The Wealth of Nature: Economics as if Survival Mattered [Paperback]

John Michael Greer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2011

The Wealth of Nature proposes a new model of economics based on the integral value of ecology. Building on the foundations of E. F. Schumacher's revolutionary "economics as if people mattered," this book examines the true cost of confusing money with wealth. By analyzing the mistakes of contemporary economics, it shows how an economy centered on natural capital—the raw materials that support human life—can move our society toward a more productive relationship with the planet that sustains us all.

The Wealth of Nature suggests public policy initiatives and personal choices that can help alleviate the economic impact of Peak Oil. These strategies must address not only financial concerns, but the issues of resource depletion and pollution as well. Examples include:

• Adjusting tax policy to penalize the use of natural nonrenewable resources over recycled materials
• Placing public welfare above corporate interests
• Empowering individuals, families, and communities by prioritizing local, sustainable solutions
• Building economies at an appropriate scale

Profoundly insightful and impeccably argued, this book is required reading for anyone interested in the intersection of the environment and the economy as we enter the twilight of the Age of Abundance.

John Michael Greer is a scholar of ecological history, an award-winning author, and an internationally renowned peak oil theorist whose blog The Archdruid Report has become one of the most widely cited online resources dealing with the future of industrial society.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Michael Greer is a scholar of ecological history, an award-winning author and an internationally renowned Peak Oil theorist whose blog, “The Archdruid Report”, has become one of the most widely cited online resources dealing with the future of industrial society. He is a certified Master Conserver, an organic gardener, and has been active in the alternative spirituality movement for more than 25 years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: New Society Publishers (May 31, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865716730
• ISBN-13: 978-0865716735
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.7 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in the gritty Navy town of Bremerton, Washington and raised in the south Seattle suburbs, I began writing about as soon as I could hold a pencil. SF editor George Scithers' dictum that all would-be writers have a million words of so of bad prose in them, and have to write it out, pretty much sums up the couple of decades between my first serious attempt to write a book and my first published book, "Paths of Wisdom", which appeared in 1996. These days I live in Cumberland, Maryland with my spouse Sara; serve as presiding officer -- Grand Archdruid is the official title -- of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), a Druid order founded in 1912; and write in half a dozen nonfiction fields, nearly all of them focused on the revival of forgotten ideas, insights, and traditions of practice from the rubbish heap of history.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Economics focused on people and hard facts instead of funny money and twinkle dust July 16, 2011

By Paula L. Craig VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I wish I could buy a thousand copies of this book and hand them out to environmentalists and economists across the United States. Maybe then we'd have some chance of a soft landing to the present economic crisis. I get so sick and tired of hearing economic pundits get up and make recommendations that will make matters worse, not better. Even harder is hearing it called "science." I am a scientist myself (I have degrees in biochemistry and law) and I have a great respect for science. Mainstream economic science in recent decades has unfortunately completely lost its way. Greer does a fine analysis of this. Greer understands that our country is presently facing hard limits of energy supplies and other natural resources. Pumping up the economy with more stimulus money or bailing out banks in this economy is just throwing good money after bad. You might as well try to solve economic problems by sprinkling magic twinkle dust.

Greer is not an economist. In fact, though he doesn't talk about it much in this book, in the past he was best known as a writer about druidry. Lately he's mostly shifted from writing about druid subjects to writing about economics. Don't let Greer's lack of economic credentials stop you from reading this book. If you're an economist and don't agree with Greer, at least give him a serious hearing and point out what you think he got wrong.

Greer's main point is that the past three centuries or so of fossil fuel usage have created an economic super-bubble. As fossil fuels become exhausted, this bubble will deflate with a vengeance.

Greer's discussion of productivity is great. Mainstream economists have long assumed that increases in productivity are wonderful for an economy. Greer points out that productivity--which measures economic output per worker hour--essentially assumes that turning any job over to a machine instead of a worker is a great idea. When machines and power to run them are plentiful and labor is not, this makes a certain amount of sense. In an economy where unemployment is a major problem and fuel to run machines is increasingly scarce, increasing "productivity" is exactly what you don't want to do.

Greer takes environmentalists to task over being unrealistic about the new green economy. He does a fine job explaining entropy and the limits entropy places on what can be done with solar and wind power. Too many environmentalists seem to have no idea at all about how difficult the transition to sustainability is going to be.

