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How to Thrive in the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow's World Today
Are there practical solutions to the many global challenges—climate change, poverty, insufficient healthcare—that threaten our way of life? Author John Thackara has spent a lifetime roving the globe in search of design that serves human needs. In this clear-eyed but ultimately optimistic book, he argues that, in our eagerness to find big technological solutions, we have all too often ignored the astonishing creativity generated when people work together and in harmony with the world around them.
Drawing on an inspiring range of examples, from a temple-led water management system in Bali that dates back hundreds of years to an innovative e-bike collective in Vienna, Thackara shows that below the radar of the mainstream media there are global communities creating a replacement economy—one that nurtures the earth and its inhabitants rather than jeopardizing its future—from the ground up. Each chapter is devoted to a concern all humans share—land and water management, housing, what we eat, what we wear, our health, how and why we travel—and demonstrates that it is possible to live a rich and fulfilling life based on stewardship rather than exploitation of the natural environment.
Drawing on an inspiring range of examples, from a temple-led water management system in Bali that dates back hundreds of years to an innovative e-bike collective in Vienna, Thackara shows that below the radar of the mainstream media there are global communities creating a replacement economy—one that nurtures the earth and its inhabitants rather than jeopardizing its future—from the ground up. Each chapter is devoted to a concern all humans share—land and water management, housing, what we eat, what we wear, our health, how and why we travel—and demonstrates that it is possible to live a rich and fulfilling life based on stewardship rather than exploitation of the natural environment.
192 pages, Paperback
First published September 7, 2015
71 people are currently reading
752 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 5, 2019
Well written journalistic account of key unsustainable activities and how small groups have found alternative services/products/ways of life that counter the negative dream of the unsustainable route.
The problem is that these alternatives are boutique, and even not evaluated themselves for actual evidence based sustainability given they are small and not well measured.
I find this unproductive, to reorient answers of sustainability around small businesses with intrinsically non scaleable models. In the extreme it creates the illusion of there being an answer where this is not so. Complex issues collapsed in small projects that are not measured and presented as direction for the world.
If only the author would acknowledge these limitations and explain that these are experiments and perhaps one will work better than others. Or is the proposition that if we embed lifestyle with production close enough we don’t need to worry about the world only our back yard?
To add to this there is the usual implicit bashing of technologies that could be part of the solution from nuclear to gene engineering...
The problem is that these alternatives are boutique, and even not evaluated themselves for actual evidence based sustainability given they are small and not well measured.
I find this unproductive, to reorient answers of sustainability around small businesses with intrinsically non scaleable models. In the extreme it creates the illusion of there being an answer where this is not so. Complex issues collapsed in small projects that are not measured and presented as direction for the world.
If only the author would acknowledge these limitations and explain that these are experiments and perhaps one will work better than others. Or is the proposition that if we embed lifestyle with production close enough we don’t need to worry about the world only our back yard?
To add to this there is the usual implicit bashing of technologies that could be part of the solution from nuclear to gene engineering...
January 12, 2022
“Chase it down and read it” is American activist, writer and policy strategist, David Bollier’s verdict on John Thackara’ s uniquely introspective work, “How To Thrive In The Next Economy”. In a world characterised by rampant globalization, nature is not just held to ransom, but is being systematically and systemically devoured in the name of progress. Just when it seems that we as a collective strain of humanity have reached a dangerous point of no return, there has reared a timely head, a redemptive motley crew of hope. It is the resurgent voices of such optimism that British design expert John Thackara attempts to amplify in his striking work.
From scientists and marginal land holding farmers treating soil as a living system, to bio-regionalists intent on ‘de-paving’ cities and ushering in permaculture pathways and gardens, Thackara acquaints us with a group of inveterate innovators who in their own inimitable manner, add to incrementally enhancing the environmental health.
The author compartmentalizes the book into a few basic themes: food, clothing, housing, water, transportation, healthcare, knowledge and grounding. The pernicious impact of modern day consumption on each of these themes are highlighted. However, the crux of the book is how an intrepid band of ordinary individuals and entrepreneurs attempt to not just mitigate the adverse effects of modern day consumption, but also strive to restore nature back to its unsullied form.
