Economics For A Fragile Planet

As global environmental challenges mount, this book offers a policy blueprint for building a safer, sustainable and more inclusive world.

Despite the accelerating pace of globalization, it is impossible to ignore the marginalization of the developing world, as billions of people continue to slip deeper into poverty. While many theories, policies, and practices have been proposed to help redress the disparities between the "haves" and the "have-nots," only recently have proponents of sustainable economic development and entrepreneurship discovered each other. In this provocative and timely book, A. Coskun Samli fills the gap by making the connections explicit and arguing that entrepreneurship may be the only hope for countries that have fallen into the trap of relying on foreign aid and bowing to the pressures of multinational conglomerates driven by short-term profit-maximizing goals. Samli builds the case that some cultures are more entrepreneurial than others, and demonstrates the importance of creating the right conditions, infrastructure, policies, and educational systems that inspire and support new business creation.

Assessment of the environmental degradation, rapid population growth, and extreme poverty that threaten global peace and prosperity, with practical solutions based on a new economic paradigm for our crowded planet.

Economics for People and the Planet, a collection of essays by James K. Boyce on the environment, inequality and the economy, argues that there is not an inexorable trade-off between advancing human well-being and having a clean and safe environment. The goal of economic policy should be to grow the good things that improve our well-being and environmental quality and reduce the bad things that harm humans and nature. To reorient the economy for these ends, we will need to achieve a more egalitarian distribution of wealth and power. Global climate change – the most pressing environmental challenge of our time – adds urgency to this task and creates historic opportunities for moving towards a greener future.

This volume highlights emerging concerns and pivotal problems about our planet’s environment and ecology. The contributions gathered here highlight the importance of integrating expertise to foster strands of sustainability regarding artificial intelligence, education, health, biomedical engineering, and generational challenges. The book concludes with an ethical analysis of the multiple and over-lapping challenges that require urgent attention and long-term resolution. It will appeal to scholars and students in a variety of disciplines and fields that deal with sustainability.

The economic operating system keeps crashing. It’s time to upgrade to a new one. Five decades ago, The Limits to Growth shocked the world by showing that population and industrial growth were pushing humanity towards a cliff. Today the world recognizes that we are now at the cliff edge: Earth has crossed multiple planetary boundaries while widespread inequality is causing deep instabilities in societies. There seems to be no way out. Earth For All is both an antidote to despair and a road map to a better future. Using powerful state-of-the-art computer modeling to explore policies likely to deliver the most good for the majority of people, a leading group of scientists and economists from around the world present five extraordinary turnarounds to achieve prosperity for all within planetary limits in a single generation. Coverage includes: Results of new global modeling that indicates falling well-being and rising social tensions heighten risk of regional societal collapses Two alternative scenarios – Too-Little-Too-Late vs The Giant Leap – and what they mean for our collective future Five system-shifting steps that can upend poverty and inequality, lift up marginalized people, and transform our food and energy systems by 2050 A clear pathway to reboot our global economic system so it works for all people and the planet. Written in an open, accessible, and inspirational style using clear language and high impact visuals, Earth For All is a profound vision for uncertain times and a map to a better future. This survival guide for humanity is required reading for everyone concerned about living well on a fragile planet. BOOK AWARDS FINALIST | 2022 Foreword INDIES - Ecology & Environment

From reviews of the first edition (1994): "Extraordinarily well written . . . " --Contemporary Sociology "A readable chronicle aimed at a general audience . . . Graceful and accessible . . . " --Dollars and Sense "Has the potential to be a political bombshell in radical circles around the world." --Environmental Action The Vulnerable Planet has won respect as the best single-volume introduction to the global economic crisis. With impressive historical and economic detail, ranging from the Industrial Revolution to modern imperialism, The Vulnerable Planet explores the reasons why a global economic system geared toward private profit has spelled vulnerability for the earth's fragile natural environment. Rejecting both individualistic solutions and policies that tinker at the margins, John Bellamy Foster calls for a fundamental reorganization of production on a social basis so as to make possible a sustainable and ecological economy. This revised edition includes a new afterword by the author.

Scientists have told us we are destroying the planet. Most of us get it, we have even declared a climate change emergency. So why aren’t we treating it like an emergency? As long as we strive to grow our economies, we will consume more man-made goods that damage the planet and take our lives further away from nature. Economic growth over the past century is unprecedented, but the majority of the increased prosperity has been enjoyed by a tiny minority of billionaires, while most of us feel far from wealthy. We are trapped in vicious circles, where the more we grow our economies, the more we need to earn and spend to take part in modern society. With the tipping point for irreversible damage from climate change only 10 years away, we cannot simply rely on individuals to do their bit, we also need top-down policies to change collective behaviours. This book proposes economic policies which access the vast profits of multinationals and billionaires to share the wealth with the many, not the few, break the vicious circles of economic growth and instead harness virtuous circles of nature, in a way that is accessible to those outside the technical world of economics.