CHAPTER 1: ORIGINS OF SUSTAINABILITY
Beginning Perspectives
Modern Origins of the Growth Debate
The Problem and Its Crisis
Science and the Natural World
Questioning the Economics of Growth
The Institutional and Political Imperative
Toward a Philosophy of Sufficiency
Summarizing and Looking Forward
CHAPTER 2: ECONOMICS FROM THE GROUND UP
Background
In Search of Community Economic Theory
Some Historic Economic Phases
Cave Economics
Tribal Economics
Village Economics
City Economics
National Economics
Global Economics
Summing Up
CHAPTER 3: VISIONING, COUNTING, AND VALUING
Two Economic Visions
The Throughput Economy
The Spaceship Earth Model
Assessing the Scorecard
Three Problems with Gross Domestic Product
Attempting to Change
The Language of Values
Two Broad Categories
Alternative World Views
The Pyramid of Values
Demand and Values—A Final Note
CHAPTER 4: RECOGNIZING THE GROWTH ETHIC IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Economics of Looking at Your Community
What Are the Costs of Growth?
Who Pays and Who Benefits?
Recognizing the Rhetoric
Prosperity Begins at Home
Don't You Appreciate Cultural Diversity?
Think of Your Children
Livability and the Price of Housing
The Landowner as King
Slow versus Rapid Growth
Conclusion
A Personal Note
CHAPTER 5: RECYCLING IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
Recycling in Practice
Recycling as Impossibility-Irreversibility
The Symbolism of Recycling
An Example: Seeing Things Whole
Extracting the Principles
CHAPTER 6: TOWARD PRACTICAL USE OF SUSTAINABILITY
A Citizen's Simulation
Practical Difficulties with Conceptual Sustainability
Why Does It Matter?
The Political "Middle Way"
Marginal Sustainability
CHAPTER 7: GLOBALIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
Globalization Is Here, Now, and Real
Profits: The Driving Force Behind Globalization
Prospecting for Profits
Financial Feeding Frenzy
The Defense of Globalization
Sustainability versus Globalization
"This is a book that belongs in every thinking-person's library. Clear and elegant writing in addition to the critical topic makes this a book to give all your friends!"—Jeanne Enders, Lake Oswego, OR.
"Fight against it as I might, having been trained as an economist, I view much of the world through markets and statistics. Luckily, I have had mentors in the profession who question the narrow vision of standard doctrine. This book serves such a purpose. For non-economists, this book reminds sustainable development advocates that their concepts must make economic sense; for economists, it questions perceived truths, and looks beyond traditional economics to alternative perspectives for important answers."—Christopher Meier,
