[pf] thinking of a sustainable world "that would be nice to live in".

by David MacClement

08 December 2000 07:28 UTC

· I thought I'd check one of the links on my webpage (see my signature) :
The Local Politics of Global Sustainability
    by Thomas Prugh, Robert Costanza, and Herman Daly, Island Press,
Washington DC, 2000

· Prugh, Costanza and Daly say: "As Donella Meadows has pointed out, most
discussions of sustainability focus on implementation and ignore the
critical questions of what the world of our dreams would actually look,
feel, and smell like." 

· One of our earlier discussions focussed on that (to follow it start at:
http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/pfvs/2000/thrd6.html , then Find:
  "free trade and benefits to locals" ), but here I'm just forwarding the
following two reviews of Prugh, Costanza and Daly's book.

· The link on my webpage takes you to the Amazon.com page:
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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1559637447/qid=974571011/sr=1-1/105-0
627659-6775961  [all on one line]

- which has customer reviews:

Review #1:

 Looking for a workable change agent.  December 4, 2000 
Reviewer: tim.campbell@ces.uwex.edu from Hurley, WI United States

This book could eventually be one of the most important ever published
within the environmental community if it encourages environmental activists
to shift their approach from confrontation to "principled" negotiation.
Environmental activists for most of the past thirty years have tended to
confront their adversaries using "hard" negotiation as described in Getting
To Yes by Fisher and Ury. This was the style implied by Herman Daly's early
writings. 

If "names" such as Robert Costanza and Herman Daly can shift their thinking
away from confrontation and toward working with non-environmentalists as
collective problem-solvers, there is no end to the possibilites.
Interestingly, they endorse the process of public deliberation or what
Benjamin Barber calls "strong" democracy. They are dsicovering, as many of
us already know, that citizens engaged in deliberation naturally tend to
gravitate toward "sustainable" concepts. Hence, if we can create forums for
strong democracy in our communities, pro-environmental thinking will follow.

In this manner, public deliberation can foster "principled" negotiation
where all of us look for win/win solutions and treat each other with
respect. Or, we can continue to confront and litigate each other and/or
wait for big brother to impose a resolution. Are we, as "ordinary"
citizens, up to the challenge. Prugh et al imply we are. Those of us in the
"front lines" of community development know we are. Happy reading!!

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Review #2:

 More interesting to theorists than activists. April 11, 2000 
Reviewer: Keith Winston from Maryland, USA

This book is a quick read, essentially an application of Barber's Strong
Democracy treatise to the idea of sustainable development. It defines
sustainable development as the reorientation of the economic system to
accommodate inherent natural limits on energy use, waste sinks, etc. The
authors point out there may be many different paths humanity may choose
into the future: increasing maldistribution of resources or increasing
global equity; increasing loss of biodiversity or reduced destruction of
the biosphere; a bleak and degrading future or a more promising one. They
posit that a move towards a strong democratic structure, with wider and
deeper participation in the political system, would be a crucial step
towards a more promising future.

I found the book interesting, though a little light on examples: there's
one chapter devoted to historical examples of strong(er) democracy. On the
other hand, the book offers some ideas about how to get there from here,
how to move incrementally towards stronger democracy. The author's proposal
to create the democratic foundation for a sustainable future is the major
focus of the book: it would be interesting to explore in greater detail
those aspects of modern culture that mitigate against popular
participation, and those that might be brought into play to support it. How
does the increasing homogenization of world culture, and the concomitant
consumerization of the world's people (and the corresponding influence of
advertising), undermine democratic participation? What trends, like the
coop movement or the expanding NGO movement, help develop political
participation? How can we shift the direction of the increasingly
international economy and it's political implications as illustrated by the
WTO, for example? What are the implications of modern
communication/computer technologies, both positive and negative, on the
ideas outlined here?

"Local Politics" doesn't attempt anything so grandiose. It's presents
interesting ideas regarding strong democracy. I think it will be more
interesting to theorists than activists, but many people might find
something to chew on here.

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Customers who bought this book also bought:

Ecological Economics and the Ecology of Economics : Essays in Criticism by
Herman E. Daly, Edward Elgar 
Anarchy and the Environment: The International Relations of Common Pool
Resources by J. Samuel Barkin(Editor), George E. Shambaugh(Editor) 
Valuing the Earth : Economics, Ecology, Ethics by Herman E. Daly, Kenneth
N. Townsend(Editor) 
Natural Capital and Human Economic Survival (Ecological Economics Series
(International Society for Ecological Economics).) by Thomas Prugh(Editor),
et al 

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sent on to Pos Fut by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz