Library Juice 2:15 - April 14, 1999
Green Issue! Contents: 1. A short list of Earth Day resources 2. Earthline - An Ecological Directory 3. Some Sustainable Development-Related Resources 4. Sustainable Development/Economics Homepage 5. The Institute for Ecological Economics (IEE) 6. Sustainability Web Ring 7. Tuscon-Pima Public Library - Proposed Seven Generations Project 8. GREENLines - Daily news and events 9. New Society Publishers 10. Feminist Economics 11. Communities: Journal of Cooperative Living 12. Clean Products and Processes 13. World Resources Institute 14. Sustainable Energy Coalition's "Weekly Update" 15. TFOE - Task Force On The Environment (ALA/SRRT) 16. ABOUT THE LOKA INSTITUTE 17. LOKA INSTITUTE INTERNSHIPS 18. Ecological version of the free market economy 19. SHIFTING DIRECTION: From Global Dependence to Local Interdependence 21. The Ten Commandments of Globalization 22. Ecology, Ethics, Power - by Tom Green Quote for the week: The librarian's mission should be, not like up to now, a mere handling of the book as an object, but rather a know how (mise au point) of the book as a vital function. - Mission del Bibliotecario, Jose Ortega y Gasset ______________________________________________________________________________ EARTH DAY IS APRIL 22nd ______________________________________________________________________________ 1. A short list of Earth Day resources From GreeNotes Vol.1, No.1, the online publication of ALA/SRRT's Task Force On The Environment, available at: http://www.ala.org/alaorg/rtables/srrt/greenotes/nie.html Earth Day Online http://home.dti.net/earthday/ Earth Day Organizers and Activists Resources http://earthday.envirolink.org EcoNet's Earth Day On-Line Resources http://www.igc.apc.org:80/earthday/ Earth Day Network http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/EarthDay/ednethome.html Planet Central Television http://www.pctvi.com/eday96/ ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Earthline - An Ecological Directory URL: http://www.earthline.net Earthline is a directory of environmental, animal rights, vegetarian organizations, and companies producing, manufacturing, or promoting earth friendly products and services. Submitted by: R. Tiess rjtiess[at]warwick.net From the list ResPool - http://members.tripod.com/~rtiess/respool.htm ______________________________________________________________________________ 3. Some Sustainable Development-Related Resources http://iisd.ca International Institute for Sustainable Development http://sdgateway.ne/ SD Gateway - integrating SD information on the net http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/econ.htm Daniel Tsang's page of resources on sustainable development http://www.rff.org Resources for the Future -See also Library Juice 1:31 - http://libr.org/Juice/issues/vol1/LJ_31.html http://www.lib.msu.edu/link/copresp.htm Terry Link's page talking about socially responsible investment. http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/economic-index.html "Redefining Economic Progress" Co-op America http://www.coopamerica.org http://www.greenpages.org http://www.socialinvest.org http://www.woodwise.org http://www.sweatshops.org ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. Sustainable Development/Economics Homepage http://www.colby.edu/personal/thtieten/sustain.html Compiled by Tom Tietenberg, Professor of Economics, Colby College, this page offers an extensive bibliography of works on ecological economics and sustainable development. Bibliography headings include Economic Incentives Policies, Population, Energy and Global Warming, and Biodiversity and Wildlife Management, among others. Student case study assignments are also available with references to additional texts, and a list of sustainable development links completes the site. Interested parties may also view Professor Tietenberg's Tradable Permits Bibliography at a separate address for review and comment. [MW] Tradable Permits Bibliography http://www.colby.edu/personal/thtieten/tradable_permits.htm >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ ______________________________________________________________________________ 5. The Institute for Ecological Economics (IEE) The Institute for Ecological Economics (IEE) was established to fill the growing need to integrate the study and management of "nature's household" (ecology) and "humankind's household" (economics). Ecological economics is the name that has been given to the effort to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries in order to address the interrelationships between ecological and economic systems in a broad and comprehensive way. IEE was established in 1991 by the Center for Environmental Science, a research campus of the University of Maryland, and is a component of the University of Maryland's systemwide coastal and Environmental Policy Program. IEE is currently organizing an Envisioning a Sustainable and Desirable America future search conference. For more information about this conference and the future search concept, visit the IEE website at: http://kabir.cbl.cees.edu/miiee/ESDA.html ______________________________________________________________________________ 6. Sustainability Web Ring English Sustainability