Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz - A Commentary

(Image Source: Center for Alternative Development Initiatives)

This is an old book review I did when I took a globalization history course a couple of years back. I've been reading a little more about economics, and I thought this would be a great lead-in to one of my future blog entries on economics. Anyway, happy reading :D

Sven Lindqvist's "Exterminate All the Brutes"

History repeats itself. This maxim is played out when, in the last years of the twentieth century, Sven Lindqvist braves the Sahara desert and Africa with nothing but his old laptop, a mini research library conveniently placed in airtight-packed discs, and a sense that following Joseph Conrad’s footsteps in Africa will give him insights into the rationalization behind Hitler’s Holocaust. The ultimate product of his journey is his travel diary, Exterminate All the Brutes: One Man’s Odyssey into the Heart of Darkness and the Origins of European Genocide, in which he claims that the ‘Final Solution’ Hitler envisioned in World War II was merely the logical extension of the prevailing notions and attitudes of his times.

The Industrial Revolution produced major changes in agriculture, transportation and manufacturing processes. Human labour

Ecological Footprint Calculators: Good or Bad?

Ecological footprint calculators try to measure the amount of biologically productive land required to sustain the consumption needs of an individual or group of individuals. While it can be a useful tool for gauging the general consumption patterns of a country, and for creating dialogue between governments and their people, it cannot be used as the primary indicator of a country`s sustainability because most footprint calculators today often base their calculations on incomplete or missing data.

For example, the footprint calculator from the Center for Sustainable Economy does not distinguish between whether the resources extracted to make the products we use are managed in a sustainable way. Even if fish are caught in a sustainable way

Maslow's Hierarchy...Circle of Life?

I haven't thought about Maslow's hierarchy in a while. Not since highschool social science and business classes anyway. I guess that's why it was kind of a..I won't say shocker or surprise...it's more of a...pleasant rediscovery of old knowledge applied to current circumstances, to hear that while environmentalists and ecologists believe that the economy is dependent on a thriving ecology (and I'm not saying that it isn't), the same can be said of the opposite. I'm reading Break Through by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, and at the beginning, taking the idea of Maslow's hierarchy, they explain that because a booming economy meant that the concerns of the majority were no longer focused on basic needs and necessities like food, shelter and clothing, they were able to concentrate most of their attention on upper pyramid concerns like esteem and quality of life, including the idea of earthly stewardship.

Thus, if the economy is doing poorly, the concerns of the majority will revert back to basics, and while there will still be a concern for the environment, it becomes buried under more pressing matters.

Thus, the question then becomes how we should balance these two so that the economy does well without sacrificing the well-being of our earth, because we all know that tipping the scale in favour of either one is devastating.