Part 1: After Growth• Analogy: Two birds, one stone• The birds are named More and Better • Up until now, you could hit More and Better

with a single "stone": economic growth• In many countries, Better has flown off to

another branch• Those of us in developed countries are no

longer improving our lives with increased consumption

• We must come up with a new "stone" with which to hit Better: economic development

Part 1: After Growth

The median wage of US citizens is essentially the same as it was thirty years ago. Similar

trends have been observed globally.This begs the question: Is the system working?

Part 1: After Growth• Important paper: "Are We

Consuming Too Much?" (Kenneth et al. 2004)

• Conclusion was YES• Does consumption even make us

happy? • Money buys happiness up to around

$10,000 (Diener et al. 2004)• After that, correlation disappears • So, what do we do instead?

Part 2: The Year of Eating Locally

• Agrobusiness has taken over • High-input system • Health and safety hazards for both humans

and animals• Run on fossil fuels • Major consolidation has taken place

o Nabisco owns so many subsidiaries that it collects almost 10 cents on every dollar that Americans spend on food

o This consolidation has taken place in the name of efficiency

• Are high-input monoculture farms sustainable?

Part 2: The Year of Eating LocallySmall agricultural operations produce more food per acre, measured in tons, calories, and dollars.Use land, fossil fuels, pesticides,and water more efficiently. Called "CommunitySupported Agriculture (CSA)Added benefit of reuniting communities, which

really does make us happier.However, it is much more labor-intensive

Part 2: The Year of Eating Locally

• Recommendations include o More farmers' markets o Shift small percentage of federal farm subsidies

away from corporate firms o Perhaps even shifting some subsidies towards

small-scale farms o Pursuing technological advances that make organic

farming easier and more profitable o Regain our relationship with food by learning how to

eat and prepare seasonal foods

• Our food will likely be more expensive, but the benefit gained from that is a sustainable lifestyle and better tasting food

Part 3: All for One, or One for All• One result of economic expansion has been

the expansion of the individual identity • Example: Suburbs• This has lead to an aversion to the idea of

community, as well as the programs that support it o Parkso Welfare and other transfer payments o Public education

• Voter turnout has decreasedo Fewer people feel responsible for national

community

• Great for neoclassical economists, because it fits the model of selfishness better

Part 3: All for One, or One for AllIdeological shift towards individualism has

given us a framework in which gross inequalities are justified

• Wealth and Income

• Access to education

• Tax burden

Unemployment is blamedon the individual, and is not seen as a function of the free-market system Occupy movement has developed in response

Part 3: All for One, or One for All• What's the solution then?• McKibben suggests a switch to local

economies • Benefits include

o Less demand for resources o Less ecological disruptiono Much more stable than large economies o Provide better balance between the individual and

community o Greater engagement in political and social

hemispheres • People have, on average, ten times as many

conversations at a farmers market than they do at a supermarket (Halweil, 2004)

Part 4: The Wealth of Communities

• We have lost our sense of community

• Each of the previous sections all point in the same direction: A return to the localized society and economy

• How can we accomplish this?

Part 4: The Wealth of Communities • Energy

o Reduce demand by utilizing efficient technologyo Re-design grids to be localized, and to run off of

sustainable resources o Only 22% of energy put into the power grid actually

reaches its destination as energy that can be utilized • Housing

o Allocate less land per persono In the suburbs, there are around two people per acre

of land o Suite-style living arrangements with shared kitchens

and bathrooms• Same principle of sharing within a

community can be applied to any commodity

Part 4: The Wealth of Communities • Currency

o A community currency incentivizes purchase of everyday items from community

o This currency exists in concert with national currency that can be used for items that can't be purchased locally

• Interneto Maintain access to it, so that ideas can be

exchanged and circulated between different communities

• Educationo Localized education often means a better quality

educationo Less likely that students will get lost in the crowdo Educators care more because students are future of

community

Part 5: The Durable Future

Part 5: The Durable Future • It isn't realistic to believe that we can

consume at current levels in the future, given population increase

o If the same percentage of the Chinese population drove cars as Americans do, they would use all of the global daily oil output, plus fifteen million barrels per day

• It also isn't realistic to think that developing nations will develop very far in current economic system

o China is big enough to produce most of the durable goods that the world buys right now

Part 5: The Durable Future • The neoclassical model doesn't work for

those on the bottom end of the economic food chain

• Governments that base decisions on neoclassical theory tend to not last long in developing countries

• It's therefore clear that many want to move away from the neoclassical model, that is so willing to sacrifice the wellbeing of individuals in the name of GNP

• US exports culture, so our culture must change in order for other cultures to change

Part 5: The Durable Future "It's extremely hard to imagine a world

substantially different from the one we know. But our current economies are changing the

physical world in horrifying ways. It's our greatest challenge-the only real question of our time- to see whether we can transform those economies enough to prevent some damage and to help us cope with what we can't prevent. To see if we can manage to mobilize the wealth of our communities to make the transition tolerable, even sweet,

instead of tragic." -Bill McKibben