Web Ring http://sdgateway.net/webring/default.htm FranÁais Cercle web du dÈveloppement durable http://sdgateway.net/webring/fr_default.htm EspaÒol Anillo Web de la Sustentabilidad http://sdgateway.net/webring/sp_default.htm This Internet tool allows users to navigate easily between web sites that deal with the principles, policies, and best practices for sustainable development. By following the links through the web ring, you will find information from around the world on how to deal with such crucial issues as: climate change, cleaner production, waste, poverty, consumerism, natural resource management, and governance. This information is particularly suited to decision-makers within civil society, government, business, research and funding institutions, and communities. ______________________________________________________________________________ 7. Tuscon-Pima Public Library - Proposed Seven Generations Project Introduction http://www.rtd.com/~lstage/TPPL/TPPL.html On to Full Proposal http://www.rtd.com/~lstage/TPPL/intro.html Example Page (and a good resource) http://www.rtd.com/~lstage/TPPL/7G.html Lisa Stage, author of the proposal http://www.rtd.com/~lstage/TPPL/lks.html It has become increasingly clear that "business as usual," following the Western economic and industrial model, cannot continue indefinitely. As residents of a finite planet, we cannot continue to exponentially increase consumption. Depletion of natural resources and accumulation of pollution will inevitably occur. We need new ways of meeting our needs -- food, water, clothing, shelter, energy, transportation -- that do not deplete or poison the planet. And we need information on these new ways and how to make these changes. The public library is the most widely accessible source of noncommercial information. Why "Seven Generations"? The term "sustainable" has been adopted for this new model, but it is a term that many people still do not understand. The same idea has been described more clearly by an Iroquois Confederacy concept: "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." With this description it is easy to grasp that we cannot continue indefinitely to rely on gasoline-powered cars as our major transportation mode, to expand our cities at acres per day, or to consume our groundwater faster than it is replaced. About the Project The Seven Generations project would promote sustainability materials at Tucson Pima Public Library, and other sustainability information resources. The medium for this promotion would be the TPPL website, similar to promotions of the Library's Business and Grants information. Benefits There are multiple benefits to pursuing this project. Primarily, Tucson-Pima Public Library will be enhancing its mission to provide local residents with access to information needed for full participation in the community and for the enrichment of individual lives. A presence on the Tucson-Pima Public Library website may invite the interest of regular library patrons who are not versed in sustainability issues. And finally, the website will assist the City of Tucson and Pima County's numerous sustainability programs in publicizing their missions and activities while, again, providing the public with more information for participating in the community. Programs of the Project Basic Program Determine areas of inclusion and develop subject headings for Seven Generations. Evaluate material in current TPPL collection for inclusion in Seven Generations. Develop inviting, informative, and easily navigable web pages for Seven Generations: Live links to TPPL web OPAC. Descriptive annotations for each material. Research and include websites for subject areas. Research and include local organizations and resources for subject areas. Ancillary Programs Fundraising: Investigate possible funding sources. Write grant proposals. Public Information: Prepare press releases. Give interviews in print and broadcast media. Display at community events. Stage special events. Other Possible Program Components Collection Development: Create bibliographies of key texts in subject areas. Evaluate current TPPL collection against bibliographies. Make ranked recommendations for collection development. Investigate possible funding sources for increased collection development. Develop public speaker programs for in-library presentations. ______________________________________________________________________________ 8. GREENLines - Daily news and events http://www.defenders.org/gline-h.html A daily of environment and wildlife news and events. Published by GREEN, the GrassRoots Environmental Effectiveness Network (A project of Defenders of Wildlife). Contact: rfeather[at]defenders.org From: nj[at]ccat.sas.upenn.edu (News of New Electronic Journals) ______________________________________________________________________________ 9. New Society Publishers "NEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS produces books to build a sustainable and just society - accountable economics, conscientious commerce, ecological design & planning, sustainable living, environmental justice, resistance and community, the feminist transformation, conflict resolution, progressive leadership, and educational and parenting