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(Capitalism as if the World Matters) [By: Porritt, Jonathon] [Sep, 2007]
When first published, Capitalism as if the World Matters, by one of the leading 'eco-warriors' of our time, shocked a generation of both environmentalists and business people. Jonathon Porritt brushed aside their artificial battle lines with a powerful argument that the only way to save the world from environmental catastrophe is to embrace a new type of capitalism, and to do it quickly. In this substantially revised and updated edition, Porritt extends his powerful and controversial argument by providing fresh evidence and suggesting new actions.New content includes in-depth coverage of the USA, with case studies examining the role of huge American corporations such as Wal-Mart and General Electric, plus a close look at China and the global impact this economic giant may have in the twenty-first century. This is a must-read for everyone who has a stake in the future of the world, from business executives to environmental activists, from community leaders to the politicians with their hands on the levers of power. Published with Forum for the Future
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First published October 1, 2005
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About the author
Jonathon Porritt
45 books17 followersJonathon Porritt, Co-Founder of Forum for the Future, is an eminent writer, broadcaster and campaigner on sustainable development. Established in 1996, Forum for the Future is now the UK's leading sustainable development charity, with 70 staff and over 100 partner organisations, including some of the world's leading companies.
In addition, Jonathon is President of Population Matters, President of The Conservation Volunteers and a Director of Collectively (an online platform celebrating sustainable innovation). He was formerly Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-90), co-chair of the Green Party (1980-83), of which he is still a member, a Trustee of World Wildlife Fund UK (1991-2005) and between 2000-2009 he was Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, providing high-level advice to Government Ministers. Jonathon was installed as the Chancellor of Keele University in February 2012 and he received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.
In addition, Jonathon is President of Population Matters, President of The Conservation Volunteers and a Director of Collectively (an online platform celebrating sustainable innovation). He was formerly Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-90), co-chair of the Green Party (1980-83), of which he is still a member, a Trustee of World Wildlife Fund UK (1991-2005) and between 2000-2009 he was Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, providing high-level advice to Government Ministers. Jonathon was installed as the Chancellor of Keele University in February 2012 and he received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 11, 2023
Read Harder challenge 2023: Read a book about activism.
An effective synthesis of the current form of capitalism and all its many problems. Emphatically not a revolutionary framework, but a revisionary one, which is part of what makes this book seem like such a sensible and measured argument for a refocusing of the mission of the current economic model from growth at all costs towards sustainable development and metrics of human welfare and happiness.
Using the word happiness, even just in this review, highlights one of Porritt's main points, that we have become so institutionalised by the current system that any mention of the entirely logical suggestion that progress should be measured in terms of the effect it has on human happiness sounds "out there" and "hippy-dippy". But otherwise, how can we make the most of being humans? By leading fulfilling lives and nurturing happiness in ourselves and others? Or by working to increase GDP?
"Development that perpetuates today's inequalities is neither sustainable nor worth sustaining"
The suggestion, made in this book and others he references, is that environmentalism has been seen for a long time as a prescriptive, finger-wagging list of things you should not do. Here, and in Porritt's other inspirational book The World We Made: Alex McKay's Story from 2050, he successfully frames sustainable development as an opportunity not only to ensure the continuation of human society within the physical boundaries of the only world we have, but to live lives that are better, in every way, than those we live now.
An effective synthesis of the current form of capitalism and all its many problems. Emphatically not a revolutionary framework, but a revisionary one, which is part of what makes this book seem like such a sensible and measured argument for a refocusing of the mission of the current economic model from growth at all costs towards sustainable development and metrics of human welfare and happiness.
Using the word happiness, even just in this review, highlights one of Porritt's main points, that we have become so institutionalised by the current system that any mention of the entirely logical suggestion that progress should be measured in terms of the effect it has on human happiness sounds "out there" and "hippy-dippy". But otherwise, how can we make the most of being humans? By leading fulfilling lives and nurturing happiness in ourselves and others? Or by working to increase GDP?
