Gower Green Economics and Sustainable Growth Series – serie

The world struggles with increasing threats to global sustainability, caused by population growth, overuse of fresh water resources, depletion of biodiversity, and reliance on non-renewable energy sources. There is an urgent need for an overall plan to address these challenges in a coordinated and effective manner. Whether in government, business, community or as an individual, we need to begin acting a lot smarter, faster and more collaboratively if we are going to avert the potential devastating impacts on this planet. Plan for the Planet outlines a co-ordinated approach to tackling the global challenges we face which can be implemented at every level. Using proven business management wisdom and principles, this book provides perhaps the most comprehensive and robust framework within which business, government and the community can work together to build a sustainable world. Whether you want to understand how to prepare your organisation and yourself to deal successfully with the global challenges, or seize the opportunities which are fast developing with the emergence of the sustainability revolution, you will benefit from reading this timely book.

No matter how many resources we consume we never seem to have enough. The Economics of Abundance is a balanced book in which Wolfgang Hoeschele challenges why this is so. He claims that our current capitalist economy can exist only on the basis of manufactured scarcity created by 'scarcity-generating institutions', and these institutions manipulate both demand and supply of commodities. Therefore demand consistently exceeds supply, and profits and economic growth can continue - at the cost of individual freedom, social equity, and ecological sustainability. The fact that continual increases in demand are so vital to our economy leads to an impasse: many people see no alternative to the generation of ever more demand, but at the same time recognize that it is clearly unsustainable ecologically and socially. So, can demand only be reduced by curtailing freedom and is this acceptable? This book argues that, by analyzing how scarcity-generating institutions work and then reforming or dismantling them, we can enhance individual freedom and support entrepreneurial initiative, and at the same time make progress toward social justice and environmental sustainability by reducing demands on vital resources. This vision would enable activists in many fields (social justice, civil liberties, and environmental protection), as well as many entrepreneurs and other members of civil society to work together much more effectively, make it more difficult to portray all these groups as contradictory special interests, and thereby help generate momentum for positive change. Meanwhile, for academics in many fields of study, the concept of the creation of scarcity or abundance may be a highly useful analytical tool.

The world struggles with increasing threats to global sustainability, caused by population growth, overuse of fresh water resources, depletion of biodiversity, and reliance on non-renewable energy sources. There is an urgent need for an overall plan to address these challenges in a coordinated and effective manner. Whether in government, business, community or as an individual, we need to begin acting a lot smarter, faster and more collaboratively if we are going to avert the potential devastating impacts on this planet. Plan for the Planet outlines a co-ordinated approach to tackling the global challenges we face which can be implemented at every level. Using proven business management wisdom and principles, this book provides perhaps the most comprehensive and robust framework within which business, government and the community can work together to build a sustainable world. Whether you want to understand how to prepare your organisation and yourself to deal successfully with the global challenges, or seize the opportunities which are fast developing with the emergence of the sustainability revolution, you will benefit from reading this timely book.

No matter how many resources we consume we never seem to have enough. The Economics of Abundance is a balanced book in which Wolfgang Hoeschele challenges why this is so. He claims that our current capitalist economy can exist only on the basis of manufactured scarcity created by 'scarcity-generating institutions', and these institutions manipulate both demand and supply of commodities. Therefore demand consistently exceeds supply, and profits and economic growth can continue - at the cost of individual freedom, social equity, and ecological sustainability. The fact that continual increases in demand are so vital to our economy leads to an impasse: many people see no alternative to the generation of ever more demand, but at the same time recognize that it is clearly unsustainable ecologically and socially. So, can demand only be reduced by curtailing freedom and is this acceptable? This book argues that, by analyzing how scarcity-generating institutions work and then reforming or dismantling them, we can enhance individual freedom and support entrepreneurial initiative, and at the same time make progress toward social justice and environmental sustainability by reducing demands on vital resources. This vision would enable activists in many fields (social justice, civil liberties, and environmental protection), as well as many entrepreneurs and other members of civil society to work together much more effectively, make it more difficult to portray all these groups as contradictory special interests, and thereby help generate momentum for positive change. Meanwhile, for academics in many fields of study, the concept of the creation of scarcity or abundance may be a highly useful analytical tool.

The world struggles with increasing threats to global sustainability, caused by population growth, overuse of fresh water resources, depletion of biodiversity, and reliance on non-renewable energy sources. There is an urgent need for an overall plan to address these challenges in a coordinated and effective manner. Whether in government, business, community or as an individual, we need to begin acting a lot smarter, faster and more collaboratively if we are going to avert the potential devastating impacts on this planet. Plan for the Planet outlines a co-ordinated approach to tackling the global challenges we face which can be implemented at every level. Using proven business management wisdom and principles, this book provides perhaps the most comprehensive and robust framework within which business, government and the community can work together to build a sustainable world. Whether you want to understand how to prepare your organisation and yourself to deal successfully with the global challenges, or seize the opportunities which are fast developing with the emergence of the sustainability revolution, you will benefit from reading this timely book.