resources." Free catalog: 800-567-6772 or browse: http://www.newsociety.com ______________________________________________________________________________ 10. Feminist Economics http://www.routledge.com/routledge/journal/fe.html The Official Journal of the International Association for Feminist Economics Feminist Economics is an innovative journal dedicated to developing an interdisciplinary discourse on feminist perspectives on economics and the economy. It also features economic issues from cross-disciplinary perspectives, including work in anthropology, cultural studies, critical race theory, geography, history, law, literature, philosophy, politics, post-colonial studies, public health, psychology, science and society studies and sociology. Feminist Economics: * advances feminist inquiry into economic issues affecting the lives of women, men and children * provides a feminist rethinking of theory and policy in diverse subfields and related areas of economics, including those not directly related to gender * provides insights into the relationship between gender and power relations in the economy and in the construction and legitimation of economic knowledge extends feminist theoretical, historical, and methodological insights to economics and the economy * offers feminist insights into the underlying constructs of the economics discipline and into the historical, political, and cultural context of economic knowledge The journal also includes short essays, comments and replies to previously published articles, book reviews, and an information section. Contact: info.journals[at]routledge.com nj[at]ccat.sas.upenn.edu (News of New Electronic Journals) ______________________________________________________________________________ 11. Communities: Journal of Cooperative Living http://www.ic.org/fic/cmag/index.html Communities is part of the "Intentional Communities" web site. The site has a list of intentional communities, e-mail groups, a calendar of events, resources, chat room. You will also find the contents of the current issue of Communities, subscription and submission information, and selected features from Communities' back issues. Contact: communities[at]ic.org From: nj[at]ccat.sas.upenn.edu (News of New Electronic Journals) ______________________________________________________________________________ 12. Clean Products and Processes http://link.springer.de/link/service/journals/10098/ ISSN (print version): 1435-2974 ISSN (electronic version) pending The concept of sustainable development, universally accepted as a means of protecting the environment for all mankind, demands that future manufacturing technologies must be cleaner, yet economically sound. Clean products and Processes will create an international forum for discussing the science and engineering of clean technologies, and mathematical and computer-based methods and models for designing, analyzing, and measuring cleanliness of products, processes, and manufacturing networks. The journal will provide a forum for experts from different disciplines to share common technical information and offer the opportunity for multi-disciplinary discourse on science and technologies that lead to the development, demonstration, and commercialization of cleaner products and processes. Contact: Subhas K. Sikdar, editor, sikdar[at]epamail.epa.gov From: nj[at]ccat.sas.upenn.edu (News of New Electronic Journals) ______________________________________________________________________________ 13. World Resources Institute Please note. WRI has done some remarkable scientiifc and policy work for the environment. Fred Stoss ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 11:24:55 -0500 From: Elizabeth Behrendt <bethb[at]wri.org> The WRI Library may now be contacted at: World Resources Institute 10 G St. NE, Ste. 800 Washington, DC 20002 for reference and interlibrary loan requests: tel: 202-729-7603 fax: 202-729-7610 email: bethh[at]wri.org to contact me directly: tel: 202-729-7601 fax: 202-729-7610 email: bethb[at]wri.org Please understand that there may be delays in our response time to your requests for the next couple of weeks. Look for an invitation to the WRI Library Open House in a couple of months (once the dust has settled around here!). Beth _______________ Elizabeth A. Behrendt Library Manager / Senior Librarian World Resources Institute www.wri.org/library ______________________________________________________________________________ 14. Sustainable Energy Coalition's "Weekly Update" Thought this is a bargain! Fred Stoss ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 08:08:24 -0500 From: SUN DAY Campaign <kbossong[at]cais.com> To: Energy & Environmental Activists: We are writing to invite you to add your organization's name to the e-mail list to receive the Sustainable Energy Coalition's "Weekly Update" if you are not already receiving it. The "Weekly Update" is a free-of-charge, weekly, 2-3 page newsletter published by the SUN DAY Campaign for the Sustainable Energy Coalition. It provides short news updates on the status of the federal energy budget and tax issues, electric utility restructuring (with a focus on federal developments), climate change, and miscellaneous related environmental issues. The