Deep Economy Summary

Title of Book – Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and The Durable Future

Author – Bill McKibben

Publisher – Times Books

Publishing Date – 2007

Want more about Bill McKibben? Go here > http://www.billmckibben.com/

What is the book about? – In this novel, McKibben goes through our everyday lives (such as the food we eat, the energy we use, our culture, and our entertainment) and explains ways that we could create more of a sustainable economy in our everyday activities.  He also talks about how ‘more’ and ‘better’ do not exactly go hand in hand anymore. He talks about how money can only buy happiness up to $10,000 per capita income, explaining why America is so often looking for something more then we have now, and therefore explains why we are turning ourselves into this economic downfall.

The author looks at each subject individually and goes into detail. He explains firstly that the food we eat everyday has traveled hundreds of miles before it has even touched our lips, we don’t eat locally grown food anymore but instead we trade those local foods for foods that have been grown in huge, industrial farms. This is bad in a lot of ways because this means that local, smaller farms are going out of business because the big farms are taking over. This also means that we are using a crazy amount of oil (that we will never get back) just to get this food. Instead of man or animal power, we are now depending on power that comes from the earth; oil. It also means that we are turning our bodies into useless, lazy objects by eating the junk that is mass produced to feed the over whelming number of people needing more and more food everyday. He goes into each subject with this kind of detail and looks into every aspect.

The points that McKibben is trying to make is simple; we need to chance our ways or else. We do not know what is coming next and we need to start preparing. Small changes will help our economy but we just have to know where to start.

He also states that the richer America and the World in general gets, the sadder we get. He admits that it is true that happiness does in fact come from wealth but only to an extent, and that extent is about $10,000 per capita income. He constantly relates back to the fact that we need to ‘back up’ it seems to get back to where we were because we are not headed in the right direction,.

MY opinion? – I have always believed the way that McKibben does so I often agreed with his arguments. Often times i feel like we are constantly being clouded by this sort of ‘ doom’ and we need to make immense changes if we would like to see our society continue on a better path.

All together, I love the points he made and the way that he could so accurately describe the complex ideas that he was writing about. It was a fantastic read and very interesting!

Want more info still?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Economy

http://www.billmckibben.com/deep-economy.html

http://www.billmckibben.com/deep-economy-excerpt.html

 

One thought on “Deep Economy Summary

  1. Jeremy

    Another book I have to read. I also agree with your viewpoint and the author’s apparently. We consume consume consume. I make the same point to the environmental activists that come to my door wanting money. I ask where they bough the North Face fleece and iphone, etc… Think of all that oil it takes to transport goods across the ocean. Think of all the pollution those barges dump in to the ocean.

Leave a Reply