"Development that perpetuates today's inequalities is neither sustainable nor worth sustaining"
The suggestion, made in this book and others he references, is that environmentalism has been seen for a long time as a prescriptive, finger-wagging list of things you should not do. Here, and in Porritt's other inspirational book The World We Made: Alex McKay's Story from 2050, he successfully frames sustainable development as an opportunity not only to ensure the continuation of human society within the physical boundaries of the only world we have, but to live lives that are better, in every way, than those we live now.
September 22, 2019
Definitely a textbook. Interesting but I was hoping for more character/values discussion and this book has an environmental focus.
April 15, 2013
Very insightful view of the problems the current form of Capitalism creates and well researched and instinctive strategies to make it more sustainable.
May 20, 2013
I like this book because it aggregates a range of literature on the pressures of our capitalist system on the social and environmental fabric of our planet. Instead of providing one perspective, this book attempts to educate the reader on a range of challenges and potential solutions advocated over time to inspire further introspection and action.
We live on a planet bounded by the laws of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy is neither created nor destroyed as it is changed from one form to another. The second law states that the availability of that energy to perform useful work is reduced as it passes through successive transformations (i.e. entropy). Our growth will always be bounded by the biophysical throughput of our planet and its capacity to renew natural resources.
We have developed a capitalist system that is centered on creating wants, not addressing needs. "...economic growth can be sustained only as long as people remain discontented. Economic growth does not create happiness: unhappiness sustains economic growth." It is quite true, the corporate persona is of someone that is 'psychopathic,' "...a readiness to manipulate everything and everybody else,; a lack of empathy; an obsession with being 'number one;' a refusal to accept responsibility for their own actions; an inability to feel any guilt or remorse." We however are as much to blame as the system. If Americans recycled the 32 billion cans of fizzy drinks thrown away in 2002, 435,000 tonnes of aluminum would have been saved, enough to rebuild the world's entire commercial air fleet 1.5 times. Americans use and throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles an hour. More than 90% of all materials extracted to manufacture ordinary products ends up as waste.
The book centers on the question of what is sustainable. The green revolution may be spurred by an oil and gas bubble that could burst in light of an ever growing population. It is fascinating to think that each year 10,000 times as much solar energy flows into our earth system every year than we use. Our planet is resilient, but humanity may not necessarily be so. The book proposes a focus and measure of five capital accounts in the interests of our entire generation and future generations: natural capital - value of natural resources and their services; human capital - the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual capacity of humanity; social capital - trust and strength of networks; manufactured capital - buildings, infrastructure and technology; and financial capital - means of exchange.
Some of the proposed solutions are interesting. A traded carbon limit per person (or at the emitter level) on a global level would be complex to implement but would promote greater accountability and awareness. A focus on family planning is important to reduce our population size and growth. We need to eliminate perverse subsidies and invest the savings into conservation. We need to build a more interconnected society where people value each other and their environment and are more engaged. We need to harness more of the sun's power through such initiatives as concentrated solar power plants. We need to refocus our global economy on local markets. "In an ideal world, all actions taken by a company to enhance its own commercial success should simultaneously generate benefits for society over and above those that come directly through the use of that company's products and services." Ultimately we need a vision of equality and fairness that we can all embrace and follow.
We live on a planet bounded by the laws of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy is neither created nor destroyed as it is changed from one form to another. The second law states that the availability of that energy to perform useful work is reduced as it passes through successive transformations (i.e. entropy). Our growth will always be bounded by the biophysical throughput of our planet and its capacity to renew natural resources.
We have developed a capitalist system that is centered on creating wants, not addressing needs. "...economic growth can be sustained only as long as people remain discontented. Economic growth does not create happiness: unhappiness sustains economic growth." It is quite true, the corporate persona is of someone that is 'psychopathic,' "...a readiness to manipulate everything and everybody else,; a lack of empathy; an obsession with being 'number one;' a refusal to accept responsibility for their own actions; an inability to feel any guilt or remorse." We however are as much to blame as the system. If Americans recycled the 32 billion cans of fizzy drinks thrown away in 2002, 435,000 tonnes of aluminum would have been saved, enough to rebuild the world's entire commercial air fleet 1.5 times. Americans use and throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles an hour. More than 90% of all materials extracted to manufacture ordinary products ends up as waste.
