The Economics of Hope: Creating a Just and Sustainable Local Economy in the Shadow of a Globalized World

Download or read book The Economics of Hope: Creating a Just and Sustainable Local Economy in the Shadow of a Globalized World written by C. Russell Beaton and published by Luminare Press. This book was released on 2019-11-15 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.