With regards to this discussion, the sources below are worth reading. There are plenty of ideas about not only how things should be, but also about how we might get there from here. I believe at least one of them has been mentioned in this discussion before:
Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins; The Rocky Mountain Institute; Natural Capitalism http://www.natcap.org/ http://www.natcap.org/sitepages/pid5.php http://www.natcap.org/sitepages/pid20.php http://www.resurgence.org/resurgence/issues/lovins198.htm Given a choice between moving in new directions such as those presented here and living in caves wearing deerskins and masticating raw field corn, I suspect our eager entrepreneurs would strongly gravitate toward the first option. More positively, an ecological society would be anything but boring; to the contrary, it would generate all kinds of new projects and opportunities to keep ambitious and creative people engaged. One of the most surprising things to me here was reading about how truly inefficient our current economy actually is. Favorite Amory Lovins quote: "...I'm increasingly sanguine that we may all get out of this mess in one piece. Certainly the world remains a dangerous place and some very bad things are still likely to happen; but I suspect that the search for intelligent life on Earth is likely to turn up something useful." Geoff Davies; Economia http://www.geoffdavies.com/default.html http://www.geoffdavies.com/Economia.html http://www.geoffdavies.com/Economia%20Intro.pdf http://www.geoffdavies.com/Douglas_Review.pdf Geoff Davies thinks well outside his own field (another reason why I like him!!) to explain in plain English what neoclassical economic theory is, how its assumptions are demonstrably false, and why our current economy is so counterproductive. His writing is an example of how we as scientists might not only vigorously challenge the pseudoscientific tenets of neoclassical economics, but also have a great deal of fun in the process. Favorite quote: "Perhaps the most telling absurdity of our present economic system is that we are acting collectively as though we are desperately poor, while in fact we have material wealth beyond the wildest imaginings of our recent forbears. If we are so rich (and free), than why are we so enslaved by the daily rat race?" David Korten; The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community http://www.davidkorten.org http://www.thegreatturning.net/ Also look in the "Tools" and other menu headings for practical ideas about what people are doing and proposing to do to address current problems as well as the coming crisis. http://www.davidkorten.org/Images/38Kortenfinal.pdf Our current situation portrayed from a social and psychological perspective. Do our cultures systematically suppress our progress to the higher orders of consciousness that are a necessary foundation of mature democracy? Favorite quote: "We humans are captive to self-limiting stories that deny the possibility of any alternative to humanity's current suicidal path. To change course, we must step forward to break the silence that prevails when truth remains unspoken, end the isolation that undermines community, change the stories that define the prevailing culture, and thereby turn the human species to a future that works for all." Roy Morrison: Eco Civilization 2140: A Twenty-second Century History and Survivor's Journal http://www.essentialbooks.com/id117.htm RMAenergy http://www.rmaenergy.net/ Yet another perspective, this one a practical one from New Hampshire.... Roy Morrison advocates a transition to a sustainable market system that assesses all economic activities according to their true costs. He proposes ending all taxes on income and replacing these with taxes on pollution, depletion, and ecological damage. The more polluting, depleting, and ecologically damaging the good or the service, the higher would be the tax. Favorite quote: "How can we be prosperous without being destructive? .... If we must do but one thing, and that one thing above all else, we need to make what is polluting, depleting and ecologically destructive charge its true costs. It will therefore become more expensive than sustainable alternatives. In capsule summary, for markets to work sustainably, we need to get the prices right." ____________________________________________ To sum up, here are four different perspectives, each brimming over with possibilities and each reminding us not to prelimit ourselves beforehand by a shortage of imagination or courage. Royce J. Bitzer [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: William Silvert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Equilibrium/Steady State and Complexity/Evolution To: [email protected] I thank Jeff for putting the issue that puzzles me in clear perspective. Even if we can somehow persuade politicians to stop promoting growth, how do we get all those eager entrepreneurs to follow? Are people like Gates and Jobs going to be content in the future to putter around in their garages all their lives? Will the western world renounce capitalism? The history of human societies has been one of boom and bust cycles, and I just don't see how the idea of zero growth is going to catch on. There are just too many ambitious people in this world. Bill Silvert
