Citizen''s Income and Green Economics

Preface This book is written for those who do not yet share a Green world view, but who do have stirrings of unease that we are not looking after the Planet as well as we ought. It is also written for others who share the author's concerns but who have chosen different paths and strategies. Intended as part of a series under the auspices of the Green Economics Institute, it is hoped that it will operate in tandem with the much more ambitious work being undertaken, for example to find methods of measuring the economy better suited to ecological criteria than those in use since the end of the second world war. A two stage strategy is envisaged: in the first instance it is hoped that academics and opinion formers will use the message contained in this book as the basis for their work towards a sustainable society and economy, but ultimately that message needs to reach a much wider audience if the necessary cultural shift world-wide is to occur before the dangers of which scientists warn us become a reality. This book makes as few philosophical assumptions as possible.It offers a new insight, albeit at a fairly superficial level, based on the 'Deep Ecology' tenet that we should model society on tribes who live in harmony with their surroundings, but this is confined to one aspect of society. On the other hand it is 'market' oriented only in the sense that since the market is dominant, that is where one must start, willy nilly. It is a part of my claim that the ideas in this book may help other norms to emerge. It is assumed that economics will and should remain as part of the ecological decision making process, but that its current dominance must cease. Some of the steps in my reasoning are intuitive rather than based on evidence. Mostly they depend on ideas, indeed sea-changes in ideas for which there can be no evidence in advance. This book attempts to weave several different strands whose importance is only apparent when considered together. The pace of change in the debate on threats to global sustainability is accelerating, so that attempts to keep up to date with all developments would be ineffective.My hope is that this book will provide a basis for a new approach to ecological problems, and that others better qualified will build on this foundation. The world is no longer divided by the ideologies of left and right, but by those who accept ecological limits and those who don't.Wolfgang Sachs 2003 The point of the story of the boy who cried wolf is that finally, a wolf did appear Martin Wolf, discussing Climate Change, Financial Times, 5th Decemb Clive Lord January 2011 See more