Wildlife ecologist and conservation biologist Brian Czech takes us on a readable and essential tour of economics—its history, its foibles, and its coming salvation, what some have called a Full-Earth Economy, one that recognizes the limits to resources in a world with seven billion Homo sapiens.

In a careful analysis of the impact of economic policy on politics and our natural world, Czech offers solutions that seem, not only reasonable, but necessary and inevitable if we are to revert to a pleasant long-term existence in a comfortable world of sharing and conservation.

In a thorough discussion of our current situation, the literature, and various reactions to economic dilemmas, Czech demonstrates that growth now erodes our ecological foundations. He doesn’t miss discussing any of the caveats, like technology as salvation. He demonstrates clearly that technology also has costs, but can be selective, developed only when it adds to the efficiency of end use.

To the charge that steady state economics is stagnation--he points out that stability and minimal throughput set us free as we share and ease back creatively, with time to live more engaged lives. This is a must-read for anyone interested in everything from the future and economics to ecology.Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution