Book Review: Deep Economy by Bill McKibben
by Siel, Los Angeles on 04.11.07
Drive alone into a gated community in the suburbs, to park in a private, 2-car garage and hole up in a secret internet room. This is what our wealth has bought us, according to activist and author Bill McKibben: Ways to better seclude ourselves. In America, it's lonely being rich.
Yet McKibben isn't preaching a simple "money won't bring you happiness" message (though that's a part of it). In his new book, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, McKibben is most concerned about our sense of self in a "hyper-individualized world," a world in which we've been conditioned to deprioritize personal connections with other human beings in the pursuit of individual success, monetary or otherwise.
That's not to say we should all live in communes, in cramped, shared quarters. In fact, McKibben quickly points out that for some, money DOES buy happiness -- "right up to about $10,000 per capita income." If you're so poor that you're sleeping five to a tiny room, more money and the personal space that can buy may be just the thing to strive for.
However, most of us reading TreeHugger (and those who can afford a copy of Deep Economy) face very much the opposite problem. We've bought ourselves too much personal space, too much individual time, too much loneliness. In fact, we've been conditioned to often think of others as "interruptions," impeding on our private space, time, and lofty ambitions.
Personal ambition is important, of course. But to McKibben, these ambitions are too often one-sided -- and unrealistic, in the age of mass media. It's one thing to keep up with the Joneses, quite another to keep up with The O.C., McKibben quips. Yet more people seem to know The O.C.'s Seth Cohen, to whom viewers are a mere a blip in the Nielsen ratings, than people do the names of their neighbors.
"The knowledge that you matter to others is a kind of security that no money can purchase," asserts McKibben, encouraging us to look outside ourselves a bit while negotiating our lives in the world. To prove his point, he takes you through multiple, wide-ranging journeys in Deep Economy: a year of McKibben's life spent eating only local food, a scientific and historical look at the possibilities of a community-based, post-petroleum agriculture, an exploration of mass media and the outlook on local radio ("You hear things that other people are interested in. Which is pretty much the definition of community."), and a somewhat obligatory summary of the pending global warming crisis -- a crisis that a more community-centered outlook can help mitigate, McKibben points out, as well ashelp absorb the aftershocks in the case of a true disaster.
Perhaps the continued allure of hyper-individualism -- despite the loneliness it entails -- lies in that our choices are too frequently portrayed as complete dichotomies. Money OR happiness. Individuality OR community. Personal gain OR public good. Choosing community often presents itself a martrydom-esque proposition, where one gives up all individual ambition in the service of the community.
What McKibben illustrates is that we don't have to choose one and forgo the other. Instead, we're given a more difficult, but more ultimately rewarding, task: cautiously crafting a new kind of individualism that allows one to be a unique part of something beyond just a lonely self.
Deep Economy is available at your local bookstore for $25. McKibben is on a book tour; check his schedule to see if he'll be speaking near you.
[Read more of Siel's reviews on greenlagirl.com!]
Fortunately, inner ring suburbs and small towns all over America provide a more healthy balance between privacy and community, for people at all income levels. And as a bonus, you get a shorter commute, and possibly even access to public transit.
Nick Kasoff
The Thug Report
Psychology is really important to consider. People WANT to close themselves off. They feel uncomfortable negotiating with the wider world.
People will only do what's within their comfort level, and I think boomers are isolating themselves because they feel vulnerable. They're getting older, and they've always been told they're the center of the universe, but they no longer are.
When they were young, they were intensely adventurous, but as they grow older, they seem to be withdrawn with an equal intensity.
Look and learn, young people! Don't make the same mistakes.
Bill McKibben poses very interesting theories in all of his books. If you like being challenged and are interested in hearing more ideas about technology and how it relates to nature and the environment I suggest The End of Nature, and also Enough, both written by Bill McKibben.
Enjoy! Happy tree-hugging!
Lots of wisdom here. This Imus thing has a lot to do with isolation. We Americans love the gotcha bit We're riding in our car listening to some one or the other Shock Jocks delivering their sphiel and pump our fist and "Yeah". Try that on a public bus. As a matter of fact, your not even going to hear that kind of program there. Half the people may think it's funny but the rest may slap you across the side of your head just for turning it on.
Oddly enough, at $25 a copy, the author has obviously not forgotten to keep up with the Joneses...
"Oddly enough, at $25 a copy, the author has obviously not forgotten to keep up with the Joneses... "
$25 for a new hardcover book is pretty standard. Many go in the 30s, and I'm pretty sure that McKibben isn't setting the price, it's the publishing house.
I'm sure you can find it discounted at places like Amazon, or you can wait for the paperback version (or borrow it from the library).
Bill McKibben goes too far with this one. Not only are his arguments far fetched, but entirely implausible. This book is mostly rambling about his passionate dislike of the successful conservatives amongst the United States and begs for you to join up and try to take them down.