When I was visiting Eire in 2010, I spent a day with critical economist Richard Douthwaite (Book: Short Circuit; The Growth Illusion; The Ecology of Money) to probe his views. After several hours of pleasant discussion, I asked him what he thought a feasible new economy would actually look like. He smiled, and his reply, much like mine when I am asked about Sustainability, was, ‘It depends.” There is no one model that applies everywhere. Unlike the flawed GDP measure that is now used globally to measure economic success, new metrics must be flexible and tied to local systems. There are many other authors that talk out about flawed economics (e.g. McKibben – Deep Economy; Hawken – The Ecology of Commerce; or Georgescu-Roegen – The Entropy Law and the Economic Process) and the crucial need to address economics before we can truly even begin to resolve our global ecological problems. Our current economic beliefs are all tied to our behaviors to the natural world and each other.
Greening our global economy, however, is no small feat, although not even trying is simply akin to walking across a damaged rope bridge over a gorge, as it unravels at both ends, in the belief it will not fail. Listening to politicians claim how great our economy is based on the GDP totally ignores everything that we instinctively know is wrong with the world. As Douthwaite says in Short Circuit, “The global economy can no longer be relied upon to provide the necessities of life. Even in wealthy countries, the vagaries of free trade and the unimpeded movement of capital pose a threat not just to job security but to food and energy supplies as well.” Most money in the world is now controlled by a relatively few international banks and their reserve banking systems. “It will be impossible to build a just and sustainable world, unless and until money creation is democratized.” Douthwaite. Think about the utter chaos that will occur when these mainstream banking systems collapse. Only by instituting localized financial systems at the local community level can we stave off the disruptions that will happen. Goods and services will need to be regulated by an independent and self-reliant system of local finance if we are to have orderly systems during a transition. Somehow, a ‘Mad Max’ movie scenario doesn’t really appeal to me. The good news is that localized economies already occur in many communities around the world.
The absurdity of our economy and or global preoccupation with money can be most clearly seen in how things are hoarded by those who do have money – it’s all part of the myth of scarcity. Take our food supplies. We have enough food in the world to easily feed everyone in the world (if you can count GMO’s and processed food as real food). Yet, consider that globally 1 in 7 are hungry while 1/3 of worlds food is simply wasted. Add in that obesity in the USA is 40% (24% in other developed countries) with 8% being extremely obese – a combination of overeating and too much sugar. Even in developing countries, obesity is now 13% as they gain access to the processed food that developed countries happily sell to them cheaply. I’ll rant on about this more in another blog post coming soon. Back to economics for this post.
We need to discuss and create a Sustainable economy. “Only a widespread debate on the issues, by a well-informed public, will ensure that when changes are made [to the money system] they are along the right lines… To paraphrase the line about war and the military, money is too important to be left only to bankers and economists…” Douthwaite. The 2011 UNEP Green Economy Report states, “that to be green, an economy must not only be efficient, but also fair. Fairness implies recognizing global and country level equity dimensions, particularly in assuring a just transition to an economy that is low-carbon, resource efficient, and socially inclusive.” It also has to be linked directly to the ecosystem in which it resides.
Douthwaite also emphasizes that there have to be different kinds of money in a new economics. One of the first, and easiest to change, is the establishment of local currencies and community banks that are independent of national and international banking, and especially insulated from being siphoned in to the elite economy (see earlier post The world Economy – are we really doing better? Measurement is everything!) The local economy would be best able to manage the local food and energy requirements and work within the socio-cultural identities of a region – user currency that again makes money the tool it is mean to be. LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems) are already being widely used on small scales all over the world as an alternative to regular capitalism. Governmental money is traded at a 1:1 ratio for a local currency that can only be used within a set area’s trading system (stores, shops, and services) thereby keeping the wealth local.
We seem to have the fervent faith is the globalized system of capitalism, but whom has it benefitted. I read that the developing world is coming on board and shall be eventually able to enjoy all the benefits of consumerism that we currently do in the developed world. Sounds nice if you have an infinite amount of resources, but we live on a finite resource planet. This economic nightmare of infinite growth needs to end now. As I have said many times, we have enough for everyone to have a good standard of Living (one of the benefits of the industrial revolution) and as good, or better, quality of life than our ancestors, but NOT under the current economic system. I don’t foresee globalization is not going away any time soon, but from all indications the global economic system cannot survive in its present form. ‘Casino Capitalism’ with all the wealth concentrated in the upper 0.1% is not only not sustainable, but totally antithetical to what sustainability needs. As Douthwaite also said, “Talking about small-scale local currencies in the middle of all the media buzz about globalization may sound parochial or marginal to some. It is not. Community rebuilding is not a contradiction with the trend towards a global civilization, but a necessary complement to it. Precisely because of the globalization trend, strengthening local community is becoming more important.” A combination of four levels of economy seems most likely with the globalized one for international trade only, then national levels and regional levels of economy. The most important will be the local level. Throughout all the levels, I do believe that the metrics of measurement must, and will, be the first thing to change. We can no longer keep measuring money moving using GDP as the only metric, but must use the ESPE measure – How does it affect the Environment (where we live), the Social-cultural (, the Psychological, and then the Economic factors involved. In other words, does using the money provide benefit to everyone and everything in a given area? Anything less is not sustainable and courting failure. Our current economic system is rushing us to the abyss – do we have the will to change?
What other specific measures are already out there being used? To Be Continued……
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