An Economy of “Enough”
When it comes to economic growth (increasing production and consumption of goods and services), do you ever think that enough is enough? How might an economy succeed without pursuing perpetual growth? How can we possibly make the transition? Later this week, CASSE will be releasing a groundbreaking report that addresses these questions.
Enough is Enough is the eagerly anticipated collection of innovative ideas from the Steady State Economy Conference. It provides the most comprehensive compilation of policy tools to date for establishing a steady state economy — an economy that meets people’s needs without undermining the life-support systems of the planet.
The Daly News will return midweek with Brian Czech’s foreward to the report, along with links where you can download both the full report (132 pages) and a summary (10 pages). Stay tuned…
Sounds good, though for some of us is mostly not so much innovation, as exciting continuations and elaborations….
For example, I enjoyed watching the film No Impact Man in which Colin Bevin and his family transition radically to a low impact lifestyle. Personally, I had begun transitioning years earlier beginning with a basic appreciation for organic foods, recycling, and the like.
As for conferences, reading and other videos, such as Clive Ponting’s Green History of the World, and PBS’ 1990s Endangered Planet refer to the 1972 UN Stockholm Conference, 20 years before the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. In my graduate research, I was gratified to discover the conferences that lead to the 1948 creation of the IUCN, which link in turn back the 1909 International Conference in Paris. We are not only an essential group of enlightened individuals, we have some significant history.
For that matter, I like to recall even earlier efforts by Henry Thoreau, the Rochdale Co-operative Pioneers, John S Mill, Malthus, and Robert Owen including the social realm to put us at the very earliest stages of the modern industrial revolution.
I look forward to Enough is Enough.
In an interview with Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz (see: http://8020vision.com/2009/06/22/nobel-laureate-joseph-stiglitz-on-sustainability-and-growth/), Stiglitz talks about the idea that “We grow what we measure.”
It seems to me that we must get the growers of the world to redefine what is measured. I hope you will explore how to do that in your ideas for establishing a steady state economy.
Jay Kimball
8020 Vision
Sorry, The link to the Stiglits interview should be:
http://8020vision.com/2009/06/22/nobel-laureate-joseph-stiglitz-on-sustainability-and-growth/
Interesting to read the article and Stiglitz´s interview, as well as the NYT article referenced there on GDP concerns in China.
The NYT article mentions Asia´s religious traditions and disciplines, and a view that the concern with GDP details misses the problem with consumer culture. There maybe some truth in that view, but I think that the combined awareness is good, though a focus on the consumer psychology issue can have greater long term impact.
I think it would be interesting to look at the innovated practices like the certifications of organic agro and Fair Trade, and compare those sectors numbers with conventional society in whole cost alternative indicators. Another nice article from 2000 or so mentions Senator Byron Dorgan´s interesting effort in Congress, and refers to an earlier excellent article by Cobb et al, which also includes significant references to social factors.
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?655