In the state of Andhra Pradesh in Southern India, farmers pool together invaluable knowledge and information on ground water levels with a view to achieving sustainability in farming practices. This practice known as Participatory Groundwater Management is a perfect antidote to the tragedy of the commons. As is the wonderfully distinct and ancient “subak” system of irrigation engaged in by the Balinese population in Indonesia. Originating in the ninth century, the subak system is an irrigation technique under which self-governing associations of farmers share the use of irrigation water for their rice fields. Water from volcanic lakes is diverted through rivers and channels to end up in the rice terraces. This methodology has received accreditation from multilateral bodies such as UNESCO.
The most beautiful aspect of the book lies in its elucidation of how under privileged and deprived people of the world lead lives as exemplars and beacons of light by choosing the dictum “in poverty lies plenty”. Instead of lamenting and ruing their unfortunate circumstances, these individuals rise above adversity and teach their more privileged and wealth accumulating counterparts that happiness is after all a state of mind. Thus in earthquake torn Haiti, the author learns that true happiness lies in neighbours asking each other whether they had their cup of coffee and going out of their way to ensure mutual prosperity and economic upliftment. The owner of a small guest house in Kerala, despite battling poverty is aghast at the mention of admitting his aged mother in a day care. In Venezuela, “doctor-teachers” train peasants to be health workers with a goal of empowering local people to provide 90 percent of their own health care. A sprawling ecology of 40 million traders, shop keepers, hawkers, and vendors form the ‘unorganised retail sector’ in India. This teeming, throbbing, pulsating ecosystem thrives in a beehive of bazaars, mandis and haats.
Yet another stirring example of the sum of the parts contributing in excess of the whole is the concept of The Food Commons in Fresno, California. The Food Commons endeavours to reinvent the various linkages commencing from a regional farm to distribution avenues/networks to grocery stores and finally, restaurants. The Food Commons Model has three integral components:
The Food Commons Trust, a non-profit entity that acquires and stewards critical foodshed assets;
The Food Commons Financing Arm, a community-owned financial institution that provides capital and financial services to foodshed enterprises; and
The Food Commons Hub, a locally-owned, cooperatively integrated business enterprise that builds and manages food shed-based physical infrastructure and facilitates the complex logistics of aggregation and distribution.
Similar examples abound and grace the book offering a plethora of points to ponder. From bikers in Denmark to pavement electronic equipment service personnel in Delhi, to kiosk traders in Lagos, Thackara’ s book is a fount of encouragement and positivity. Claims made and ideas proposed are all backed by empirical evidence and are not, by any stretch of imagination, baseless fantasies conceptualised in ivory towers. For example when the Dutch architect Frits van Dongen, argues in what seems to be a mind boggling vein for not constructing a single additional building than what the earth already has, he does so with some cold, hard rationale to back his contention. “We have half a million square metres of office and industrial space, and 30,000 homes standing empty.” Mind you this proclamation was made in 2013.
Thackara ends his book in a very poignant manner by reasserting a need for relooking and reevaluating the phrase “the savage mind”. Every ancient culture and civilisation spanning various religions and geographies has believed in inculcating an intimate, revered and symbiotic relationship with the land and the ecosystem surrounding it. Unfortunately the sprawl of modern urbanization has dismantled such a pristine and precocious relationship by encroaching, sullying, and decimating land and chopping and burning down trees. This deracination of ecological values and inherited culture needs to be not just reversed but resurrected and rejuvenated.
Thackara for example, bemoaning the obsession towards High Speed Trains, writes, “High Speed Trains perpetuates patterns of land use, transport intensity and the separation of functions in space and time that render the whole way we live unsupportable.”
We have reached that inflection point in our evolution where the future of the Big lies squarely in the hands of the Small. It is the unrelenting accumulation of small and incremental changes that will ultimately unleash a paradigm alteration in thought, deed and word. Maggie Black, once frighteningly said “millions of people are expelled to the margins of fruitful existence in the name of someone else’s progress.”
It is these inhabitants at the margins who hold the key to the world’s future!
From scientists and marginal land holding farmers treating soil as a living system, to bio-regionalists intent on ‘de-paving’ cities and ushering in permaculture pathways and gardens, Thackara acquaints us with a group of inveterate innovators who in their own inimitable manner, add to incrementally enhancing the environmental health.
