The premise of Bill McKibben's new book "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future" is that the economic axiom "growth is good" is no longer true.
In a recent article from Mother Jones he states:
"Growth no longer makes most people wealthier, but instead generates inequality and insecurity. Growth is bumping up against physical limits so profound -- like climate change and peak oil -- that trying to keep expanding the economy may be not just impossible but also dangerous. And perhaps most surprisingly, growth no longer makes us happier. Given our current dogma, that's as bizarre an idea as proposing that gravity pushes apples skyward. But then, even Newtonian physics eventually shifted to acknowledge Einstein's more complicated universe."
Well, then the question arises if growth is no longer desirable, nor even possible, then what is good? What is the measure of true wealth and well being for all of us?
It's in Bill's title - the wealth of our interconnectedness, our community.
I find the analogy of a forest very helpful. You can have a monoculture agri-forest with one type of tree, and very few other species. With the same amount of land, water and sunlight an old growth forest has many, many species of plants. A whole community of beings interacting. The same amount of input of resources generates a community of interaction.
In the same way, if you go to a local Megamarket there are typically one or two convesations and interactions - "paper or plastic?", "credit or debit". On the other hand, a farmer's market provides the same amount of groceries, yet you have interactions with many farmers, neighbors, children, and you're supporting a local food system.
Josh Mailman, a serial eco-entrepreneur and massive sustainable business instigator speaks on his views on the matter.
"I'm much more sanguine about the impact that we've been able to have, but I don't want to discount the small acts. We have a need for small acts, and I consider the things I have done small acts, hopefully compassionate acts. To the extent that I've been able to make a contribution, it's been out of a desire to build community, realizing that I'm no more important - and I think in many ways less so - than some local activist. The real leaders are the people that are in there day after day, slugging it out, who have chosen something other than monetary gain, who are there because they are fed by the experience of community that they have."
Barbara Marx Hubbard said "If you do a planetary scan, you'll see that communities are forming everywhere, and these communities are each holding the collective coding as well as the blueprint for a specific mission. I think these communities as separate yet interactive organs in the social body. And the potent interaction of these organic communities assure that the larger social body will be far greater than the sum of its parts."
Our community is our greatest wealth, I would add. And we are the leaders of this movement. Each and every one of us.
As I reflect on my life, I see that my life depends on a vast network of people 99% who I don't event know, literally. Just think of the number of people it took for you to have your daily cup of tea or coffee, or piece of toast, or oatmeal, or electricity... and that's just people. Add layers of animals, plants, earth, energy, air and water, and the community you live in expands exponentially!
Photo from Connectingdotz.com
2 comments:
"As I reflect on my life, I see that my life depends on a vast network of people 99% who I don't event know, literally. Just think of the number of people it took for you to have your daily cup of tea or coffee, or piece of toast, or oatmeal, or electricity... and that's just people. Add layers of animals, plants, earth, energy, air and water, and the community you live in expands exponentially!"
I happen to be reading "Deep Ecology" right now. Based on my reading so far, I would think McKibben's concept of community is different than what you seem to think (unless I misinterpreted you). Rather than acknowledging the far flung players who provide for our needs and wants, most of whom we have never met, McKibben seems to argue (and I would agree) that this is not really community and is the basis for so many of the world's problems.
Community is based on real associations of people and that the problem with "growth for the sake of grown" is that it directs us to getting our needs met by those about whom we know little or nothing and are great distances away figuratively, if not, literally.
If growth for the sake of growth is a central failure of modern economies, perhaps we should strive to not earn money from those outside our bioregion and send it back out again in exchange for our needs and wants. At the same time money is created out of thin air in the form of credit that, itself, depends on perpetual growth to avoid deflationary crashes.
The grand liquidity on which our financial world seems to rest really represents the matching up of invisible players who have no responsibility to each other precisely because they are not members of a common community. When you can look your borrower in the face, it is pretty easy to misprice the default risk all the while selling securitized derivatives many multiples the value of the underlying assets. Could anything be more efficient and put a bigger smile on the traditional economist?
However, without such responsibility we have a great uphill battle to use economic activity to create a sustainable world. In my opinion, appealing to socially responsible investing will hit clear limits until that responsibility, born out of conscience and consciousness, is laid on a foundation of concrete relations with those in our real-life communities to that we sink or swim based on the integrity and sustainability of our dealings with them.
Richard S.
class of '83
I agree with you. community is very important for wealth building. Thanks for inspiring me :)
What you share is similar to the book I just read. The secret of wealth really teach us how to build wealth in the best way,
Ronald Kang
www.HobbyIn2Wealth.com
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