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xsBusiness - Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
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List Price: $25.00
Our Price: $7.49
Your Save: $ 17.51 ( 70% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Times Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.3
EAN: 9780805076264
ISBN: 0805076263
Label: Times Books
Manufacturer: Times Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 2007-03-06
Publisher: Times Books
Release Date: 2007-03-06
Studio: Times Books
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not Far Enough
Comment: McKibben's Deep Economy is very good as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough towards discussing sustainable economies and societies. Our populations are already far beyond the size Earth could sustain in a style approaching Europe's or North America's economies. A Very Deep Economy would discuss controlled collapse towards sustainable societies and the avoidance of catastrophic collapse caused by nuclear warfare, economic collapse, etc. Also, his stuff is somewhat Vermont precious.
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Summary: Vital Reading for the Future
Comment: This book provides an insight into shifting society toward human values and survival of community, both of which are endangered. Delightfully readable and optimistic and practical.
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Summary: Naive and question-begging
Comment: I'll grant that we're rendering the planet unfit for human habitation, and not just rhetorically, but because I agree with McKibben. But his solution to the dilemma -- localized economies, and less consumption -- begs a few questions. His solutions might be the answer, but he's disingenous in not acknowledging their downside, and he puts far too much faith in good intentions trumping the self-interest of the rich world.
1. Can local economies work everywhere? Large-scale economies have made it possible for humans to live in many environments that could probably not otherwise support large populations. Los Angles, after all, is a desert.
2. Those of us in rich countries have long been reluctant to sacrifice for the rest of the world, and in the US, even for our own countrymen. Why does McKibben think we'll start now? After all, the economic benefits of localization will accrue to others, not to us in the rich world. And won't an emphasis on local economies make us even less interested, if that's possible, in the fate of, say, Africans and Africa?
3. McKibben has an absurd faith in neighborliness. For example, he claims that local currencies have no downside, because local governments won't issue more currency than they'd be willing to accept in payment of taxes and fees. But if national governments abuse the power to print money, why won't local governments?
4. Small farms are more productive per acre, but less per person. This of course means many of us will be returning to the farm. How is that going to be sold to Americans?
5. So I buy apples from a nearby farm because they taste better, even if they're more expensive. Why would I buy more expensive shoes from the nearby factory if they're no different from cheaper shoes from Vietnam?
6. McKibben tells us how how horrible ecologically it would be if the Chinese lived like Americans do today. But of course they won't be able to; with the recent increases in commodity prices, even Americans can't continue to live like Americans. Increased demand for natural resources will prevent these horror stories from playing out.
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Summary: Hope for New Economic Perspectives
Comment: With Deep Economy, Bill McKibben delivers a book that challenges conventional economic and political wisdom. Simply put, we can no longer pursue unlimited growth while producing more and more stuff. This point is heavily underscored as we approach the upper bounds of Earth's natural resources and come to terms with the damage caused by operating under the current prevailing wisdom for over a century.
McKibben points out that, while economic growth is beneficial up to a certain point, it fails to produce corresponding benefits when it passes that threshold. The increased wealth tends to accumulate in the pockets of those who are already wealthy, while the majority of people see little to no increase in income. The endless cycle of consumption tends to produce more inequality and insecurity, rather than prosperity and happiness.
Luckily, McKibben proposes a solution to the dilemma: we should shift our focus from growing economies to growing communities. The pursuit of this goal will yield different rewards, but those rewards will be experienced on a fundamental human level.
Many will view the examples cited in the book as too small to be meaningful, undertaken with an overly optimistic outlook that will be impossible to achieve. But change has to start somewhere, and in the present situation a little inspiration is welcome. Deep Economy provides that inspiration.
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Summary: A bit repetitive, but incredibly powerful.
Comment: This book was required summer reading for me, but I would've read it even if it wasn't. It's a book with ideas people can believe in. It's not hard to understand and I enjoyed it very much. I've learned a lot and know that it will have an effect on what I think about, talk about and do with my every day life.
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Editorial Reviews:
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The bestselling author of The End of Nature issues an impassioned call to arms for an economy that creates community and ennobles our lives
In this powerful and provocative manifesto, Bill McKibben offers the biggest challenge in a generation to the prevailing view of our economy. For the first time in human history, he observes, “more” is no longer synonymous with “better”—indeed, for many of us, they have become almost opposites. McKibben puts forward a new way to think about the things we buy, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the money that pays for it all. Our purchases, he says, need not be at odds with the things we truly value.
McKibben’s animating idea is that we need to move beyond “growth” as the paramount economic ideal and pursue prosperity in a more local direction, with cities, suburbs, and regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. He shows this concept blossoming around the world with striking results, from the burgeoning economies of India and China to the more mature societies of Europe and New England. For those who worry about environmental threats, he offers a route out of the worst of those problems; for those who wonder if there isn’t something more to life than buying, he provides the insight to think about one’s life as an individual and as a member of a larger community.
McKibben offers a realistic, if challenging, scenario for a hopeful future. As he so eloquently shows, the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own.
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