The author compartmentalizes the book into a few basic themes: food, clothing, housing, water, transportation, healthcare, knowledge and grounding. The pernicious impact of modern day consumption on each of these themes are highlighted. However, the crux of the book is how an intrepid band of ordinary individuals and entrepreneurs attempt to not just mitigate the adverse effects of modern day consumption, but also strive to restore nature back to its unsullied form.
In the state of Andhra Pradesh in Southern India, farmers pool together invaluable knowledge and information on ground water levels with a view to achieving sustainability in farming practices. This practice known as Participatory Groundwater Management is a perfect antidote to the tragedy of the commons. As is the wonderfully distinct and ancient “subak” system of irrigation engaged in by the Balinese population in Indonesia. Originating in the ninth century, the subak system is an irrigation technique under which self-governing associations of farmers share the use of irrigation water for their rice fields. Water from volcanic lakes is diverted through rivers and channels to end up in the rice terraces. This methodology has received accreditation from multilateral bodies such as UNESCO.
The most beautiful aspect of the book lies in its elucidation of how under privileged and deprived people of the world lead lives as exemplars and beacons of light by choosing the dictum “in poverty lies plenty”. Instead of lamenting and ruing their unfortunate circumstances, these individuals rise above adversity and teach their more privileged and wealth accumulating counterparts that happiness is after all a state of mind. Thus in earthquake torn Haiti, the author learns that true happiness lies in neighbours asking each other whether they had their cup of coffee and going out of their way to ensure mutual prosperity and economic upliftment. The owner of a small guest house in Kerala, despite battling poverty is aghast at the mention of admitting his aged mother in a day care. In Venezuela, “doctor-teachers” train peasants to be health workers with a goal of empowering local people to provide 90 percent of their own health care. A sprawling ecology of 40 million traders, shop keepers, hawkers, and vendors form the ‘unorganised retail sector’ in India. This teeming, throbbing, pulsating ecosystem thrives in a beehive of bazaars, mandis and haats.
Yet another stirring example of the sum of the parts contributing in excess of the whole is the concept of The Food Commons in Fresno, California. The Food Commons endeavours to reinvent the various linkages commencing from a regional farm to distribution avenues/networks to grocery stores and finally, restaurants. The Food Commons Model has three integral components:
The Food Commons Trust, a non-profit entity that acquires and stewards critical foodshed assets;
The Food Commons Financing Arm, a community-owned financial institution that provides capital and financial services to foodshed enterprises; and
The Food Commons Hub, a locally-owned, cooperatively integrated business enterprise that builds and manages food shed-based physical infrastructure and facilitates the complex logistics of aggregation and distribution.
Similar examples abound and grace the book offering a plethora of points to ponder. From bikers in Denmark to pavement electronic equipment service personnel in Delhi, to kiosk traders in Lagos, Thackara’ s book is a fount of encouragement and positivity. Claims made and ideas proposed are all backed by empirical evidence and are not, by any stretch of imagination, baseless fantasies conceptualised in ivory towers. For example when the Dutch architect Frits van Dongen, argues in what seems to be a mind boggling vein for not constructing a single additional building than what the earth already has, he does so with some cold, hard rationale to back his contention. “We have half a million square metres of office and industrial space, and 30,000 homes standing empty.” Mind you this proclamation was made in 2013.
Thackara ends his book in a very poignant manner by reasserting a need for relooking and reevaluating the phrase “the savage mind”. Every ancient culture and civilisation spanning various religions and geographies has believed in inculcating an intimate, revered and symbiotic relationship with the land and the ecosystem surrounding it. Unfortunately the sprawl of modern urbanization has dismantled such a pristine and precocious relationship by encroaching, sullying, and decimating land and chopping and burning down trees. This deracination of ecological values and inherited culture needs to be not just reversed but resurrected and rejuvenated.
Thackara for example, bemoaning the obsession towards High Speed Trains, writes, “High Speed Trains perpetuates patterns of land use, transport intensity and the separation of functions in space and time that render the whole way we live unsupportable.”
We have reached that inflection point in our evolution where the future of the Big lies squarely in the hands of the Small. It is the unrelenting accumulation of small and incremental changes that will ultimately unleash a paradigm alteration in thought, deed and word. Maggie Black, once frighteningly said “millions of people are expelled to the margins of fruitful existence in the name of someone else’s progress.”