The book does have some weak points. Greer has some ideas on controlling the power of corporations by treating them more like people when they commit crimes. For example, a corporation that steals from people could be sent to "prison" in the form of a temporary government takeover of the corporation. This strikes me as a bit ridiculous. Personally I think a constitutional amendment stating that corporations are not persons, and have no rights except as given them by law, would be better.

I also think Greer missed some of the most important things that could be done to make the transition to the post-fossil fuel era easier. For example, I live in a condo complex where drying clothes on a clothesline has been outlawed. Eliminating absurd rules like this could make a big difference.

Another important step that Greer doesn't mention would be to eliminate all laws and regulations that favor automobiles over other forms of travel. Getting rid of parking requirements is particularly essential. Many people either don't know about these or don't realize how important they are in the automobile's dominance of American transportation. Most local governments in the U.S. have parking requirements. These require that anyone constructing or renovating a building, such as an office building, a store, an apartment building, or even a house, must provide a certain number of parking spaces. The required number of spaces is typically chosen to keep parking free or nearly free. Given that parking lots and garages cost a lot of money to build and maintain, and use up scarce land that could be used for other purposes, this amounts to a huge subsidy for automobiles. This subsidy is paid by everyone, including those who don't own a car. Parking is quite honestly the Achilles' heel of automobile transportation. For more on this, see The High Cost of Free Parking, Updated Edition.

Overall, though, Greer's book is wonderful. Don't miss it.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Industrial civilization itself is the ultimate bubble July 21, 2011

By Richard H. Burkhart

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Historian and philosopher John Michael Greer boldly rejects the sophistry of modern economics. Drawing on E. F. Schumacher, Greer classifies economics into the primary economy (nature), the secondary economy (human goods and services), and the tertiary economy (money). Neo-classical economics omits the primary economy, which however is foundational as growth turns to contraction. The money of the tertiary economy has become predatory on the secondary economy, which is now at extreme risk as resources are being used up at phenomenal rates along with environmental damage.

Energy is identified as the ur-commodity, the enabler of all other goods and services. Hence it has a special status, subject to strict natural limits and useful only when it is sufficiently concentrated for the purposes at hand. Ideally it is either used directly, as in passive solar heating or growing plants, or nature has already concentrated it in a form that easily processed and stored or transported, as in fossil fuels.

Greer rejects as superstitious faith-based economics, the claims of many economists that new forms for energy and technology will surely be found that will equal or surpass fossil fuels in quantity and ease of access and use. Certainly none are even close today, despite a long history of speculative claims.

For Greer industrial civilization itself is the ultimate bubble. The precursors to collapse are already happening, and all signs are consistent with the Limits-to-Growth business-as-usual scenario of severe turmoil and partial collapse in the 2020 to 2030 time frame.

For this world of energy scarcity we'll need an economics that maximizes the ratio of value to energy. This will include the management of many sorts of commons, including markets, for the common good, not private wealth. His prescription is for us to do as much possible with diffuse energy, like passive solar, while conserving stocks of concentrated energy for only the most essential uses.

But when Greer waxes pessimistic, he sees factions or demagogues blocking meaningful action until collapse itself is the only viable way out. In this scenario the system simply won't be able to harness the energy and other resources to solve its problems, such as creating sufficient green infrastructure to keep us going. What happens when most machines and services are no longer affordable and the electrical grid goes down?

Greer instructs us on the collapse of the Roman empire and what life was like in the middle ages. As government degenerates into kleptocracy, an "internal proletariat" with little to lose will combine with an "external proletariat" to bring the system down. After a vast die-off, we could be back to mostly human and animal power, with scattered monasteries to keep a few rudiments of learning alive.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening May 23, 2011

By MichaelH

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This is a rare kind of book: one that can truly be called life-changing. John Michael Greer explains the realities of our economic situation in clear, understandable terms and shines a light on some facets of that are poorly understood even by most economists.

Greer builds on his previous peak-oil books (The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age and The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World), adding the economic dimension in its full context as both a contributing cause and a consequence of over-reliance on fossil fuels. But he also explores the difference between money and wealth, the increasing disconnect between money and things of intrinsic value and the political dimension.

Read this book and a lot of things in the news will make sense to you that never did before.