The constant economy

"The earth's resources are finite, climate change threatens to dramatically transform how and where we live, and the global economic system is in disarray. One way or another we have to change. Zac Goldsmith argues here for the creation of what he calls 'a constant economy'. Since the industrial revolution, our economies have grown at the expense of the natural world. We can deny the need for change, in which case we will be at the mercy of events and the adjustments will be harsh. Or, as this book shows, there is an alternative. A 'constant economy' is one in which resources are valued not wasted, where food is grown sustainably and goods are built to last. It is a system whose energy security is based on the use of renewable sources, and communities are valued as a country's strongest hedge against social, economic and environmental instability. The constant economy operates at the human scale, and above all it recognizes nature's limits. He shows that almost everything that needs be done to support the environment is already being done somewhere in the world. And where companies, communities and even governments have blazed a trail, they have not only done the right thing, their customers - and their voters - have rewarded them for doing the right thing. Solutions exist, they work, and they are laid out in this book."--Publisher's description.