It is these inhabitants at the margins who hold the key to the world’s future!
January 5, 2016
If election-year fear-mongering and visions of apocalypse are getting you down, this book is for you. We have reached the limits of "growth," Thackara writes, but "communities the world over are growing a replacement economy from the ground up." The book offers case studies and analysis, ranging from depaving and urban farming projects to ebikes and community health care.
While peasant economies offer practical models for how to survive without the cheap and concentrated energy of fossil fuel, Thackara says, justice demands that those still living in poverty should have opportunities to raise their standard of living. But - as the recent fires in Southeast Asia's palm tree plantations illustrate - alternatives are needed: "Although there will be no jobs, no welfare, and no education on a dead planet, a more positive narrative is needed to counter the toxic allure of extractivism."
The "umbrella concept" we need, he says, is the "story of the commons." As we witness yet another group of armed men attempting to occupy a Fish & Wildlife reserve in Oregon, the vision can seem a long way off. But Thackara doesn't leave us there. We have to get outside, meet and work with people: "Shoulder to shoulder learning," he calls it. "Change is more likely to happen when people reconnect - with each other, with the biosphere - in rich, real-world contexts. . . As we've learned from systems thinking, transformation can unfold quietly as a variety of changes and interventions, and often small disruptions accumulate across time. At a certain moment - which is impossible to predict - a tipping point, or phase shift, is reached and the system as a whole transforms."
"I hope I have convinced you, in this short book, that profound change is already underway - and not just at the level of exotic ideas," he concludes. "Across the world, a multitude of social movements and grassroots projects are also animated by the recognition that our lives are codependent with plants, animals, air, water, and soils. These are the green shoots of a leave-things-better economy . . ." I may need to re-read periodically to keep up my spirits, but mostly the book inspires action. Right here, right now, together.
While peasant economies offer practical models for how to survive without the cheap and concentrated energy of fossil fuel, Thackara says, justice demands that those still living in poverty should have opportunities to raise their standard of living. But - as the recent fires in Southeast Asia's palm tree plantations illustrate - alternatives are needed: "Although there will be no jobs, no welfare, and no education on a dead planet, a more positive narrative is needed to counter the toxic allure of extractivism."
The "umbrella concept" we need, he says, is the "story of the commons." As we witness yet another group of armed men attempting to occupy a Fish & Wildlife reserve in Oregon, the vision can seem a long way off. But Thackara doesn't leave us there. We have to get outside, meet and work with people: "Shoulder to shoulder learning," he calls it. "Change is more likely to happen when people reconnect - with each other, with the biosphere - in rich, real-world contexts. . . As we've learned from systems thinking, transformation can unfold quietly as a variety of changes and interventions, and often small disruptions accumulate across time. At a certain moment - which is impossible to predict - a tipping point, or phase shift, is reached and the system as a whole transforms."
"I hope I have convinced you, in this short book, that profound change is already underway - and not just at the level of exotic ideas," he concludes. "Across the world, a multitude of social movements and grassroots projects are also animated by the recognition that our lives are codependent with plants, animals, air, water, and soils. These are the green shoots of a leave-things-better economy . . ." I may need to re-read periodically to keep up my spirits, but mostly the book inspires action. Right here, right now, together.
June 7, 2017
Not a book of theories on how we, as a species, will move beyond an extraction economy toward a regenerative one. Rather, the book is chockablock full of examples of people, communities, regions, and countries that are already doing it.
In the dust of the decline and death of destructive macro economies, new region-specific replacement-focused, people-focused, environment-focused micro economies are emerging.
The middle chapters begin to feel a bit list-like as the author rambles off example after example of this new economy(s). Which is a good thing! We don't need to imagine these things if they are already in practice and successful.
The final chapter brings it all together and really explains the 'why' of it all. (Chapter ten is more dog-eared than any other in my copy). Our interconnectedness with all the various systems around and within/without us has been obvious and yet ignored for so long. Thackara shines a beacon on the path forward.
In the dust of the decline and death of destructive macro economies, new region-specific replacement-focused, people-focused, environment-focused micro economies are emerging.
The middle chapters begin to feel a bit list-like as the author rambles off example after example of this new economy(s). Which is a good thing! We don't need to imagine these things if they are already in practice and successful.
