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Green Economics: Beyond Supply and Demand to Meeting People's Needs was published in 1999. It includes contributions from leading commentators and organisations involved in developing a new economics that respects the planet and provides for human need rather than corporate profit. Contributors include Richard Douthwaite, Ed Mayo of the New Economics Foundation, Maria Mies, Colin Hines and Tim Lang.
The following extract is taken from a review of the book by Ann Link, published in the Women's Environmental Network newsletter. I have always meant to learn more about economics. As someone who wants to achieve a fairer, greener society I hope it will somehow provide a lever to make everything move in a more sensible direction The textbooks I attempted years ago fostered belief in an inevitable system (if only I could understand it) which made unfairness unavoidable. Now, even some mainstream economists recognise that they are not addressing problems such as the instability in the world economic system, so this is a good time for this new book which is a collection of essays. I particularly liked Victor Anderson's chapter which calls on people not to waste their efforts on ineffective oversimple ideas but to think through practical policies for themselves and make them work. I enjoyed Mercy Harmer's A Green Look at Money. It poses and partly answers questions such as Why do very rich people become isolated buying luxury goods from other rich people when poorer producers could use a little of this money to transform their businesses and their lives? It helps me understand how the workings of the money system make companies compete to develop and market genetically engineered food plants in case they get left behind. Other stimulating contributions include Maria Mies, Tim Lang, Colin Hines and the editors themselves: there are 22 altogether, and they are all short, interesting and practical. This is not an expensive academic tome, but a handy paperback. Buy it or order it from your library.
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The editors of Green
Economics are Molly Scott Cato and Miriam Kennett. Molly is one of Green Audit's
main researchers and has recently completed research for a PhD in economics.
Miriam has a Masters in international business and economics and has recently
completed research into corporate environmental strategy at the Environmental
Change Unit, Oxford University.