The Economics Of Hope Creating A Just And Sustainable Local Economy In The Shadow Of A Globalized World

Author : C. Russell Beaton,David a. Beaton
Publisher : Luminare Press
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2019-11-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1643881582

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The Economics of Hope: Creating a Just and Sustainable Local Economy in the Shadow of a Globalized World by C. Russell Beaton,David a. Beaton Pdf

The Economics of Hope argues that America now faces two all-consuming crises: one in economics and one with the environment. The manifestation of the environmental crisis is clearly the climate change issue. Less obvious to some is the economic challenge, which the book argues takes the form of the widely recognized rampant inequality at all levels of world society. These two spheres have long been quietly at odds, but pushed by increasingly dominant corporatist institutions and globalized structures, the deepening crises have become life-threatening for both the globe and its inhabitants. The Economics of Hope describes these looming dangers, tracing them not only to the dominant economic and political institutions responsible, but to the general attitudes and mindsets it calls corporatism. It is now clear that the integration of economics and environment demand common, coordinated solutions. To avoid catastrophe in the next few decades, America and the world will either solve both problems... or solve neither. Clearly, a serious climate and inequality crisis reckoning is inevitable. Left unattended, the current system will crash. The book concludes with an optimistic solution path resting on the notion of Localism. A mindful return to less energy intensive lifestyles and economic structures offers the surest path to a sustainable and healthy environment with fulfilling social/political arrangements. Communities can be re-emphasized in a planned and humanistic manner that bypasses the perils posed by current corporatist economics and exploitative ecological practices. A resultant soft landing in the sustainable state will be far superior to anything the globalized corporate world, which caused the problems in the first place, can possibly achieve.

Author : Bill McKibben
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 276 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2007-03-06
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781429906371

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Deep Economy by Bill McKibben Pdf

The bestselling author of The End of Nature issues an impassioned call to arms for an economy that creates community and ennobles our lives In this powerful and provocative manifesto, Bill McKibben offers the biggest challenge in a generation to the prevailing view of our economy. For the first time in human history, he observes, "more" is no longer synonymous with "better"—indeed, for many of us, they have become almost opposites. McKibben puts forward a new way to think about the things we buy, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the money that pays for it all. Our purchases, he says, need not be at odds with the things we truly value. McKibben's animating idea is that we need to move beyond "growth" as the paramount economic ideal and pursue prosperity in a more local direction, with cities, suburbs, and regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. He shows this concept blossoming around the world with striking results, from the burgeoning economies of India and China to the more mature societies of Europe and New England. For those who worry about environmental threats, he offers a route out of the worst of those problems; for those who wonder if there isn't something more to life than buying, he provides the insight to think about one's life as an individual and as a member of a larger community. McKibben offers a realistic, if challenging, scenario for a hopeful future. Deep Economy makes the compelling case that the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own.

Author : Sean Markey,Mark Roseland
Publisher : Athabasca University Press
Page : 313 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2016-02-15
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781771990219

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Scaling Up by Sean Markey,Mark Roseland Pdf

When citizens take collaborative action to meet the needs of their community, they are participating in the social economy. Co-operatives, community-based social services, local non-profit organizations, and charitable foundations are all examples of social economies that emphasize mutual benefit rather than the accumulation of profit. While such groups often participate in market-based activities to achieve their goals, they also pose an alternative to the capitalist market economy. Contributors to Scaling Up investigated innovative social economies in British Columbia and Alberta and discovered that achieving a social good through collective, grassroots enterprise resulted in a sustainable way of satisfying human needs that was also, by extension, environmentally responsible. As these case studies illustrate, organizations that are capable of harnessing the power of a social economy generally demonstrate a commitment to three outcomes: greater social justice, financial self-sufficiency, and environmental sustainability. Within the matrix of these three allied principles lie new strategic directions for the politics of sustainability. Whether they were examining attainable and affordable housing initiatives, co-operative approaches to the provision of social services, local credit unions, farmers’ markets, or community-owned power companies, the contributors found social economies providing solutions based on reciprocity and an understanding of how parts function within the whole—an understanding that is essential to sustainability. In these locally defined and controlled, democratically operated organizations we see possibilities for a more human economy that is capable of transforming the very social and technical systems that make our current way of life unsustainable.

Author : Peter Dauvergne
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 333 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2010-09-24
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780262514927

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The Shadows of Consumption by Peter Dauvergne Pdf