Sustainable Energy Coalition includes 35 national business, environmental, consumer, and energy policy organizations including the SUN DAY Campaign; a list is available upon request. Founded in 1992, the Coalition promotes increased federal support for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and reduced federal support for unsafe or polluting energy resources. The Coalition's mission statement notes that its "members advocate federal energy policies that will lead to a cleaner environment, safe reliable energy technologies, and a secure, prosperous future for all Americans. Avenues for Coalition activity include policy decisions on the federal budget, electric utility restructuring, climate change, and tax issues." If you would like to be added to the e-mail list for the Sustainable Energy Coalition's "Weekly Update," please let us know. Please provide your name and that of your organization as well as your mailing address, telephone & fax numbers, and e-mail address (and web page address if you have one). Thank you. Ken Bossong, Executive Director SUN DAY Campaign for the members of the Sustainable Energy Coalition 315 Circle Avenue, Suite #2 Takoma Park, MD 20912-4836 301-270-2258 301-891-2866 (fax) ______________________________________________________________________________ 15. TFOE - Task Force On The Environment (ALA/SRRT) http://www.usu.edu/~cnr/temp/tfoehome.htm TFOE Identity... Librarians, publishers, vendors, and others interested parties from a wide variety of settings -- public libraries, school libraries and media centers, college and university libraries, government agencies, public interest groups, publishers, and vendors and other information providers -- comprise the Task Force on the Environment. TFOE has endorsed the National Library for the Environment as a component of the proposed National Institute for the Environment. The Task Force on the Environment was created in the spirit of the 20th Anniversary of Earth Day in 1990. Issue-oriented task forces, including TFOE, comprise the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) of the American Library Association. SRRT is administratively linked to ALAs Office of Literacy and Out Research Services (OLOS). TFOE Objectives... Promote awareness for environmental issues for ALA, its members, and others Unite librarians and information professionals for mutual benefit and support Provide TFOE members with opportunities for career development, skills enhancement, and leadership experiences Facilitate networking among peers and professional associates Provide services, programs, and publications that assist TFOE members, other librarians, and other information providers in their careers, in their workplaces, in their homes, and in their communities Join TFOE... You join the Task Force on the Environment by becoming a member of the American Library Association Social Responsibility Round Table (SSRT). Membership in SRRT includes receiving the SRRT Newsletter. Contact ALA Headquarters for a copy of the SRRT Brochure or simply mail a check to ALA requesting your membership in SRRT and TFOE. Cost to join SRRT including TFOE membership: $20.00 (non-ALA members); $12.00 (ALA-members). ______________________________________________________________________________ 16. ABOUT THE LOKA INSTITUTE (A) The Loka Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making research, science and technology responsive to democratically decided social and environmental concerns. TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE LOKA INSTITUTE, to participate in our on-line discussion groups, to download or order publications, or to help please visit our Web page: <http://www.loka.org>. Or contact us via E-mail at <Loka[at]amherst.edu&> (B) TO PARTICIPATE MORE ACTIVELY in promoting a democratic politics of science and technology, please join the Federation of Activists on Science & Technology Network (FASTnet). Just send an e-mail message to <majordomo[at]igc.org> with a blank subject line and "subscribe FASTnet" as the message text. You will receive an automated reply giving more details. FASTnet is a moderated discussion list, which protects subscribers from receiving posts inappropriate to the list's purpose. (C) FUNDRAISING UPDATE: The Loka Institute is currently supported by grant awards from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Managing Information with Rural America (MIRA) Initiative, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the C.S. Mott Foundation, the Albert A. List Foundation, the Foundation for Deep Ecology, the National Science Foundation, and the Menemsha Fund. WE ARE ALSO TREMENDOUSLY GRATEFUL TO THE LOKA INSTITUTE'S GROWING FAMILY OF INDIVIDUAL DONORS -- PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU, who have decided that supporting cutting-edge activism and scholarship to democratize science and technology is a wonderful gift to oneself, family, friends, and future generations. TO DONATE, just send a check drawn in U.S. or Canadian dollars to: The Loka Institute, PO Box 355, Amherst, MA 01004 USA. (Donations to the nonprofit Loka Institute are deductible on U.S. tax returns to the full extent allowable by law.) Thank you!! ### ______________________________________________________________________________ 