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Source: http://www.shiftinaction.com/discover/articles/shift11/seven_reasons_why_i_remain_an_optimist
5 ECONOMIES ARE BEGINNING TO BE MEASURED IN QUALITY OF LIFE.
A few years ago, the king of Bhutan announced that his economy would be measured henceforth in the happiness of his people. It seemed a shockingly radical, if not laughable, idea by many. Yet for nearly half a century, Hazel Henderson has crusaded for “quality of life indicators” as far more sensible measures of an economy’s health than the GDP/GNP measures of money. Why should the cost of oil spills, psychiatrists, or toxins in our foods be counted as economic benefits, when we should be focusing on education, healthy ecosystems, and preventive medicine? Has the creation story about an entropic universe so pervaded our thinking that we cannot see our way to win-win economies? To a large degree, the answer has been yes, but now we are finding countries from Bhutan to Brazil looking to quality of life measures as a real alternative that can help solve debt crises and bring true benefits. Once a nation’s mind is focused on positive economics, it will be possible to create them on ever larger scales.
6 WE HAVE THE KNOW-HOW TO SHIFT TO SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES.
Digging up fossil fuels that nature had long buried was a quick and literally dirty way to build technological economies of scale. But it has proven to be a highly unsustainable path. Supplies are running out, and the resulting pollution is both choking us and creating global warming.
Fortunately, nature role-models a better way. As Janine Benyus has shown, we could create natural “biomimicry” economies based on carbohydrates instead of hydrocarbons, avoiding the 96 percent resource waste of expensive “heat, beat, treat” production processes that currently create nonrecyclable products. This past year, a man demonstrated on New Zealand television how his motorcycle runs on water, and a friend of mine, also in New Zealand, has spearheaded a zero-waste project nationwide, as have Australia and several European nations. Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken, and William McDonough have all shown us practical ways to implement a natural capitalism of sustainable technologies and products, with 100 percent recyclability. Tachi Kiuchi and others show corporations how to shift from shareholder accountability to a stakeholder accountability, in which creating value for the poorest people on Earth is the sustainable path to good business returns. In short, we humans have all the intelligence and knowledge we need to create clean, sustainable economies that work for everyone, with no limits on new technologies except that they be nontoxic and recyclable. Stop for a moment to ponder the liberating potential in that last statement and perhaps you will begin to share my boundless optimism.
5 ECONOMIES ARE BEGINNING TO BE MEASURED IN QUALITY OF LIFE.
A few years ago, the king of Bhutan announced that his economy would be measured henceforth in the happiness of his people. It seemed a shockingly radical, if not laughable, idea by many. Yet for nearly half a century, Hazel Henderson has crusaded for “quality of life indicators” as far more sensible measures of an economy’s health than the GDP/GNP measures of money. Why should the cost of oil spills, psychiatrists, or toxins in our foods be counted as economic benefits, when we should be focusing on education, healthy ecosystems, and preventive medicine? Has the creation story about an entropic universe so pervaded our thinking that we cannot see our way to win-win economies? To a large degree, the answer has been yes, but now we are finding countries from Bhutan to Brazil looking to quality of life measures as a real alternative that can help solve debt crises and bring true benefits. Once a nation’s mind is focused on positive economics, it will be possible to create them on ever larger scales.
6 WE HAVE THE KNOW-HOW TO SHIFT TO SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES.
Digging up fossil fuels that nature had long buried was a quick and literally dirty way to build technological economies of scale. But it has proven to be a highly unsustainable path. Supplies are running out, and the resulting pollution is both choking us and creating global warming.
Fortunately, nature role-models a better way. As Janine Benyus has shown, we could create natural “biomimicry” economies based on carbohydrates instead of hydrocarbons, avoiding the 96 percent resource waste of expensive “heat, beat, treat” production processes that currently create nonrecyclable products. This past year, a man demonstrated on New Zealand television how his motorcycle runs on water, and a friend of mine, also in New Zealand, has spearheaded a zero-waste project nationwide, as have Australia and several European nations. Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken, and William McDonough have all shown us practical ways to implement a natural capitalism of sustainable technologies and products, with 100 percent recyclability. Tachi Kiuchi and others show corporations how to shift from shareholder accountability to a stakeholder accountability, in which creating value for the poorest people on Earth is the sustainable path to good business returns. In short, we humans have all the intelligence and knowledge we need to create clean, sustainable economies that work for everyone, with no limits on new technologies except that they be nontoxic and recyclable. Stop for a moment to ponder the liberating potential in that last statement and perhaps you will begin to share my boundless optimism.
