The Approaching Great Transformation Toward a Livable Post Carbon Economy

The Approaching Great Transformationis about the coming shift in how we act and think in the world economically as the era of cheap oil comes to an end. The purpose of this book is to provide inspiration for those seeking to be part of the ongoing global effort to move away from our dependency on fossil fuels and ceaseless growth and toward a more sustainable, stable, and just system. The central theme of The Approaching Great Transformationis that with vision and deliberate action communities around the world can break out of habitual ways of producing and consuming things and move optimistically toward something better. It provides a philosophical basis and guidelines for citizens we are working to develop new and very different economic institutions that are centered on self-reliance, ecological permanence, stability, and a celebration of human creativity. In time, these institutional developments will lead to the positive evolution of economic systems and human culture. This book documents examples and stories of this work that is already being done. The Approaching Great Transformationextends the ideas put forth in his previous book, Mindful Economics, and like the first book it is written primarily for American readers.

JOEL MAGNUSON is an independent economist based in Portland, Oregon. He is a visiting fellow at the Ashcroft International Business School at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England, serves as an international advisor to Anglia's Interconnections, and is on the faculty at the East West Sanctuary in Nagykovácsi, Hungary. He is the author of Mindful Economics: How the US Economy Works, Why It Matters, and How It Could Be Different and The Approaching Great Transformation: Toward a Livable Post Carbon Economy.