The End of More and Better: Mother Jones, March-April
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 03. 2.07
While the bright yellow cover art and the title "The Iraq Handbook for Dummies" will have readers of the latest issue of Mother Jones turning pages towards the article that promises "Everything you need to know about Iraq but are afraid to ask," Treehuggers are bound to get distracted along the way by Bill McKibben's feature article, "Reversal of Fortune." Drawing from his forthcoming book Deep Economy, McKibben challenges one of the fundamental tenets of modern economics: growth is necessary and good. We'd expect a healthy dose of environmental evidence from McKibben on this topic, and the article doesn't disappoint in this regard. Ecological issues are only one part of a larger look at contemporary "civilized" existence, though, that struggles with the question "If we're so rich, how come we're so damn miserable?"
Other features this time around include a profile of teenage video blogger and activist Ava Lowery, a look inside Ave Maria University, a new, ultra-orthodox Catholic college started by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, and a revelation of the biggest challenge facing the newspaper industry (and, no, it's not the Internet). Regular departments consider e-waste and built-in obsolescence, and pay a visit to a "born-again" abortion clinic. As always, Mojo is fresh, eclectic, and thorough. Pick up a copy, or part with a mere $10 for a subscription. ::Mother Jones, March-April 2007
This post has NOTHING to do with environmentalism.
Why was it made here?
I'm half way through the book mentioned in the post: Deep Economy, and it has EVERYTHING to do with environmentalism. I urge all treehuggers to check it out. In a nutshell, Mckibben advocates restructuring our economy towards a more local scale. Local farms, local power generation, etc. He also takes great pains to explain how this would not only reduce greenhouse gas emmissions, but would make Americans happier because it would rebuild a sense of community that has been lost in our suburban lifestyle. I'm all for it.