An environmentalist maps the hidden costs of overconsumption in a globalized world by tracing the environmental consequences of five commodities. The Shadows of Consumption gives a hard-hitting diagnosis: many of the earth's ecosystems and billions of its people are at risk from the consequences of rising consumption. Products ranging from cars to hamburgers offer conveniences and pleasures; but, as Peter Dauvergne makes clear, global political and economic processes displace the real costs of consumer goods into distant ecosystems, communities, and timelines, tipping into crisis people and places without the power to resist. In The Shadows of Consumption, Peter Dauvergne maps the costs of consumption that remain hidden in the shadows cast by globalized corporations, trade, and finance. Dauvergne traces the environmental consequences of five commodities: automobiles, gasoline, refrigerators, beef, and harp seals. In these fascinating histories we learn, for example, that American officials ignored warnings about the dangers of lead in gasoline in the 1920s; why China is now a leading producer of CFC-free refrigerators; and how activists were able to stop Canada's commercial seal hunt in the 1980s (but are unable to do so now). Dauvergne's innovative analysis allows us to see why so many efforts to manage the global environment are failing even as environmentalism is slowly strengthening. He proposes a guiding principle of “balanced consumption” for both consumers and corporations. We know that we can make things better by driving a high-mileage car, eating locally grown food, and buying energy-efficient appliances; but these improvements are incremental, local, and insufficient. More crucial than our individual efforts to reuse and recycle will be reforms in the global political economy to reduce the inequalities of consumption and correct the imbalance between growing economies and environmental sustainability.

Author : Patricia H. Werhane,Lisa H. Newton,Regina Wolfe
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2020-03-10
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781000766011

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Alleviating Poverty Through Profitable Partnerships by Patricia H. Werhane,Lisa H. Newton,Regina Wolfe Pdf

Poverty is an unnecessary form of human degradation and badly conceived economics. Our thesis is that poverty can be reduced, if not eradicated, both locally and globally. But this will occur only if we change our shared narratives about global free enterprise, remind ourselves that poverty is a system, and conceive of poverty alleviation as a "bottom-up" project. There is no "one size fits all" for poverty reduction. Rather, poverty is a system and must be addressed locally. It is our aim, as it is the aim of the United Nations, the World Bank, and many other organizations, to erase it from our vocabulary and from this planet. With a series of case studies that accompany each chapter, this book should assist readers in thinking about poverty alleviation from a number of perspectives, from bottom-up entrepreneurial projects, local-corporate ventures, with public–private partnerships, from focused philanthropy, with education and health care initiatives, and agriculture reforms in rural communities, all with the aim of creating a win-win result for local and partnership individuals, organizations, and communities. The book should be useful in various undergraduate and graduate courses on ethics, applied ethics, developing economic systems, and poverty.

Author : Ann El Khoury
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 390 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2015-03-27
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781317504795

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Globalization Development and Social Justice by Ann El Khoury Pdf

Are there existing alternatives to corporate globalization? What are the prospects for and commonalities between communities and movements such as Occupy, the World Social Forum and alternative economies? Globalization Development and Social Justice advances the proposition that another globalization is not only possible, but already exists. It demonstrates that there are multiple pathways towards development with social justice and argues that enabling propositional agency, rather than oppositional agency such as resistance, is a more effective alternative to neoliberal globalization. El Khoury develops a theory of infraglobalization that emphasizes creative constitution, not just contestation, of global and local processes. The book features case studies and examples of diverse economic practice and innovative emergent political forms from the Global South and North. These case studies are located in the informal social economy and community development, as well as everyday practices, from prefigurative politics to community cooperatives and participatory planning. This book makes an important contribution to debates about the prospects for, and practices of, a transformative grassroots globalization, and to critical debates about globalization and development strategies. It will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, globalization, social movement studies, political and economic geography, sociology, anthropology and development studies.

Author : Michael Shuman
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2013-06-17
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781136782329

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Going Local by Michael Shuman Pdf

National drug chains squeeze local pharmacies out of business, while corporate downsizing ships jobs overseas. All across America, communities large and small are losing control of their economies to outside interests. Going Local shows how some cities and towns are fighting back. Refusing to be overcome by Wal-Marts and layoffs, they are taking over abandoned factories, switching to local produce and manufactured goods, and pushing banks to loan money to local citizens. Shuman details how dozens of communities are recapturing their own economies with these new strategies, investing not in outsiders but in locally owned businesses.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : Australia
ISBN : 0195531914

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Our Common Future by Anonim Pdf

Author : Mashiyat Rahman,Taïs Real,Amanda Zanchetta,Yu-Po Hua,Syed Saad Ali Pasha,Davi Lemos,Anna Grill,Iryna Bakhcheva
Publisher : Universitätsverlag Göttingen
Page : 20 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2021-12-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9783863955076

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Global Issues – Local Alternatives by Mashiyat Rahman,Taïs Real,Amanda Zanchetta,Yu-Po Hua,Syed Saad Ali Pasha,Davi Lemos,Anna Grill,Iryna Bakhcheva Pdf

After realising their theses’ topics were all related to environmental and human sustainability, a group of young researchers from the Erasmus Mundus International Masters in Global Markets, Local Creativities decided they could take action by sharing their research findings in an easily-understandable, non-academic language, impacting communities outside the academic bubble by making knowledge accessible. This book is the result of the ambition of this group of researchers to critically discuss the main issues of our times: environmental emergency and social inequality. Through a collection of thought-provoking case studies, the reader is invited to reflect upon global issues, from the perspective of local initiatives, considering three main aspects of globalisation: space, global dynamics and social scene, and the role of institutions.

