provide more leisure time, security and individual satisfaction. They bring people together. The book is filled with stories from throughout the world where this approach is succeeding. We do not have to choose between state socialism and market capitalism. Social conservatives and environmentalists can find common ground. The social checks and balances on which the Adam Smith paradigm relies fall away as economies are nationalized and globalized and individuals become isolated. The wealthy are cut off from their neighbors. Decisions are made based on the "bottom line" rather than the common good.
There is a powerful momentum in our society against change, an inertia that is difficult to overcome. But this book presents solutions to our "addiction to oil" that are appealing As the price of oil rises and the effects of climate change become more alarming, we may be inclined to reevaluate our collective mind-set. We may be forced to shift to a more community-based and durable economy, and this may turn out not to be so bad!
 INSIGHTFUL November 15, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book allowed me to see the ordinary in a new way. As we near the Christmas holiday season, it's helpful to think about why we consume so much and the effect that this has on the environment. The author shows that we can all make small changes that will have a huge impact if enough people change. He touches on many inter-related topics including the economy, urban planning, the environment, consumerism, global warming and more. Everyone will find something to make them think in this book.
Identify with something larger than ourselfs... November 13, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
In his recent book, Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope (Hardcover), Brian McLaren lists four deep dysfunctions that are driving us towards critical global crises. The first is environmental breakdown caused by our unsustainable global economy, an economy that fails to respect environmental limits even as it succeeds in producing great wealth for about one-third of the world's population. He calls this the prosperity crisis.
In Deep Economy, Bill McKibben does an outstanding job of exploring the causes and systems that power the prosperity crisis. He clearly exposes the consequences of our unsustainable hyper-individualized culture and makes a reasonable argument that we are not only precipitating a global crisis, but are also diminishing our overall happiness.
Most importantly, McKibben offers refreshing ideas to start us on a course that just might help us avoid (or at least mitigate) the most serious consequences of our selfish behaviors. Many of these ideas are consistent with the teachings of Jesus, who commanded us to stop putting ourselves at the center of everything, and instead live in community with our neighbors to honor all of God's creation. It is clear that crisis is near, but both McKibben and McLaren are helping spark a hopeful revolution.
Lots of ideas and answers November 6, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
McKibben focuses on the ideas that farming should refocus to being more local, decreasing dependence on oil, and leading to a more green world, as well as the idea that the hyper-individualization of the United States is leading to more stress and problems, and that we should return to a local, community-based society. He correctly points out that increased GDP has not led to increased happiness in America and elsewhere. He also provides hundreds of ideas and examples of how these ideas can be put into practice.
McKibben provides answers to a couple of the great questions raised about globalization and development. First, why should the US, after burning all the fossil fuels and ruining the environment to obtain the standard of living they wanted, be able to tell the rest of the world that they can't do the same? The answer, the US can't, but it doesn't matter because whether the rest of the world likes it or not, the world cannot sustain all 6 billion people living the wasteful American standard.
And closely related, why should the US cut emissions and make other environmentally sound policy decisions when developing countries aren't required, and won't, do the same? Since America is a role model for these other nations that desire to reach an American standard of living, if America doesn't change its ways these other countries will see no reason to either.
Unfortunately, many of the ideas proposed by McKibben may not be feasible. Complaints about the mega-farms are questionable since, while many of McKibben's criticisms are correct, previous efforts at local farming on a global scale proved to be insufficient in providing for the global, not just the US, population. Also, he provides glorious examples of local radio stations that provide extraordinary variety of a local flavor, while deploring nationwide broadcasters such as Clear Channel. The problem is that radio stations are dependent upon advertisers, which is dependent upon listeners, and listeners have not supported these local stations in the past which has allowed the nationwide broadcasters to step in. It is unclear how simply creating more of these local stations will actually get people to listen to them.
Still, it is admirable that McKibben proposes many different ideas and solutions, some of which are feasible, and not just complaints. I fear, however, with the title, timing, and scope, that this book will be read primarily by those already involved in the organic/local movements and will be more preaching to the choir.
 Ok, How did Communities get their wealth? October 8, 2007
4 out of 56 found this review helpful
I read Deep Economy with an open mind, however, I found it to be riddled with particular political emphasis rather than real data about economics. In short, the ideas advanced are communal farming, environmentalism through global warming mandates, and outright communism.
These are not tools for the advancement of society, as McKibben suggests, but a return to the comfort of the Dark Ages.
I was very disappointed in the content of the book, being lectured for the first 36 pages on the same uncredited drivel that Al Gore had preached about in his tour on global warming, the very irony of which, wherever Al Gore went, it snowed.
In later chapters, McKibben actually comes out as a liberal by advocating what he believes is the solution for all the societal 'chaos' going on - state socialism.
Truly this book would have been better written if it had been left blank.
|
|
|
The Outpost Network | |
