How often do you cook a meal from scratch? For 11% of British people, the answer is never. But subsisting entirely on processed food and ready meals is not only bad for your health, it is also bad for the planet. It makes little sense financially, either: it is cheaper to create a meal using whole foods and fresh ingredients than it is to buy a substandard supermarket version. Eating well shouldn’t be a luxury reserved for the well-off, everyone can do it: it is part of the Economics of … [Read more...]
Averting the apocalypse: lessons from Costa Rica
Earlier this summer, a paper published in the journal Nature captured headlines with a rather bleak forecast. Our chances of keeping global warming below the 2C danger threshold are very, very small: only about 5%. The reason, according to the paper’s authors, is that the cuts we’re making to greenhouse gas emissions are being cancelled out by economic growth.In the coming decades, we’ll be able to reduce the carbon intensity of the global economy by about 1.9% per year, if we make heavy … [Read more...]
An Economy of Meaning – or Bust
It’s not often that a scientist gets to use the words love, creativity, and wisdom in a paper, especially when writing about economics. Perhaps that’s because economics, the dismal science, is obsessed with dismal systems – make that abysmal systems, relative to need.To be clear, I’m not speaking of the specific policies of the US, the EU, China, the World Bank or others. I’m speaking of dominant economic systems as wholes – especially their underlying conceptual models (macro and micro) and … [Read more...]
Globalization and the American Dream
“... America is a new kind of society that produces a new kind of human being. That human being – confident, self-reliant, tolerant, generous, future-oriented – is a vast improvement over the wretched, servile, fatalistic and intolerant human being that traditional societies have always produced.” — Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About America Implicit in all the rhetoric promoting globalization is the premise that the rest of the world can and should be brought up to the standard of living … [Read more...]
Mental Health and Globalization: An Alternative Theory on the Mental Health Crisis
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society." – Jiddu KrishnamurtiI have a secret that I usually keep locked up inside of myself, hidden from even those who know me well: I suffer from depression. At times it is a deep, bottomless depression, an intense loneliness, serious end-of-the-world-thoughts depression. … [Read more...]
22 Ways to Foster an Economics of Happiness
Transition Sarasota, Florida, recently screened the Economics of Happiness. While there were other aspects of the event, the following article (which can be viewed in full here) was undoubtedly in-part inspired by the screening. The following ideas were generated by the more than 85 people who participated in the World Cafe discussion that was part of the Economics of Happiness Summit + Launch of the Common Wealth Time Bank on September 3rd. We hope they will inspire and challenge you to make … [Read more...]
What a Month: The Economics of Happiness Conference
This is reflection of The Economics of Happiness Conference was written by Emily Zionts, who attended the conference. Her entry here is taken from the Woolman blog. Woolman is an education community in California which offers a semester-long, progressive, experiential courses in environmental science, peace studies, and global issues. One year ago, I stumbled upon a documentary called, “The Economics of Happiness” and have been showing it to each semester ever since. The two-part film is … [Read more...]
Occupy Your Soapbox: Cindy Sheehan Interviews Helena Norberg-Hodge
Check out Cindy Sheehan's blog. It contains a recent interview with Helena Norberg-hodge about the problems of globalization, and The Economics of Happiness. … [Read more...]
The Easiest Way to Tackle Climate Change
Hopes were high as our leaders gathered in Durban late last year. But another round of prevarication, indecision, postponement and finally outright refusal to meet carbon targets has certainly left those of us concerned about climate change feeling very discouraged. Yet not surprised. Since the very first attempts at addressing carbon emissions, our governments have approached the problem in the same reluctant, reductionist way. We’ve been led to believe that reducing carbon emissions will … [Read more...]
From Dismay to Purpose: A reflection.
The following is written by Susan Claire, A founder of Together Yes, Inc., who recently screening The Economics of Happiness in her town: Last night was a ride through valleys of disheartenment and hills of optimism for me. My local organization sponsored a community screening of "The Economics of Happiness" by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick, and John Page (ISEC, 2011).Together Yes is our nonprofit grassroots organization, dedicated to sustainability and community … [Read more...]