Author : Jim Lotz,Gertrude Anne MacIntyre
Publisher : Cape Breton University Press
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0920336981

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Sustainable People by Jim Lotz,Gertrude Anne MacIntyre Pdf

This book deals with a new role that has emerged as communities all over the world struggle to gain more control over their destinies as globalization accelerates. Community entrepreneurs create organizations that encourage people to learn their way out of poverty, dependency and marginalization. By participating in such innovative ventures, individuals become more self-sustaining and able to create good lives for themselves and others in their own communities or wherever the choose to settle. Sustainable People moves discussion about social and economic change from abstract terms such as "community" and "development" by focusing on what individuals and groups are actually doing to encourage personal and community development, it documents the background of the role of the entrepreneur, the kinds of organizations they create, their learning process and the moral basis of their initiatives.

Author : Helena Norberg-Hodge
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1732980403

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Local Is Our Future by Helena Norberg-Hodge Pdf

"Globalization has no future. Political stability is a thing of the past; climate chaos is intensifying; anxiety disorders are of epidemic proportions; extremism and fundamentalism are becoming the norm. And yet we cling to the wreckage. Politicians of every hue continue to be in thrall to the global market. To challenge 'free trade,' which is the very essence of globalization, is all but unthinkable. But challeng it we must. And replace it. The future will be local. And the good news is that it is already happening. Under the radar of the mainstream media, a worldwide localization movement is emerging. On every continent, people are coming together to claw back control over their own economies, and in doing so are rebuilding connections to one another, while repairing fractured communities and damaged environments."--Publisher's descriptio

Author : Rhonda Phillips,Bruce Seifer,Ed Antczak
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Community development
ISBN : 0415820162

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Sustainable Communities by Rhonda Phillips,Bruce Seifer,Ed Antczak Pdf

First Published in 2014. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Author : Rob Hopkins
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 132 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2013-06-13
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780857841193

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The Power of Just Doing Stuff by Rob Hopkins Pdf

Something is stirring. People around the world are deciding that the well-being of their community and its economy lies with them. They're people like you. They've had enough, and, rather than waiting for permission, they're rolling up their sleeves, getting together with friends and neighbours, and doing something about it. Whether they start small or big, they're finding that just doing stuff can transform their neighbourhoods and their lives. The Power of Just Doing Stuff argues that this shift represents the seeds of a new economy - the answer to our desperate search for a new way forward - and at its heart is people deciding that change starts with them. Communities worldwide are already modelling a more local economy rooted in place, in well-being, in entrepreneurship, and in creativity. And it works. Packed with inspiring real-life examples of how to change things, this book ties in with the increasing focus on community action during tough economic times. This brilliant book is ideal for schools, community groups and campaigners as well as the general public and Transition groups.

Author : Peter Victor,Robert Costanza,Gar Alperovitz,Herman Daly,Joshua Farley,Carol Franco,Tim Jackson,Ida Kubiszewski,Juliet Schor
Publisher : ANU E Press
Page : 98 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2013-12-03
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781921862052

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Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature by Peter Victor,Robert Costanza,Gar Alperovitz,Herman Daly,Joshua Farley,Carol Franco,Tim Jackson,Ida Kubiszewski,Juliet Schor Pdf

The world has changed dramatically. We no longer live in a world relatively empty of humans and their artifacts. We now live in the “Anthropocene,” era in a full world where humans are dramatically altering our ecological life-support system. Our traditional economic concepts and models were developed in an empty world. If we are to create sustainable prosperity, if we seek “improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities,” we are going to need a new vision of the economy and its relationship to the rest of the world that is better adapted to the new conditions we face. We are going to need an economics that respects planetary boundaries, that recognizes the dependence of human well-being on social relations and fairness, and that recognizes that the ultimate goal is real, sustainable human well-being, not merely growth of material consumption. This new economics recognizes that the economy is embedded in a society and culture that are themselves embedded in an ecological life-support system, and that the economy cannot grow forever on this finite planet. In this report, we discuss the need to focus more directly on the goal of sustainable human well-being rather than merely GDP growth. This includes protecting and restoring nature, achieving social and intergenerational fairness (including poverty alleviation), stabilizing population, and recognizing the significant nonmarket contributions to human well-being from natural and social capital. To do this, we need to develop better measures of progress that go well beyond GDP and begin to measure human well-being and its sustainability more directly.

Author : Laurie Mook,Jack Quarter,Sherida Ryan
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2012-05-25
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781442694460

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Businesses with a Difference by Laurie Mook,Jack Quarter,Sherida Ryan Pdf

Market-based social economy firms such as social enterprises, social purpose businesses, co-operatives, credit unions, and community economic development corporations aim to meet distinct social needs while making money. Do these types of businesses have the potential for growth in the modern economy? Are they destined to function only in areas where conventional firms cannot achieve a sufficient rate of return? Or will the role of social economy organizations change as businesses begin placing more emphasis on corporate social responsibility? Building on the popular 2010 collection Researching the Social Economy, Businesses with a Difference explores the challenges and opportunities faced by firms that seek a genuine balance between their social and economic objectives. Through international case studies, including comparative analyses, this innovative collection highlights the unique issues that must be addressed when associations are accountable not to investors and shareholders, but instead to ordinary people.