Fortunately, not all countries are as obsessed with size over substance. New Zealand is now measuring its economic success in terms of well-being. And we have to put something in its place, we have to put a vision of what it means to be human, in its place.”

There’s been lots of conversations, work that's been done by the original authors of Limits to Growth, and the work of the Club of Rome, the work that's been done in inter-governmental organisations in the United Nations, the work that's been done in universities, the work that's been done by the kids, when they turned out for the school strikes Fridays for Future. Message is that Capitalism needs to change - how by making those not well served by Capitalism aware of their options, change thru ballot box; change thru protests in the streets. Because the world urgently needs more economists who understand the pipework as well as having a vision of a sustainable future.And to all intents and purposes, we're already living in a kind of post growth economy. But we haven't figured out how to make that work, how to ensure that people do have jobs and decent livelihoods, how to make sure that are enterprises, our firms work in a slightly different way how to make our public services more sustainable.”

This said, even as someone who considers them self very in tune with TJ’s thinking and desires, regarding a better future for humanity, this book has helped shine a light on how inescapably insidious so much of contemporary capitalist life is. From my own seeking of solace in over-consumption - both in literal dietary terms and the more metaphorical but equally material terms of ‘I shop therefore I am’ - to the devastation of the mental and ‘spiritual’ life Capitalism wreaks, as it devalues labour and marginalises dissenters. And yet, there comes a point at which more becomes too much. The World Health Organization has said that nowadays we have more people dying from diseases of over-consumption than dying from malnutrition, under-nutrition. Capitalism especially how it is practiced in the Anglo-Saxon world focuses principally on Growth/Rate of Growth. Other items/areas community health, environment....etc. are not considered. Hence the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals by the U.N. and etc. Even a casual observer of the curret U.S. 'Economic' Condition finds the Capitalist system not sharing the surplus profit generated broadly - (since perhaps the late 1970's) - with attendant income and wealth inequality. In addition to this observation; 'n' studies has defined the problem - any proposed solution that could reasonably be implemented in a reasonable timeframe at a reasonable cost (with any sort of public support)remains undocumented and unevaluated. At its core, this book makes the argument “growth matters when there is material insufficiency…and [society needs to understand] how to stop when we get there”.The gross domestic product became, at that point, really the primary indicator of success for economies almost entirely around the world.” This isn’t perfect, by any means. Occasionally dazzled by his own prose, and prone to that impressive but somewhat cloying tradition of drowning in quotations, TJ may also be in danger of only reaching the converted, aka preaching to the ‘amen corner’. I do think the ideas presented here need to somehow be successfully communicated to ‘the enemy’, the Trumps, Bojos and their hordes of zombie enablers. And as most of them don’t even read, let alone read this sort of book, that’s where TJ’s vision falters. One can imagine, or rather hear already, the contemptuous dismissals ideas such as flow or balance typically provoke from the currently dominant hard-nosed bully-boy (and girl) Capitalists.

He quotes the historian Theodore Roszak: "Far from reading the ethos of the jungle into civilized society, Darwin read the ethos of industrial capitalism into the jungle, concluding that all life had to be what it had become in the early mill towns: a vicious 'struggle for existence'." For more, watch Tim speak with Earth.Org founder Constant Tedder in a fascinating 60-minute conversation here. This book feels more like philosophy than economics and I hope for that reason it will find a wide audience amongst those who would not consider reading a book in my own field of study. But there is also a limitation here. It is essential to build understanding that the economy is designed to be destructive and that we must seek solutions to the climate and ecological crises there but we also need to invest in understanding the complex nuts and bolts that will be required to do the necessary re-plumbing.

Content

This is a thought-provoking analysis of why capitalism has failed, why it is incompatible with social justice, and why the drive for continued growth threatens our collective wellbeing. Where Darwin led, economists followed, and Darwin himself admitted being guided to his insights into evolution by that most dismal of all economists, Thomas Malthus. That hope for a better life for us and for our children, it's something that we can't afford to throw away, we can't afford to throw that hope away. Their voices were clarion clear, they had a kind of an understanding of the challenge that was amazing for 15 and 16-year olds.