17. LOKA INSTITUTE INTERNSHIPS LOKA INSTITUTE INTERNSHIPS: The Loka Institute has openings for volunteers, graduate and undergraduate student interns, and work-study students for the late spring of 1999 and beyond. The activities in which interns are involved vary from research assistance and writing to assisting in project development and management, fundraising, managing our Internet lists, Web page updates, helping with clerical and other office work, etc. A summer intern at the Loka Institute will be quite involved with organizing the CRN conference (June 11-13, 1999) and with conference follow-up activities. If you are interested in working with us to promote a democratic politics of science and technology, please send a hard copy resume along with a succinct letter explaining your interest, and stating the dates you would like to be at Loka, to: The Loka Institute, P.O. Box 355, Amherst, MA 01004, USA. You may also fax these materials to us at +1-(413)-559-5811. ______________________________________________________________________________ 18. Ecological version of the free market economy Scientific arguments for managing the costs of living in order to maintain the integrity of human nature The goods and services on which consumers spend their money, form streams of goods and services and money. These streams make up economic development. A stream has a direction and a sense. Every time consumers spend money on their costs of living they determine the direction and sense in which development flows. They determine the goal towards which development flows. The goal with which consumers spend their income is the goal of development. The only goal with which the consumer can spend his or her income, in the current version of the free market economy, is : CONSUME! Mankind does not sustain development by pursuing this goal. To pursue this goal is proving hardly satisfying on the personal level. Because of the deleterious effects on natural resources, to CONSUME has no longer-term future. Nevertheless, economic theories of the developed world encourage higher consumption to maintain growth in development. Logically, in a free market economy, the two goals - of economic growth and of environmental management - can be brought together by harnessing the power of the consumer to choose the goods and services on which he or she spends money. This has led to the proposition : consumers should be able to deduct from taxable income the money they spend on products that are ecologically sound. Through this accounting and fiscal practice consumers will be motivated to pursue as goal : to maintain the integrity of human nature. The discovery that the goal of development is the goal with which consumers spend their costs of living is proof of the scientific validity of this proposition. Consumers will behave as responsible agents in the processes of production. Their demand for ecological products will favour production that is in harmony with Nature and thus in accord with the goal of keeping the integrity of human nature. Human beings will thereby become doubly productive : first through their labour and second through the way in which they spend the monetary fruits of their labour. They will trace a way of living in harmony with Nature and thus sustain development. The value of this proposition is furthermore proven because it presents a principle of economic efficiency : equilibrium between costs and revenues should be maintained by the people who earn the revenues. In the free market economy producers apply this principle at the level of production costs and revenues. Producers are allowed to deduct production costs from sales revenues in order to arrive at the net profits which are used for taxation purposes. Because of this freedom to manage costs producers can reach the goal of their activities : to maximize profits, efficiently. - Where producers do not enjoy this freedom their efficiency is reduced, as has been the case in centrally planned economies. - It is this freedom that has enabled producers in the free market economy to be also as efficient as they are in sharing the limited resources of this planet to satisfy unlimited desires of consumers. By the same principle, the efficiency of the free market economy in sharing limited resources will increase when equilibrium between costs and revenues is kept by the people who earn income from the first activity that creates income : labour. Only consumers can keep equilibrium between costs and revenues at the level of revenues from labour. They spend their income from their labour on living costs in order to maintain or enhance their standard of living or to survive. Only they can manage such spending to maintain the integrity of human nature, because this integrity can be kept only by means of selecting the goods and services from Nature which are to be consumed. Only the consumer can therefore manage the costs of living to trace a way of living in harmony with Nature. The success of producers in achieving their goal of maximizing profits demonstrates that to manage a process by managing the activities that sustain this process is an efficient way to reach the goal of the process. Producers