The final chapter brings it all together and really explains the 'why' of it all. (Chapter ten is more dog-eared than any other in my copy). Our interconnectedness with all the various systems around and within/without us has been obvious and yet ignored for so long. Thackara shines a beacon on the path forward.
July 26, 2017
A visionary book
This book is probably one of the most optimistic and well researched texts on the present and potential future of this planet. The compassion and love for our beautiful home and all that is contained within, is palpable in every word, sentence, and paragraph. The simple message that springs forth from this most excellent text is this: our connection with each other and everything else is innate. We are as much a part of this world as this world is a part of us. If we can allow ourselves to be what we truly are, and not be overwhelmed by the abstract machinations of a depersonalized and disconnected society, then the answers to the challenges that we face, will reveal themselves to each and every one of us that chooses the path to connection and love to all that we hold dear.
This book is probably one of the most optimistic and well researched texts on the present and potential future of this planet. The compassion and love for our beautiful home and all that is contained within, is palpable in every word, sentence, and paragraph. The simple message that springs forth from this most excellent text is this: our connection with each other and everything else is innate. We are as much a part of this world as this world is a part of us. If we can allow ourselves to be what we truly are, and not be overwhelmed by the abstract machinations of a depersonalized and disconnected society, then the answers to the challenges that we face, will reveal themselves to each and every one of us that chooses the path to connection and love to all that we hold dear.
October 4, 2021
This book is exactly as the title says. What happens when, inevitably, our "growth" oriented economy and systems grind to a halt due to running out of energy? We can prepare for that (what the author calls the next economy) by designing new systems today. It's not impossible, the author gives journalistic examples of so many small businesses, start-ups, and communities around the world which are already doing so.
Some reviews say those initiatives are not truly the answer to our global problem because it's not scalable - I think that's precisely the point. If you took a certain practice (for example teras sawah in Bali) and tried to scale it all around the world, it would simply take TOO MUCH ENERGY and defeat the whole purpose of being focused locally to a certain region with certain biosphere characteristics.
The author's main point is that there are actions each and every one of us can do to start designing a lifestyle which is healthier for ourselves AND our environment - because, we cannot be separated from our environment, simple as that.
Just look at the beginning of the pandemic. As everything threatened to grind to a halt, what initiatives still boomed locally? Those that were closer to their food (garden to table practices), those that were closer to their medicines (herbals), and those that were closer to nature (outdoor and open air being much better than closed spaces).
For me, this book was a good kick in the butt to start checking in on my compost bins and try to rehabilitate the little patch of dead soil in front of our house. This action might be small, and it might not be scalable.
But heck, at least I'm taking (non-concrete!) action.
Some reviews say those initiatives are not truly the answer to our global problem because it's not scalable - I think that's precisely the point. If you took a certain practice (for example teras sawah in Bali) and tried to scale it all around the world, it would simply take TOO MUCH ENERGY and defeat the whole purpose of being focused locally to a certain region with certain biosphere characteristics.
The author's main point is that there are actions each and every one of us can do to start designing a lifestyle which is healthier for ourselves AND our environment - because, we cannot be separated from our environment, simple as that.
Just look at the beginning of the pandemic. As everything threatened to grind to a halt, what initiatives still boomed locally? Those that were closer to their food (garden to table practices), those that were closer to their medicines (herbals), and those that were closer to nature (outdoor and open air being much better than closed spaces).
For me, this book was a good kick in the butt to start checking in on my compost bins and try to rehabilitate the little patch of dead soil in front of our house. This action might be small, and it might not be scalable.
But heck, at least I'm taking (non-concrete!) action.
August 2, 2017
Buku ini terlalu bagus sampai saya ingin melayangkan surat ke Goodreads untuk menambah skala penilaian sampai setidaknya tujuh bintang.
Satu-satunya kekurangan dari buku ini adalah terlalu banyak hal bagus di dalamnya sampai sulit untuk melanjutkan membaca sampai betul-betul memahami tiap informasinya. Ini bukan sarkasme, Thackara menyampaikan dengan begitu baik setiap gagasan disertai contoh nyata berdasarkan pengalamannya pada setiap subbab. Setiap babnya bisa dijadikan satu jurnal ilmiah tersendiri, cukup untuk membuat Anda lulus sarjana sepuluh kali.