The book centers on the question of what is sustainable. The green revolution may be spurred by an oil and gas bubble that could burst in light of an ever growing population. It is fascinating to think that each year 10,000 times as much solar energy flows into our earth system every year than we use. Our planet is resilient, but humanity may not necessarily be so. The book proposes a focus and measure of five capital accounts in the interests of our entire generation and future generations: natural capital - value of natural resources and their services; human capital - the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual capacity of humanity; social capital - trust and strength of networks; manufactured capital - buildings, infrastructure and technology; and financial capital - means of exchange.
Some of the proposed solutions are interesting. A traded carbon limit per person (or at the emitter level) on a global level would be complex to implement but would promote greater accountability and awareness. A focus on family planning is important to reduce our population size and growth. We need to eliminate perverse subsidies and invest the savings into conservation. We need to build a more interconnected society where people value each other and their environment and are more engaged. We need to harness more of the sun's power through such initiatives as concentrated solar power plants. We need to refocus our global economy on local markets. "In an ideal world, all actions taken by a company to enhance its own commercial success should simultaneously generate benefits for society over and above those that come directly through the use of that company's products and services." Ultimately we need a vision of equality and fairness that we can all embrace and follow.
June 20, 2016
Porritt essentially conducts a review of the existing literature available on sustainable development and from it synthesizes a view that at the present capitalism is the only option, but in order to sustain life into the future it must be adapted to properly value things it currently ignores. This would include things like environmental capital and various aspects of human wellbeing, and is demonstrated in the five-factor model of capitalism. It criticizes both parties who don't care about environmental concerns at all and green groups who have become so myopic that they either focus on small environmental issues and forget the rest of situation or cling to notions like a complete overthrow of capitalism and refuse any marginal steps that could make a difference in the meantime. Overall it's a compelling and fairly open-ended analysis with a strong imperative to act, but the book itself suffers from a number of aspects.
The first downside, without any fault on Porritt's end, is when this book was published. The first edition came out in 2005, followed by an update in 2007. With a topic intertwined with global financial markets, I suspect Porritt would have structured some of his arguments quite differently with the events of the 2008 financial crisis available for comment. This also brings up some continuity issues going forward, as many of the organizations discussed (IMF, WTO) had to change at least somewhat as a result of the financial crisis. Unrelated to these, but also tied up in the time of publication, are the fairly routine political jabs that are often minimally relevant to the topic at hand. This was, of course, in the middle of the Bush era and the Bush/Blair duo provided a fashionable punching bag for commentators across the world. In retrospect many of these jabs look somewhat childish, not because they are any more or less accurate today, but because their reactionary nature demonstrates a lack of the reflection that has come after the spotlight has moved on.
Porritt makes some questionable sociological inferences (especially concerning religion in America), but they don't detract from the work as a whole. One assumption that kept cropping up, however, was that there needs to be a necessary conflation between environmental and social concerns under sustainability. Both are extremely important, to be certain, but I'm not entirely convinced that both should be rolled up under one title. It seems to me that a society's sustainability is largely unconnected to its social welfare- it doesn't seem difficult to imagine a totalitarian society where human freedoms and needs are consistently and routinely ignored and yet by its extremely effective resource management is able to continue on earth for an indefinite period. While this combination does flavor the rest of the discussion in a corresponding fashion, it doesn't detract from the quality. If you can accept this assumption for at least the duration of the book, Porritt provides a thought-provoking and worthwhile discussion.
The first downside, without any fault on Porritt's end, is when this book was published. The first edition came out in 2005, followed by an update in 2007. With a topic intertwined with global financial markets, I suspect Porritt would have structured some of his arguments quite differently with the events of the 2008 financial crisis available for comment. This also brings up some continuity issues going forward, as many of the organizations discussed (IMF, WTO) had to change at least somewhat as a result of the financial crisis. Unrelated to these, but also tied up in the time of publication, are the fairly routine political jabs that are often minimally relevant to the topic at hand. This was, of course, in the middle of the Bush era and the Bush/Blair duo provided a fashionable punching bag for commentators across the world. In retrospect many of these jabs look somewhat childish, not because they are any more or less accurate today, but because their reactionary nature demonstrates a lack of the reflection that has come after the spotlight has moved on.
