Bill McKibben's Deep Economy is a book much like the utterly inspirational and
life changing Small Is Beautiful by EF Schumacher. Where Schumacher agonised
over the crushing monotony of machine production, McKibben decries the
"hyper-individualism" of the affluent countries. Money intermediates
everything, and with this comes a self-sufficiency that has been unknown in
the millenia of human existence. Crowded into tiny towns and tethered to each
other with suffocating chains of tradition and total lack of mobility, the
human race responded to the automobile and the aeroplane like ducks to water.
The new mobility and the new economic paradigms they brought allowed humans to
move away from each other, to finally find the space they needed. But, asks
McKibben, have we gone too far. Is this hyper-individualism making us happier?
Is it a desirable state of being? Can we continue this way? McKibben answers
these questions with a resounding no, yet this is one of the most hopeful
books I've read.
Bill says, and I agree, that being alienated sucks. Being alone sucks. Being part of a community is hard work, and there are sacrifices but the rewards are well worth it. Not only that, says the author, the twin threats of global warming and oil depletion can only be faced by strong communities. We're going to have to pull together, like it or not, and better to start now. From my experience, the Anglo-Saxon world is in a deep state of alienation. In USA, favours are looked upon with suspicion. No one wants to owe anyone anything that they can't settle with money. People are totally atomised, sitting alone in their cars, their cubicles, their homes they become prey for politicians who find a divided populace easy to persuade.
McKibben advocates a path different from the "more is better" one that an efficiency- and growth-obsessed world sees as the only way. His message is simple, though one that is bound to be met with some resistance by the adherents of neo-classical economics to whom this book is addressed. Most people will believe anything provided enough people are saying it. Most people therefore believe that GDP growth is the most important thing in life and the only way to improve the lot of the toiling masses. Make the pie bigger etc. They fail to see that they have been trapped in an endless cycle of production, consumption, more production and more consumption. These are the people who should be reading deep economy. McKibben takes us through the various fallacies of an economic model based on constant growth in an easy and non-confrontational style. He's more interested in changing your mind than he is in winning any arguments, which is great for this book says plenty of economics heresy. He then goes on to offer an alternative model which provides greater satisfaction, less environmental impact and more robust communities - local economies.
McKibben argues the industrial agriculture, commercial broadcasting and manufacture tend to atomise people, reduce their chances of meaningful interaction, provide low quality of product and generally cause all around unhappiness. He also throws in the kicker - industrial methods of production are no more efficient than small scale ventures. McKibben goes out of his way to avoid the "socialist" tag, perhaps because it is dangerous in America to be labelled as such, but there is no doubt as to his political leanings. He seeks to redress the power balance somewhat between large corporations and the people and his emphasis on the local economy is a means to do just that. I'd like to take a moment here to add an example to the many that McKibben has in his book - linux.
While I found deep economy to be a little more prosaic and somewhat overly journalistic (McKibben is a journalist, not an economist), it is still a great read, especially if you aren't already part of the choir. This book has lessons for everybody, but most of all for those who believe that industrial production methods are somehow "better". Allow McKibben to bring you some class consciousness. This ain't no hippie read.
Bill says, and I agree, that being alienated sucks. Being alone sucks. Being part of a community is hard work, and there are sacrifices but the rewards are well worth it. Not only that, says the author, the twin threats of global warming and oil depletion can only be faced by strong communities. We're going to have to pull together, like it or not, and better to start now. From my experience, the Anglo-Saxon world is in a deep state of alienation. In USA, favours are looked upon with suspicion. No one wants to owe anyone anything that they can't settle with money. People are totally atomised, sitting alone in their cars, their cubicles, their homes they become prey for politicians who find a divided populace easy to persuade.
McKibben advocates a path different from the "more is better" one that an efficiency- and growth-obsessed world sees as the only way. His message is simple, though one that is bound to be met with some resistance by the adherents of neo-classical economics to whom this book is addressed. Most people will believe anything provided enough people are saying it. Most people therefore believe that GDP growth is the most important thing in life and the only way to improve the lot of the toiling masses. Make the pie bigger etc. They fail to see that they have been trapped in an endless cycle of production, consumption, more production and more consumption. These are the people who should be reading deep economy. McKibben takes us through the various fallacies of an economic model based on constant growth in an easy and non-confrontational style. He's more interested in changing your mind than he is in winning any arguments, which is great for this book says plenty of economics heresy. He then goes on to offer an alternative model which provides greater satisfaction, less environmental impact and more robust communities - local economies.
McKibben argues the industrial agriculture, commercial broadcasting and manufacture tend to atomise people, reduce their chances of meaningful interaction, provide low quality of product and generally cause all around unhappiness. He also throws in the kicker - industrial methods of production are no more efficient than small scale ventures. McKibben goes out of his way to avoid the "socialist" tag, perhaps because it is dangerous in America to be labelled as such, but there is no doubt as to his political leanings. He seeks to redress the power balance somewhat between large corporations and the people and his emphasis on the local economy is a means to do just that. I'd like to take a moment here to add an example to the many that McKibben has in his book - linux.
While I found deep economy to be a little more prosaic and somewhat overly journalistic (McKibben is a journalist, not an economist), it is still a great read, especially if you aren't already part of the choir. This book has lessons for everybody, but most of all for those who believe that industrial production methods are somehow "better". Allow McKibben to bring you some class consciousness. This ain't no hippie read.