Secara garis besar, buku ini menggali bagaimana tren pertumbuhan ekonomi dunia akan menaruh beban yang begitu berat pada lingkungan di masa yang akan datang sebentar lagi. Ya, buku ini adalah buku tentang keberlanjutan, tapi buku ini bukan celoteh tipikal tentang retorika daur ulang atau kampanya hijau. Thackara, melalui buku ini, seakan menyusun sebuah manifesto kolektif yang disusun oleh berbagai entitas di seluruh belahan dunia yang telah berhasil menjadi pionir keberlanjutan di berbagai bidang seperti transportasi, makanan, kesehatan, sampai fesyen.
Satu-satunya kekurangan dari buku ini adalah terlalu banyak hal bagus di dalamnya sampai sulit untuk melanjutkan membaca sampai betul-betul memahami tiap informasinya. Ini bukan sarkasme, Thackara menyampaikan dengan begitu baik setiap gagasan disertai contoh nyata berdasarkan pengalamannya pada setiap subbab. Setiap babnya bisa dijadikan satu jurnal ilmiah tersendiri, cukup untuk membuat Anda lulus sarjana sepuluh kali.
Secara garis besar, buku ini menggali bagaimana tren pertumbuhan ekonomi dunia akan menaruh beban yang begitu berat pada lingkungan di masa yang akan datang sebentar lagi. Ya, buku ini adalah buku tentang keberlanjutan, tapi buku ini bukan celoteh tipikal tentang retorika daur ulang atau kampanya hijau. Thackara, melalui buku ini, seakan menyusun sebuah manifesto kolektif yang disusun oleh berbagai entitas di seluruh belahan dunia yang telah berhasil menjadi pionir keberlanjutan di berbagai bidang seperti transportasi, makanan, kesehatan, sampai fesyen.
August 15, 2016
Thackara describes numerous examples of how organizations are moving toward sustainability across soil management, water, housing, food, clothing, transportation, and health care. I like that this book takes the system view, attempting to look at all the externalities that are usually ignored.
He sets a goal of functioning on 5% of our energy budget today. However, with the rapid increase in wind, solar power. Should this still be the goal? Well, this is the energy budget of an Indian market stall proprietor.
However, I was somewhat frustrated by the fact that the book lacked equations to see if any of these approaches was really scalable and really achieved the objectives of working on 5% of the total energy that this used today. Note: Thackara didn’t claim to or attempt to produce an engineering textbook on sustainability, so I guess I’ll have to see what’s in the references.
He sets a goal of functioning on 5% of our energy budget today. However, with the rapid increase in wind, solar power. Should this still be the goal? Well, this is the energy budget of an Indian market stall proprietor.
However, I was somewhat frustrated by the fact that the book lacked equations to see if any of these approaches was really scalable and really achieved the objectives of working on 5% of the total energy that this used today. Note: Thackara didn’t claim to or attempt to produce an engineering textbook on sustainability, so I guess I’ll have to see what’s in the references.
January 9, 2020
Perspective in a post-growth world
John talks about different aspects of present-day living and how they are not sustainable environmentally and economically. He has done elaborate research and presents different examples of grassroots initiatives in different cultures and different parts of the world around important topics like future of food, mobility, space, public commons and more.
John talks about different aspects of present-day living and how they are not sustainable environmentally and economically. He has done elaborate research and presents different examples of grassroots initiatives in different cultures and different parts of the world around important topics like future of food, mobility, space, public commons and more.
September 27, 2019
It's an overview of all the forward thinking sustainability happening all over the world. Also it takes the stance that newer is not always better, and that western culture does not hold all the answers. There's a lot of examples coming from the third world about how they live much more in tune with their natural resources.
November 9, 2018
Great read to get some perspective on the world right now. Fortunately the author leaves some examples of good and positive actions that allow you to look forward with down to earth optimism.
July 15, 2023
A bit outdated and one sided, but it has a good overview of various issues that need to be solved. Also this is an interesting book but has a hodgepodge of various different solutions – some of which aren’t solutions (Ravelry is no longer a sustainability-themed store from what I can see?)
Some of the presumed solutions were incorrect predictions – rental of li-ion ebike batteries vs purchase? Maybe at the time of writing battery technology was drastically changing but that has not been the case today.