Porritt makes some questionable sociological inferences (especially concerning religion in America), but they don't detract from the work as a whole. One assumption that kept cropping up, however, was that there needs to be a necessary conflation between environmental and social concerns under sustainability. Both are extremely important, to be certain, but I'm not entirely convinced that both should be rolled up under one title. It seems to me that a society's sustainability is largely unconnected to its social welfare- it doesn't seem difficult to imagine a totalitarian society where human freedoms and needs are consistently and routinely ignored and yet by its extremely effective resource management is able to continue on earth for an indefinite period. While this combination does flavor the rest of the discussion in a corresponding fashion, it doesn't detract from the quality. If you can accept this assumption for at least the duration of the book, Porritt provides a thought-provoking and worthwhile discussion.
July 2, 2012
For an in-depth, well-researched and an incredibly well-written summary on the crisis of capitalism, then look no further than this book. Porritt has a wealth of experience on the subject due to his time at time at Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth and his time spent consulting organisations and governments on the subject. He takes a pragmatic view and is well-aware that the subject needs an approach not covered by the extremists within the green movement. It's long and detailed though, so I would not recommend trying to read this in a hurry.
June 2, 2017
This book has a good premise - that capitalism can be the SOLUTION to - not just the source of - our sustainability challenges. It has some good ideas as well: environmentalism needs more effective messages than doom and gloom proclamations, for example. Unfortunately it doesn't come to a very compelling resolution. Porritt advocates for a "new" model of capitalism that incorporates five different types of capital - but it doesn't seem any more practical than current triple bottom line efforts which have failed to take root. It's a worthwhile book but I suspect that anyone who reads it is already pretty bought into its message.
October 2, 2017
400 pages are way too many for the content of the book. The original content fits in less than 100 pages. Unfortunately, it is scattered in the midst of things said and repeated thousands of times.
January 10, 2011
One of Cambridge Sustainability's Top 50 Books for Sustainability, as voted for by our alumni network of over 3,000 senior leaders from around the world. To find out more, click here.
Capitalism as if the World Matters starts with the sobering message that, despite growing interest in sustainability, things are still going from bad to worse. This is caused by population growth, a consumption-driven economy, and our inability to accept that there are ecological limits. According to Porritt, this reflects the prevailing culture of denial within business and government - 'not so much denial of the empirical and social data, but denial of the implications of that data'. He cites corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a typical 'band aid' approach, rather than a strategic commitment to becoming genuinely sustainable. Porritt also acknowledges the failure of the environmental movement to move beyond a single-issue focus.
Porritt proposes two strategies for reforming capitalism: extending the concept of capital, and changing sustainability into a positive agenda.
Capitalism as if the World Matters starts with the sobering message that, despite growing interest in sustainability, things are still going from bad to worse. This is caused by population growth, a consumption-driven economy, and our inability to accept that there are ecological limits. According to Porritt, this reflects the prevailing culture of denial within business and government - 'not so much denial of the empirical and social data, but denial of the implications of that data'. He cites corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a typical 'band aid' approach, rather than a strategic commitment to becoming genuinely sustainable. Porritt also acknowledges the failure of the environmental movement to move beyond a single-issue focus.
Porritt proposes two strategies for reforming capitalism: extending the concept of capital, and changing sustainability into a positive agenda.
October 15, 2010
I have always thought that Porritt bridges the chasm between the corporate / political world and the world of progressive / sustainability thinkers masterfully. There is a lot of wisdom in this book: frameworks and models that really do resonate with corporate decision-makers (I actually managed to use some of them too!)
Unfortunately the book is at least twice as big as it should have been, and loses a star for this wholly uneccesary turgidity (is that a word?)
Unfortunately the book is at least twice as big as it should have been, and loses a star for this wholly uneccesary turgidity (is that a word?)
March 2, 2008
The future is not that bleak...Even in the "real-world" (as some pessimists might call it) there's hope!
shelved
June 25, 2011...political and economic analyses of sustainability and environmentalism...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews