Synopses & Reviews
The Approaching Great Transformation is about the coming shift in how we act and think in the world economically as the era of cheap oil comes to an end. The purpose of this book is to provide inspiration for those seeking to be part of the ongoing global effort to move away from our dependency on fossil fuels and ceaseless growth and toward a more sustainable, stable, and just system.
The central theme of The Approaching Great Transformation is that with vision and deliberate action communities around the world can break out of habitual ways of producing and consuming things and move optimistically toward something better. It provides a philosophical basis and guidelines for citizens we are working to develop new and very different economic institutions that are centered on self-reliance, ecological permanence, stability, and a celebration of human creativity.
In time, these institutional developments will lead to the positive evolution of economic systems and human culture. This book documents examples and stories of this work that is already being done. The Approaching Great Transformation extends the ideas put forth in his previous book, Mindful Economics, and like the first book it is written primarily for American readers.
Review
"The Approaching Great Transformation is a breath of fresh air in a world of hackneyed nonsolutions to our social and economic problems. Professor Magnuson pulls no punches regarding the coming collapse of the corporate-commercial-consumer society, or the inability of technological fixes and 'green capitalism' to bail us out of the historical crunch that is virtually upon us. Rather, as we start to run out of energy (read: oil) and are forced to abandon obsolete notions of 'growth' and 'progress', we shall have to confront the question we have collectively been avoiding for roughly 500 years: If money is not the purpose of life, what is? Whether the alternative models discussed in this book prove to be viable or not, the author makes it clear that what we are living with now is no choice at all. His message is simple: change or die." Morris Berman, author of Why America Failed
Synopsis
"A brave book by a smart person with a masterful command of economic theory."--Publisher's Weekly
How should we act and think economically in the world as the era of cheap oil comes to an end? The Approaching Great Transformation begins to answer this massive question, focusing on the people and communities already at work on the transition: energy descent pioneers in the UK and the US educating their communities about the road ahead, small enterprises defying traditional "profit" in favor of permanence and sustainability, and cities preparing for a post carbon future.
Highlighting the work of thinkers like John Ruskin and E. F. Schumacher, Magnuson here builds on his previous book, Mindful Economics.
Synopsis
How should we act and think economically in the world as the era of cheap oil comes to an end?
The Approaching Great Transformation begins to answer this massive question, focusing on the people and communities already at work on the transition: energy descent pioneers in the UK and the US educating their communities about the road ahead, small enterprises defying traditional “profit” in favor of permanence and sustainability, and cities preparing for a post carbon future.
Highlighting the work of thinkers like John Ruskin and E. F. Schumacher, Magnuson here builds on his previous book, Mindful Economics.
About the Author
Joel Magnuson, PhD is an independent economist based in Portland, Oregon, USA. He is a visiting fellow at the Ashcroft International Business School at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England, serves as an international advisor to Anglia's journal Interconnections, and is on the faculty at the East West Sanctuary in Nagykovácsi, Hungary. He is the author of Mindful Economics: How the US Economy Works, Why It Matters, and How It Could Be Different (Seven Stories Press, 2008) as well numerous articles in journals and anthologies in the US, Europe, and Japan.