The United States of America—actually the entire world—is trudging through the most significant economic and environmental crisis in history. Now, instinctively, we’re all trying to solve for an answer as to why, but multiple solutions seem to be fogging the action needed to be taken to get us out of this mud puddle. Bill McKibben, in his book Deep Economy describes his own reasons on how we got into this sticky situation and what we might be able to do to get out. McKibben evaluates this international depression by focusing on a few key aspects of life in the world, in main comparison to the USA. These features of life are in large: consumerism and production, and community and locality.
The main idea that has brought us rather far in our poor economic and environmental standards is that “more is better.” For some reason, we humans can never be satisfied; we are constantly putting all of our energy into purchasing the next, new car model or wearing the latest jean vest. This phenomenon seems to appear particularly in the United States. But wherever it may be, it has to stop, or at least slow down. Our daily lives being filled with whatever we “want” whenever we want is not helping our markets, nature, or happiness. The more we buy, sure, the more it feeds into the economy, but the consequences of that purchase considering the resources needed to produce and transport us, just sets us back. The demand for production increases immensely, and pressure on our planet is piled on. Every time a new product or building is developed, the care that we need to take of the Earth is simply not being met; it’s not a
problem if we keep driving around, emitting CO2 emissions into the air, if we don’t see it. And finally, as McKibben states “…new research from many quarters has started to show that even when growth does make us wealthier, the greater wealth no longer makes us happier.” (page 2) Why is this though? It’s because it’s more or better, not more and better.
As a considerate solution however, McKibben focuses on the concept of community. If we look around today, we can see that our society has become highly individualistic. We work to gain for ourselves. We want our own success. We do what we want to do. We plan our lives on our own schedules. We make whatever we want to make. All in all, we have just lost the thought of helping others, as well as ourselves. This is where the idea of buying locally comes in. Buying locally just may be one of the best things for the world’s situation right now. Purchasing local energy, resources, products, and especially food is hugely important. Paying that extra $0.60 or whatever it may be for a local tomato to come from the area in which you live in, you are helping the economy more than if you were to get that in the supermarket. Getting it from a local farmer, you are supporting his or her income even more than that other farmer in Brazil, because there is no middleman involved in the exchange. The local farmer gets the full profit, and not just $0.08 of it like the industrial farmer. The rest of your money is then put into paying large corporations to transport, advertise, and take control of other unfair agricultural negotiations. Luckily, the idea of community is reinventing itself in the world. In approximation, the number of CSAs (Community Shared Agriculture – contracts between local inhabitants and local farmers having weekly boxes filled with fresh, local produce in exchange for a reasonable price and/or labor) has risen to over 1,
500 (2007) and the number of farmers markets has shot up to way over 3,700 (2004). So there’s hope, it just needs to gain a little bit more speed.
Bill McKibben states the facts in his book Deep Economy. His writing allows the reader to dive into the page and examples, without realizing the time passing by. Each problem and solution is carefully thought out, and listed with concrete examples of evidence. Through his experiences at his own home and traveling all over the world, McKibben brings the grand concept of the economic and environmental crisis down to a personal level, showing the audience that this is something that truly does relate to all of us. Also, in spite of the horrific statistics and instances happening right now on our planet, McKibben tries his best to stay positive, but without making it sound like everything will just be okay if no one does anything, thus leaving the reader (hopefully) to take action! This book reminded me of why it is important that we consume less and act locally as well as globally. I recommend it to anyone and everyone, because in a sense, we all need to be brainwashed by McKibben’s values in order for our future to survive.
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