manage the activities that sustain the production processes that generate the profits. The exchange of money for the goods and services with which mankind sustains their way of living on this planet, is an activity that sustains development. Only consumers can therefore manage the living costs efficiently to reach the goal of development : to keep the integrity of human nature. When consumers manage their living costs as tax deductible costs, they also improve the efficiency of the free market economy in sharing limited resources. More well-being will be created, because they improve this efficiency in an ethical way. Brussels, December 2, 1998 W.A. de Bruyn With sincerity and its feelings, Wim A. de Bruyn Founder ZERO, association of consumers keeping their integrity with their income 45 rue Alfred Giron B-1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel. : **32 (2) 648 56 95 e-mail : WdeBruyn[at]mail.dma.be ZERO web site : http://freezone.exmachina.net/ZERO (Forwarded to SRRTAC-L by Fred Stoss) ______________________________________________________________________________ 19. SHIFTING DIRECTION: From Global Dependence to Local Interdependence Complete paper (which is rather long) is available free at: http://www.libr.org/rory/Shifting_Direction.html Why is it that everything we hold dear seems threatened? Why do we feel insecure in our working lives, in our neighborhoods and streets, even within our own homes? Why, in spite of massive public awareness campaigns and educational efforts, does the environment continue to deteriorate from year to year? Why are communities and families fragmenting, while ethnic conflict, poverty, violence and crime are continuing to grow? Why is democracy slipping away? If each of these problems is viewed as separate and unconnected, solving all of them can easily seem impossible. When they are seen holistically, on the other hand, the potential for solutions expands enormously. Such a holistic analysis reveals that the many disparate symptoms of breakdown stem from the same root cause: a massive and centralised system of production and distribution one that transforms unique individuals into mass consumers, homogenizes diverse cultural traditions, and destroys wilderness and biodiversity, all in the name of growth and efficiency. In the process it is dividing us from each other and from the natural world on which we ultimately depend. Author: INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR ECOLOGY AND CULTURE 21 VlCTORIA SQUARE CLIFTON BRISTOL BS8 4ES ENGLAND ______________________________________________________________________________ 20. Fun Facts About The World Coming to an End Humans have destroyed more than 30 per cent of the natural world since 1970 with serious depletion of the forest, freshwater and marine systems on which life depends. Consumption pressure from increasing affluence has doubled in the past 25 years and continues to accelerate, according to a ground-breaking report from the World Wide Fund for Nature, the New Economics Foundation, and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre at Cambridge. The Living Planet Report says that the acceleration in environmental destruction shows that politicians who have been paying lip service to the idea of sustainable development have done little to promote it. "Time is running out for us to change the way we live if we are to leave future generations a living planet," Nick Mabey, WWF's economic policy officer, said at the launch of the report in London yesterday. "We knew it was bad but until we did this report we did not realise how bad." One of the most serious problems revealed for the first time is the depletion of freshwater resources with half of the accessible supplies being used by humans - double the amount of 1960. The rate of decline of freshwater eco-systems is running at 6 per cent a year, threatening to dry up many wetlands, and push the species of those habitats to extinction. The report says that governments should increase the efficiency of their water use, and stop wasteful irrigation schemes where water losses are highest. Carbon dioxide emissions have doubled in the same period, and, being far in excess of the natural world's ability to absorb them, are accelerating global warming. Wood and paper consumption has increased by two-thirds, worldwide, and most forests are managed unsustainably. In the same period, marine fish consumption has also more than doubled and most of the world's fish resources are either fully exploited or in decline. Although western countries have high consumption rates, some of the developing countries are depleting their natural resources at an alarming rate. The people of Taiwan, the United States and Singapore are singled out as the world's most voracious consumers, responsible for depleting the earth's resources faster than other countries. Guardian (london) Friday October 2, 1998 ______________________________________________________________________________ 21. The Ten Commandments of Globalization -I am Exponentially Increasing Profits, thy God -Thou shalt have no other gods before me. -Thou shalt not question the Inevitability of Globalization, nor the teachings of my disciples Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics -Thou shalt not honor anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below unless it has been processed and packaged by one of My Transnational Corporations; nor shalt thou use anything unless it bears an authorized corporate logo. -Thou shalt not misuse the logos of Transnational Corporations, nor take their names in vain. -Remember the Sabbath day by consuming vigorously. -Honor thy Financial Institutions, so that thou mayst live long in the quarters that thou or thy landlord hast mortgaged unto them. -Thou shalt not murder, but hearken: thou shalt not look too closely at the effects of thy investments, nor shalt thou fail to honor an associate just because he is a tyrant or a murderer. -Thou shalt not forget that thou art an economic production unit, nor shalt thou forget that if thou cannot find a job it is because thou art a lazy good-for-nothing, nor that if thou likest not thy pay or thy working conditions, there are many unemployed who would be happy to have your job. -Thou shalt not steal except from thy workers and the consumers of thy products; render nothing unto the meddlesome Government who will just waste it on public health, education and welfare -Thou shalt covet thy neighbor's job, and his TV and computer, his car or bicycle, and every single thing that belongs to thy neighbor unless it is older or smaller than thy thing. From: James_Wilson[at]ridley.on.ca (James Wilson) ______________________________________________________________________________ 22. Ecology, Ethics, Power - by Tom Green In downtown Victoria, BC, a crowd gathers to celebrate Earth Day, but I take no part. Pencil shavings pile up beside me. A dozen graduate students cover page after page with graphs and calculus. It's a final exam in environmental economics. The worries and hopes of the Earth Day celebrants have nothing to do with what we students race to get on paper. Instead, we find the "efficient" level of pollution, and prove that all firms should not adopt cleaner technology. In a few months, these students will land jobs. Is this not cause for celebration; more economists who understand the environment at policy levels? One student was being interviewed for a job with the Ministry of the Environment. "They asked me what we had learned about sustainability," she reported back to us, "and I told them that economists can have no opinion about sustainability." We did weird things in class. We assumed that people reproduce asexually. Then, we assumed the planet was populated by two types of people: those who cared about future generations, and those that didn't. The entire population, thinking as investors, discounts the future, like compound interest in reverse. These assumptions in hand, and with a little calculus, we proved that people will choose to consume in a way that destroys the planet. The problem is not that the planet will be destroyed, but rather that we won't do it efficiently. The economist seeks to restore efficiency, not sustainability. More than a forest was cut to publish all the papers on pollution taxes, on tradeable emission permits, on how we are in danger of cleaning up too much. In these papers, math is the language of choice. Too bad: if English were used, ecologists could have a good laugh. Economist logic will take you weird places. We should ship toxic waste to the third world, if those countries will accept a small bribe. Action on global warming is not worth the trouble, as those who will be flooded out live in low income nations, and can't afford to pay to avert disaster. Environmental economics is not green or ecological economics. It doesn't take as a goal that our planet should be worth living on. Instead, it explains away our present disaster and makes it acceptable. Never for an instant does it consider that the obsession with growth, the belief that we all want unlimited consumption - in short, economic theory - might be itself largely responsible. Interested in studying environmental economics? A background in ecology, biology, or environmental studies will lead you astray. As will a good grounding in philosophy, or an understanding of power. You might ask rude questions. No, stick to math and economics. And don't expect to see your colleagues in the Earth Day crowds. We need green economists. Green economists study ecology, ethics, power. They view society as more than a throng of selfish, rational morons, who can only see happiness as more of everything. Green economists see that the corporations are out of control, and that there's a revolution brewing in their profession. -Tom Green is a masters student at the University of Victoria studying green and neoclassical economics. This article appeared in Adbusters Magazine and resides on their website, at: http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/economic-green.html ______________________________________________________________________________ L I B R A R Y J U I C E | http://libr.org/Juice/ | | Except where noted, items appearing in Library Juice | are copyright-free, so feel free to share them with | colleagues and friends. Library Juice is a free weekly | publication edited by Rory Litwin. 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