Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy

By Geoffrey Garver and Peter G. Brown

Book Overview

"We are all stewards of the earth, but often lack specific information and advice on what we can do . . . This] provides a wonderful guide for all of us." --President Jimmy Carter

Our current economic system--which assumes endless growth and limitless potential wealth--flies in the face of the fact that the earth's resources are finite. The result is increasing destruction of the natural world and growing, sometimes lethal, tension between rich and poor, global north and south. Trying to fix problems piecemeal is not the solution. We need a comprehensive new vision of an economy that can serve people and all of life's commonwealth.

Peter G. Brown and Geoffrey Garver use the core Quaker principle of "right relationship"--interacting in a way that is respectful to all and that aids the common good--as the foundation for a new economic model. Right Relationship poses five basic questions: What is an economy for? How does it work? How big is too big? What's fair? And how can it best be governed? Brown and Garver expose the antiquated, shortsighted, and downright dangerous assumptions that underlie our current answers to these questions, as well as the shortcomings of many current reform efforts. They propose new answers that combine an acute awareness of ecological limits with a fundamental focus on fairness and a concern with the spiritual, as well as material, well-being of the human race.

Brown and Garver describe new forms of global governance that will be needed to get and keep the economy in right relationship. Individual citizens can and must play a part in bringing this relationship with life and the world into being.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576757625
• ISBN13: 9781576757628
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The economy should not be controlling the earth

When I began reading this book my first thought was Genesis 1:26b "Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." The definition of dominion according to Webster is "Sovereign or supreme authority; the power of governing and controlling; independent right of possession, use, and control; sovereignty; supremacy." When one has dominion over something he rules and controls it. However, it goes a bit farther than most will admit. To rule or control something is to take care of it, to keep it safe, to meet its needs. Peter G. Brown and Geoffrey Garver look at the problem of Global Warming and the root cause which is our economy. The economy should not be controlling the earth. They use the phrase "Tread lightly on the Earth." They also ask 5 questions and discuss the answer. What's the economy for? "The economy is part of the earth system and it has to be respectful of and obey the rules." The concept of the authors reminds me of a cooperative. People work together to the benefit of all. They do not under cut each other's price. The goal is not to get extremely wealthy but to "provide rich and fulfilling lives for both individuals and communities." Currently the economy is "survival of the fittest." We have forgotten the difference between desire and needs. How does it work? Much of this is common sense. Stewardship of the land was clearly laid out in scripture. The authors discuss farming: cutting hay at the appropriate time, and fighting erosion. I see this as education or reeducation. As in farming one must understand how something works. Too often we work our land until it is dead. "Thinking about how the economy works only in conventional terms like supply and demand, market dynamics, financial incentives, and the like miss the big picture." A good farmer knows the importance of allowing the ground to rest, the importance of a cover crop, and the importance of taking care of the land. We are killing the golden goose rather than caring for the goose. How big is too big? The authors stress limits, they use a comparison to a home thermostat. We set the temperature to a tolerable level. We must set the economic thermostat to a tolerable level, this means setting limits. We know there is a limited amount of resources. Yet we attempt to use it all up as though it will magically reproduce. The authors discuss an ecosystem and how it interacts with other ecosystems. What's fair? "Our current economic system is geared to promoting as much short-term wealth and consumption as possible and to making sure that investments increase as rapidly as possible, while minimizing regulation." There has to be a way to dispense the economy's benefits and yoke. We must look at the human rights issue and we think our responsibility. How should it be governed? This is the chapter that makes me uncomfortable. The authors have excellent ide

Change your worldview!

This is a clearly and earnestly written book that aims to change your world view. The subject is so obvious - that the earth cannot support unlimited growth and expanding economies forever - that I wonder why there haven't been a plethora of books on the subject. The authors extol us to think thoughtfully and carefully about our actions and their affects on everything around us, living in "right relationship" with the earth, respecting others and the environment.