References to animistic beliefs of premodern cultures should be hardly relevant to how the next economy works?? Why no reference to St Francis’ Sister moon, Brother Sun – Brother animals and the deep connection of those and others that worked on land and farms for years?
https://franciscanfriarscresson.org/t...
Some of the presumed solutions were incorrect predictions – rental of li-ion ebike batteries vs purchase? Maybe at the time of writing battery technology was drastically changing but that has not been the case today.
References to animistic beliefs of premodern cultures should be hardly relevant to how the next economy works?? Why no reference to St Francis’ Sister moon, Brother Sun – Brother animals and the deep connection of those and others that worked on land and farms for years?
https://franciscanfriarscresson.org/t...
May 30, 2022
It seems common that when we read about the future, specifically in regard to climate change, that there is an air of either misplaced optimism or overbearing pessimism. Thackara's perspective is the alternative that is desperately needed in the discourse around this topic. His unwillingness to face away from the current reality, paired with his in-depth knowledge of practices that have, currently do, and will in the future exist that not only can be defined as sustainable, but also planet-centred.
In my opinion the biggest takeaway from this book is that we can no longer look to minimise the damage we do to the planet, but instead must ensure that the solutions we imagine are ones that consider the health and growth of the planet above all else.
In my opinion the biggest takeaway from this book is that we can no longer look to minimise the damage we do to the planet, but instead must ensure that the solutions we imagine are ones that consider the health and growth of the planet above all else.
February 27, 2020
Very in-depth and thought-provoking, but somehow not as I have imagined. The author cited many cases, and mentioned links amongst his observation, but the connection is somewhat sparse and impersonated. I know many people have enjoyed it, and I tried, but perhaps it is just me at this moment feeling humbly inspired.
Hope I can try again after ten years, and see if things mentioned can be tested and I can feel more related.
Hope I can try again after ten years, and see if things mentioned can be tested and I can feel more related.
December 25, 2022
useful and inspiring collection of case studies on transitioning from an extraction based economy clinging on to a dream of ‘endless growth,’ to a stewardship based system. focuses on ‘small’ actors and organisations making a difference in a range of industries and communities, from improving soil health, to water management, to transport.
November 7, 2021
Refreshing adn enjoyable, agree with other comments that it focuses on niche solutions. Stark contrast to the Bill Gates scale test- not sure many of the solutions featured have critical mass, but nevertheless highlights possible environmental and social innovations. Well written.
December 30, 2018
There are a lot of important questions to answer about what the future is going to look like. This book was one I stumbled upon a long time ago, I don’t remember where I got it.
February 8, 2020
This book should be compulsory reading.
May 28, 2021
last chapter pops off.... 4.5
Read
September 27, 2022didn't finish, want to go back
Read
February 28, 2023How to Thrive in the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow's World Today by John Thackara (2017)
February 7, 2024
"Change is more like to happing when people reconnect - with each other, and with the biosphere"
Read
February 13, 2021One of the best entry level books about some new social paradigms we should all pursue. If you don’t know anything about what’s going on to save our specie and you fill kinda depress by the “only bad new telling” conventional media, this books is perfect for you.
Go and dive into a very well presented wind of concrete hope out from what some astonishing humans are doing and the values they are applying to their lives.
Prepare yourself a good tea, get comfy and enjoy your reading
Go and dive into a very well presented wind of concrete hope out from what some astonishing humans are doing and the values they are applying to their lives.
Prepare yourself a good tea, get comfy and enjoy your reading
September 25, 2016
I would have rated it 2.5 but 3 seemed more fair in the end. I do believe this book needed to be written to introduce a larger audience to new economic thinking on a practical level. And as such it is a good read if you are unfamiliar with what we could call the transition movement. However for those already familiar with such ideas it would lack some depth of research and argumentation; that is according to my personal taste. So if you want to start digging into the changes that are taking place around the micro-economic world it is a good book to combine with a movie like 'Demain'. If you look for a more in depth research, I would look at more subject focused literature.
June 19, 2016
In it's title this book poses a proposition ... which I honestly don't think that it even satisfactorily attempts to answer. Yes, it does document a large number of grass root and community organisations and schemes that are attempting to change under the current economic modes but nothing here is new, or ground breaking. Somewhat disappointing.
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April 22, 2016338.927 T363 2015
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