Insatiable Is Not Sustainable

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Doug Brown

Book Code: C6848

ISBN: 0-275-96848-0

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-96848-9

DOI:

232 pages, figures

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 10/30/2001

List Price: $119.95 (UK Sterling Price: £70.00)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Paperback

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Endorsement From Daniel Quinn
author of Ishmael: If humans are going to have a future on this planet, a blaze of change has to sweep the earth in the next few decades--a change in the way people think about the world and our place in it. One of the sparks that is going to kindle this blaze is Doug Brown's Insatiable Is Not Substainable, a book that reaches deep into the mad recesses of our culture (while retaining a sense of humor and remaining delightfully readable).

Description: In today's culture of insatiable freedom, many believe that to be human is to be an insatiable self-actualizer. Yet insatiable is not sustainable. In order to solve today's crisis of environmental sustainability--and human sustainability--we must let go of our obsession to constantly be more. The desire to have all that we can have comes, Brown argues, from a cultural norm that has evolved to become an economic, social, and moral imperative-that To Be is to achieve more, improve more, and insatiably have more, to the point of planetary extinction. Incorporating the views of classic scholars--Aristotle, J. S. Mill, Marx, Thorstein Veblen--into his own unique interpretation, Brown traces human history from the earliest hunters and gatherers through the emergence of capitalism and the evolution to today's insatiable self and the culture of insatiable freedom. In conclusion, Brown argues cogently for the creation of a culture of sustainability, offering practical ways to achieve this goal.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Is Sustainability a New Cultural Paradigm? The Three Cultures Approach
Where We've Been--The Culture of Security
A History of the Satiable Human Self
The Neolithic Revolution and the Emergence of the Insatiable Self
Where We Are--The Culture of the Insatiable Freedom
Capitalism and the 16th Century: The Universalization of the Insatiable Self: Everyone SHOULD Be All They Can Be
Marx, Mill, and Capitalism: Driven by Improvement
From Being More to Having More: Today's Economy of Insatiable Improvers
Where Should We Go--The Culture of Sustainability
The Satiable Self: Zorba Meets Gandhi
Conclusion: A Sustainable Economy or Postmodern Feudalism?
Index

LC Card Number: 2001032905

LCC Class: H79

Dewey Class: 338


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