Right time for "Right Relationship"

RIGHT RELATIONSHIP: BUILDING A WHOLE EARTH ECONOMY by Peter G Brown and Geoffrey Garver, with Keith Helmuth, Robert Howell and Steve Szeghi; Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. San Francisco, 2009 "Right Relationship" is a book for the worrying-about-collapse weary. It is a book for those of us who realize the world we live in is in great peril and that something fundamental has to change to ensure the human story continues and flourishes. While there are many features of the book that make it hopeful, two in particular stand out. The book lays out a broad framework for change, including a moral base, that encompasses all arenas from the local to the global, and it arises from a Quaker tradition which has had remarkable successes in the past - the abolition of slavery being only one noteworthy example. The neoclassical economic paradigm that has been so successful at providing material goods is clearly identified as the main culprit in both the destruction of ecological systems and the creation of enormous inequities that characterize the current condition of our special planet. As the authors point out, the economy is about relationships, as is ecology. And the current relationship we humans have with both is wrong. They are wrong because our economic activities are destroying the life support systems for the commonwealth of life that sustain us, and these same activities reward those who least need more and disadvantage those whose needs are greatest. Their analysis of the problem we face is not new, but it is one receiving increasing support from an ever wider range of writers and thinkers - from James Lovelock to Lester Brown to Tom Freidman. What is somewhat different about the analysis in Right Relationship is the moral basis for both the analyses, and thus the solutions. And what may be even more refreshing for some is that the moral basis is not derived from a "sacred text" but from the fundamental truths of science. The authors point out that many of these truths are also included in sacred texts, so there is not a conflict but rather an integration of traditional spiritual values with the more recent perspective of current scientific inquiry. The authors point out that even within the hard sciences of physics and chemistry, the earlier reductionist approach has given way to a holistic systems approach - one of contexts or relationships - the increasing recognition that everything is connected in complex and profound ways. This recognition, however, has not yet been integrated with how we make use of the earth's finite resources to provide for our well being - how we run our economy. Hence the wrong relationships of our economic activities give rise to ecological catastrophe and social inequity. "Right relationships" are those which "tend to preserve the integrity, resilience, and beauty of the commonwealth of life." They are wrong when they tend otherwise. The term "commonwealth of life" is also defined in terms of embracing al

Clear and Concise Blueprint for Global Change

If you are reading this review I am assuming you are looking for books about ecological economics and alternatives to our current global system of rapid resource depletion and barbequeing the planet, so I will spare you an introduction into this subject. Right relationship borrows from various religious/spiritual traditions and fits them within a modern ecological economics framework. Change must include more than just a scattered radicals and if religious institutions can be engaged in reforms also than true progress is much more likely. The book paints a picture of economic as well as ecological interdepedance, a vision of mutually shared destiny which is seems somewhat compatible with pre-neoclassical concept of market economics (ie modern "conservative" economics idealogy focusses on this false notion of individualism which is inherently impossible in a deeply connected economic world such as our own) . In other words, it avoids fiery polemics about revolution in exchange for pragmatic arguments about a different set of global priorities and principles. The tone of the book is exactly the way these issues need to be discussed to continue to transition the movement for ecologically friendly economics to the center of the political spectrum. One of the more profound ideas advanced is that we already have a de facto world gov't-transnational corporations. Many nations have a nationalistic cultural impulse that tends to view any type of global governance as a threat to culture, sovereignty, etc. Right Relationship makes a clear case that such ideas are dated and that, like it our not, we have a deeply integrated world economy dominated by transnational corporations that requires various types of global governance to curtail our eventual ecological calamity and the suffering it will exact on all forms of life. To conclude, this is an excellent book for its ideas and the brevity at which said ideas are expressed. Highly recommended for anyone interested in ecological challenges, economics, geo-politics or public policy.

This book makes a lot of sense.

This is a pretty good book. The main point of this book is that mainstream economics is based on the idea of infinite growth, and that this is simply impossible on a finite planet. Okay, that's pretty basic environmentalist wisdom so far. Where the authors then differentiate themselves is that they've actually got some pretty concrete ideas of how to go about correcting this problem. This is definitely not one of those environmental books that dumps a whole lot of grisly facts on you and then advises changing to CFL bulbs and riding your bike more as the whole solution. (I own a surprising number of these.) The changes these guys suggest would require more than individual efforts, they'll need concentrated work at the national and even international levels. This is where the authors draw from their own heritage for inspiration; they're both Quakers, which is a group that always seems to get a lot more done than you'd expect. This book doesn't minimize the size of the environmental problem, but they're pretty optimistic about people's ability to make the mental shift necessary to deal with it from a basis of clarity and respect for the world. The result is a book that makes you want to do stuff, and makes you think you actually can.