LIVING ECONOMIES FOR A LIVING PLANET
SUPPORTING ESSAYS
The essays referenced below further develop themes and issues raised in the web essay “Living Economies for a Living Planet.”
Living Economies: Lessons from Biology by Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D. A visionary evolution biologist draws lessons from living systems essential to distinguishing between health and pathology in economic systems and institutions and to identifying the characteristics of healthy living economies.
Globalization as a Natural Evolutionary Process by Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D. Argues that globalization in terms of a life serving advance in planetary communication and cooperation is a natural evolutionary process. The kind of globalization being advanced by market-driven capitalism, however, is not a natural process because it suppresses the natural self-organizing processes of people and communities and places the interest of money ahead of the needs of life.
The Crisis and Challenge of Globalization: Insights from Physics by Hans-Peter Duerr, Emeritus Director, Professor, Max-Planck Institut für Physik, Munich. An eminent physicist makes the case that the culture and institutions of the global economy are grounded in outmoded concepts of 19th century physics. Physics has since redefined reality in fundamental ways, but human social and economic institutions remain dangerously out of date. More contemporary insights from physics hold a key to resolving the resulting global crisis.
Awakening Cultural Consciousness by David C. Korten based on Elisabet Sahtouris. Examines how culture shapes perception in the most literal sense. Makes the case that the awakening of cultural consciousness described in Part III: Awakening Consciousness is an important evolutionary advance toward making cultural regeneration a conscious, self-aware process — an essential step toward moving from an Era of Empire to an Era of Community.
Corporate Predators of the Suicide Economy by Victor Bremson, Retired Entrepreneur and Independent Business Manager. Documents through two personal case studies the predatory behavior of mega-corporations with a legal mandate to serve the financial interests of absentee owners without regard to human or environmental consequences.
Seattle Area: Elements of a Living Economy by Victor Bremson. An initial inventory of enterprises, organizations, and associations in the Seattle area that constitute elements of a living economy that illuminates the potentials already in one urban area. Victor later initiated the Seattle network of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies building from the ideas in this essay.
Revised July 20, 2001. First posted July 18, 2001