Deep Economy

The Just Books selection for February was Deep Economy by Bill McKibben. The consensus of the club seemed positive during our discussion on March 6. I'll concede that the book proved its value by promoting a lively discussion of important topics.

We talked about the balance of community vs. individualism. We had driven 20 miles into the country to arrive at the home of a club member who had inherited the house and enjoys membership in several 'communities', including a close-knit church and a congenial book club. Would he be more involved if he lived in an urban neighborhood? Are those of us who live in urban neighborhoods really engaged with them? We all indulged in some self-examination.

We talked about hyperindividualism and how it inevitably threatens the commons. We talked about living simply: how consumerism is addictive, how living without fossil fuels would mean a lower standard of living, how reducing our carbon footprint is hard work. Two of us drive 5000 miles per year or less and grow a good amount of our own food, reacting to somewhat different motivators.

Other than stimulating a good discussion, I'm not too enthusiastic about Deep Economy. I appreciated McKibben's revelation that "money consistently buys happiness up to about $10,000 per capita income and after that the correlation disappears." (page 41) That wasn't news to me, but I don't mind being reminded. He also had a nice list of improvements that our society could work on in the second half of the book. Among them: the takeover of newspapers by local groups who are not constrained by a profit motive, community radio (like KAXE), human scaled architecture, smaller communities, conservation of energy through buying efficient appliances, insulating your house, etc, riding bikes and buses, cohousing, local currency, homegrown music (like my son's band "Sofa Kingdom"), home and charter schooling. I didn't read of any new ideas here, but it was a good list.

I felt like there was an elephant in the room that McKibben was ignoring: the addiction of consumerism. I have felt the little high that comes when I buy something new. A new car or house gives a big high, but it too wears off. If you get high often enough, you start to crave it. Some people get depressed and realize they need to go shopping. I try to avoid those highs, these days. After I started to break my addiction, my reaction to new things has been more like the feeling of eating too much sugar. I also have begun to put more value on things that have history.

Author Ken Wilber suggests that expanding one's consciousness is the answer to the materialist house of cards that capitalism is building, referring to a version of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. McKibben offered no such suggestion. Instead, he seemed to be trying to scare the reader with a doomsday vision of our fates if we don't change our ways. Instead of being offered more of something else (ala Wilber), we are offered a choice of accepting much less or chaos (ala McKibben). I'm beginning to tire of what appears to be a standard structure for these books: a statement of the problem represented by the status quo, in which the author tries to reach the precarious balance between motivation and hopeless despair. This took over half the book. Then he finally gets around to suggesting how we can achieve salvation. I don't need anyone to tell me what a sad state the world is in. I've heard enough to be motivated. If I hear much new doomsday talk, I'm afraid I'll give up on the future.

On our trip back to town, we talked about today's cohousing movement and compared it to the communes of the 1960's. We dreamed of combining a cohousing project with a car co-op where participants pooled their vehicles and contracted with a mechanic/detail shop to maintain the motor pool. I wondered aloud whether the doomsday and salvation tone of Deep Economy had its origin in Christian culture, where behavior is governed by threats and guilt, rather than by natural rewards and self restraint. Maybe natural rewards and self restraint wouldn't be enough to control the hyperindividuals, but are threats and guilt effective? And, the great majority of people don't seem ready to expand their consciousness, but maybe that's a cultural thing that could be changed.

After arriving at the home of the owner of the car we traveled in, I had a two-mile bike ride at a cleansing minus 18 degree temperature to get home, which provided balance to the mental exertion of the evening.