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Eco-Economy, Building an Economy for the Earth. by Lester
Brown. 2001. W. W. Norton & Co. 334p.
Lester Brown, founder of the influential Worldwatch Institute that publishes the
annual State of the World books, argues that economies must be restructured to
mesh with Earth’s ecosystems.
Recognizing our environmental crises, 1,200 economists have joined the
International Society of Ecological Economics
Over the Earth government subsidies now promote environmental destruction. We
pay $700 billion every year to encourage burning fossil fuels, pumping ground
water, the use of pesticides, overfishing, etc. This example and other
exploitation must be transformed to allow us to exist in harmony with nature.
Elements required for the transformation occur separately in various countries.
For example, Belgium has phased out coal mining completely. Denmark obtains 20%
of its electricity from wind power. Costa Rica has a national plan to convert
entirely to renewable energy sources. Finland has banned the use of
nonrefillable beverage containers. China has reduced its fertility to less than
two children per woman and, remarkably in future will stabilize its human
numbers. Nine European countries have begun shifting taxes to environmentally
damaging practices from personal income. For example, in 1999 Germany added tax
to energy sales and to relieve the tax burden reduced taxes on wages 2.1% . In
addition to revenue, green taxes provide an incentive to reduce consumption,
emphasize for the public the importance of conservation, and create jobs.
Surprisingly, soap operas can quickly educate people on certain issues. The day
after Miguel Sabido broadcast an episode in Mexico in which a character visited
a literacy office wanting to learn to read and write, 250,000 folks appeared at
literacy offices in Mexico City! Sabido continued a soap opera that dealt with
contraception for 10 years. Over that decade the Mexican birth rate fell 34%!
As H. G. Wells observed in The Outline of History, “Human history becomes more
and more a race between education and catastrophe.” Lester Brown emphasizes that
tax restructuring is central for transformation.
Written June 15, 2005
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