Secrets and Hope in Our Mad World

Early in 2017 I read George Marshall’s book ‘Don’t Even Think About It: Why We are Wired Not to Think About Climate Change’ and I decided I would think about it. And I would read about it. Then I would write about it.

I write as a 'non-expert' and I'm hoping that your comments will help me to see whether the insights I've

gained make sense, whether the conclusions stack up and whether it's realistic for me to start feeling

hopeful about the future .

May 29th - 'Prosperity Without Growth' - Is it possible?

Although getting to grips with how we can move to a better future seems pretty daunting, I'm putting my hopes in Tim Jackson's 'Prosperity Without Growth'.  I like the sub title 'Economics for a Finite Planet', but, given that he claims that ridding ourselves of capitalism is not an option, I'm thinking of it as 'Capitalism for a Finite Planet'
I'm hoping the book will answer such questions as ...
  1. Can we have capitalism without growth given that many writers from Karl Marx on saw growth as essential to capitalism?
  2. How can we bring about restraint in free-market capitalism given that massive globalised companies are now calling the tune and seem to have taken power from democratically-elected nation states?
  3. What can I learn about the way forward by looking at the many types of capitalism in the world which operate within varying degrees of restraint on market forces?
Lots of reading to do there ... might take some time ...  can anyone come up with shortcut answers to these questions?
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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous29 May 2013 at 10:30

    All I can say is that -yes -the world really is mad. There seems to be a lot of underlings working their socks off to keep body and soul together and make lots of money for the "overlings" The sad thing about this is that the latter group are not happy despite their wealth - and worry continuously about what to do with their money and how to make more. If only we could realise that wealth does not bring happiness but creates its own stresses - And if only they could realise that happiness comes from sharing / caring for each other/ and working together. Sounds simple doesn't it. But bringing back "Communities" and foming smaller housing areas rather than massive high rise flats and huge housing areas - might be a start - BUT HOW TO DO IT - is the question.

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