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The Economics of Happiness

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You are here: Home / Archives for consumerism

From ‘Progress’ to an Economics of Happiness

Blog From ‘Progress’ to an Economics of Happiness by Helena Norberg-Hodge. Photo by D. Jonez on Unsplash.

If there’s one thing I’d love world leaders to think about in connection with the UN’s International Day of Happiness, it’s that their measure of progress actually goes up with unhappiness and unrest. GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, which is […]

Filed Under: Economics of Happiness Conferences, Happiness, Localization Tagged With: consumerism, depression, Economics of Happiness, GDP, localization, mental health, progress, well-being

Chak Chok: a campaign against junk food

'Chak Chok- a campaign against junk food' by Kunzang Deachen and Alex Jensen - Local Futures

Transnational corporations have been spectacularly successful in their profit-driven quest to hook the world on junk food. The global sale of packaged foods swelled to US$2.8 trillion by 2020, and is estimated to balloon to $3.4 trillion by 2027. Soda […]

Filed Under: Community, Food and Farming, Health, Local food Tagged With: agriculture, climate change, community, consumerism, corporations, farming, global food, health, pollution

Repairing broken economies

Repairing Broken Economies - Local Futures

Sepp Eisenriegler loves giving second chances: to the defunct electrical appliances awaiting repair or refurbishment, the hundreds of unemployed people he’s trained as skilled repairers over the decades and even the two rescue dogs that follow him devotedly around Reparatur-und […]

Filed Under: Climate Change, Consumerism, Livelihoods and jobs, New economy Tagged With: climate change, consumerism, corporations, economics, jobs, new economy, pollution, sustainability

As we consider our future…

As we consider our future... - blog Local Futures

Ask not for energy or goods that depend on international supply chains.   Ask not for solar power, wind power or battery electric storage (BESS). Ask not for e-vehicles (EVs) or smartphones. These can’t be manufactured without fossil fuels, extractions, […]

Filed Under: Climate Change, Environment, Localization, Technology Tagged With: climate change, consumerism, economic growth, pollution, renewable energy, sustainability, technology

Appropriate Technology, Traditional Cultures and Degrowth

Technology, Traditional Cultures and Degrowth blog by Alex Jensen - Local Futures

The industrial-capitalist-technological system is characterized by perpetual growth through excessive production, relentless marketing and public relations to expand markets and demand through consumerism.[1] In the process, novel ‘needs’ are manufactured and the boundaries and norms of comfort and convenience are […]

Filed Under: Capitalism, Community, Development, Health, Localization, Technology Tagged With: community, consumerism, corporations, degrowth, indigenous, sustainability, technology, well-being

Is Alternative Energy the Best Solution to Climate Catastrophe?

Blog 'Is Alternative Energy the Best Solution to Climate Catastrophe?' by Don Fitz - Local Futures

Environmentalists have known for decades that the “greenest” form of energy available is reduction of useless and harmful energy. Over 50 years ago, the first Earth Day embodied this with “Reduce; Reuse; Recycle.” Today, that seems to have been replaced […]

Filed Under: Climate Change, Consumerism, Economic Growth and Degrowth, Local energy, Localization Tagged With: climate change, consumerism, corporations, degrowth, economic growth, health, local food, renewable energy, well-being

Co-creating urban, regenerative futures

“Regenerative Futures” The phrase had been rolling around my head for a while. I felt that it pretty neatly summed up the direction I wanted to be heading with my work and life. ‘Regenerative’ – I reasoned – is the […]

Filed Under: Cities, Food and Farming, Local food Tagged With: agriculture, consumerism, farming, local food, localization, sustainability, urbanization

Cities and Green Orthodoxy

As the world has urbanized rapidly since 1950, per capita carbon footprint has declined, and so has carbon intensity in economic output, defined as the amount of energy used to produce a unit of economic growth.  But gross material throughputs and […]

Filed Under: Capitalism, Climate Change, Consumerism, Economic Growth and Degrowth, Environment Tagged With: climate change, consumerism, corporations, development, economic growth, globalization, sustainability, urbanization

What Indigenous Wisdom Can Teach Us About Economics

This blog is also available in Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian and Spanish. The crises of the modern world verify what indigenous cultures have always known: that all phenomena are inextricably interconnected. As the Amazon – one of the […]

Filed Under: Climate Change, Coronavirus, Environment, Free Trade and Globalization, Indigenous worldview Tagged With: climate change, consumerism, corporations, development, economics, globalization, indigenous, localization, trade agreements

We Can’t Do It Ourselves

How to live a more sustainable life? This question generates a lot of debate that is focused on what individuals can do in order to address problems like climate change. For example, people are encouraged to shop locally, to buy organic […]

Filed Under: Climate Change, Environment, Inner transformation, Livelihoods and jobs Tagged With: climate change, consumerism, economic growth, economics, sustainability, systems thinking

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