Suchergebnisse

Reclaiming our future -- Globalization : creating a lose-lose world -- Counting the costs -- The rise of extremism -- Localization : getting from here to there -- Grassroots inspiration -- Local food for our future -- Countering the objections -- Globalization revisited -- Rethinking the past -- Big picture activism -- The economics of happiness -- Coda: a conversation with Wendell Berry.

A brave book by a smart person with a masterful command of economic theory.-Publisher's WeeklyHow should we act and think economically in the world as the era of cheap oil comes to an end? The Approaching Great Transformation begins to answer this massive question, focusing on the people and communities already at work on the transition: energy descent pioneers in the UK and the US educating their communities about the road ahead, small enterprises defying traditional "profit" in favor of permanence and sustainability, and cities preparing for a post carbon future. Highlighting the work of thinkers like John Ruskin and E. F. Schumacher, Magnuson here builds on his previous book, Mindful Economics. From the Trade Paperback edition.

The authors have studied the effects of global economic development on individuals and cultures for the last three decades and have concluded that the most strategic and effective way of building a more positive future is through economic localisation. Fundamentally, localisation is about decentralising economic activity – producing for people's needs in a way that can been adapted to the ecological, cultural and political structures and needs of each locale. The paper is focused mainly on the disastrous impacts of the global economy on food and agriculture around the world. Adequate, wholesome food is vital to human well-being. There is nothing else that human beings produce that is needed by every person on the planet every day, yet that very activity has been relegated to a marginal position in political governance. Most businesses and governments consider agriculture little more than a stumbling block to success in their international trade negotiations. In fact, it is large-scale monocultural farms producing food for export that are inefficient. This industrial model of production is responsible for dramatic increases in environmental pollution, species extinction and even many human degenerative diseases, and only seems 'efficient' because so many of the costly subsidies that support it are hidden from view. Before examining the consequences of the global food system, the authors look at another subject equally worthy of attention: the social costs of globalisation, and the consumer monoculture it promotes. Social cohesion or a sense of community is fundamental to human well-being, indeed to human happiness. As we shall see, globalisation has done much to fragment community and erode people's sense of self-esteem. Rebuilding or maintaining community is inextricably connected to a process of localisation. Many people around the world have looked to the King's aspiration to foster Gross National Happiness in Bhutan for hope and inspiration. In terms of shifting direction towards a more positive future, ...

Die Trägerin des Alternativen Nobelpreises ist u.a. Gründerin der NGO Local Futures, organisiert Veranstaltungen (u.a. World Localization Day) und arbeitet als Publizistin (u.a. bekannt durch den Dokumentarfilm "Die Ökonomie des Glücks"). Die Autorin erläutert kursorisch das Konzept der Globalisierung und konstatiert anhand valider Zahlen dessen Scheitern sowohl in sozialer als auch ökologischer Hinsicht. Dem stellt sie eine Ökonomie gegenüber, die lokal und dezentral strukturiert ist und sich darüber hinaus mit einem Glücksversprechen verbindet, das die Globalisierung niemals einlösen werde. - Die Autorin geht auf Einwände leider nur oberflächlich ein. So illustriert schon das Foto auf dem Einband (Fahrrad vor einem Marktstand) Grenzen und Probleme lokalen Wirtschaftens: Woher stammt das Eisen für den Stahlrahmen? Woher kommen die Orangen in der Auslage? Dass lokale Gemeinschaften zur kulturellen und intellektuellen Abschottung neigen, was dem Glücksversprechen entgegensteht, wird allenfalls angedeutet. (3)

Industrial civilisation has no future. It requires limitless economic growth on a finite planet. The reckless combustion of fossil fuels means that Earth's climate is changing disastrously, in ways that cannot be resolved by piecemeal reform or technological innovation. Sooner rather than later this global capitalist system will come to an end, destroyed by its own ecological contradictions. Unless we do something beautiful and unprecedented, the ending of industrial civilisation will take the form of collapse, which could mean a harrowing die-off of billions of people. This book is for those ready to accept the full gravity of the human predicament - and to consider what in the world is to be done. How can humanity mindfully navigate the inevitable descent ahead? Two critical thinkers here remove the rose-tinted glasses of much social and environmental commentary. With unremitting realism and yet defiant positivity, they engage each other in uncomfortable conversations about the end of Empire and what lies beyond

Die industrielle Zivilisation hat keine Zukunft. Sie basiert grundsätzlich auf unbegrenztem Wachstum - auf einem begrenzten Planeten. Die unverminderte, rücksichtslose Verbrennung von fossilen Rohstoffen heizt das Klima weiter an. Durch kleinteilige Reformen und technologische Innovationen, wie sie gegenwärtig auf der politischen Agenda stehen, wird sich das Problem aber nicht in den Griff bekommen lassen. Eher früher als später wird, so die These, das globale kapitalistische System sein Ende finden, zerstört aufgrund der von ihm selbst hervorgebrachten ökologischen Widersprüche. Wenn die Menschheit nicht - nach heutigem Stand - völlig unerwartete - radikale Schritte unternimmt, wird der Zusammenbruch der Industriegesellschaft, wie wir sie kennen, in ein Desaster münden. Der britische Philosoph Rupert Read und der australische Nachhaltigkeitsforscher Samuel Alexander versuchen in diesem Gesprächsbuch der wahrscheinlichen Entwicklung ungeschönt ins Auge zu blicken. (Verlagstext)