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Why should economics have become of so much interest to people in the Green movement? Green are characterised by their concern for the planet, for people and animals. So the field of economics, with its abstract mathematical models and it concentration on concepts such as 'growth' and 'money' might seem alien territory; and so it has proved. Yet for a long while now, many in the environmental and Green movements have
realised that the heart of our problem lies not in the actions which destroy the
environment, but in the economic system which causes them. cartoon (left) by Polyp An observation of the functioning of the system of global production and exchange makes it obvious that it is best characterised by the adage 'Money talks'. And if money talks, then the language it uses is economics. If we are to change the economic system which is environmentally and socially destructive it is inevitable that we learn to speak this language. Hence the need for a Green economics. Green Audit undertakes research and campaigning work in the field of economics in recognition of the fact that the economic system that presently dominates throughout developed society is inimical to human happiness and planetary survival. It is an affront that our ability to raise happy children and to guarantee them the basic necessities of clean air to breathe and water to drink is being undermined by an economic system that is dominated by organisations and structures who pay little attention to the human consequences of their actions. The fact that many of these organisations are dominated by men explains the attempt in green economics, in contrast to environmental economics, to balance up the gender scales. This not only means encouraging contributions from women, but also allowing the style to move away from the hard-edged, objective and scientific discourse that men, and especially male academics, tend to favour. Emotion, subjectivity and intuition and are valued within green economics. Green economics is a discipline in development. It does not follow the categories of the existing economics discipline since that would constrain our ability to find the novel solutions we need. We need to develop thinking in all areas where economics has something to say. We also need to ensure that the debate over the future of economics is accessible to all readers, not only those with advanced statistics degrees who frequently dominate economic discussions. During the course of our initial discussion of green economics two things became clear. The first was the extent of ignorance of the field of economics amongst Greens. Many longstanding members of Green organisations and others with deep concerns for the environment are to be heard asking ‘What is Green Economics?’. This persuaded us of the importance of collecting together the insights gained so far into a book, Green Economics, which will share insights gained and stimulate further discussion. We also hope that Greens will use the book to spread the message of Green economics beyond the closed circle and out into the wider worlds of journalism, industry, and ‘real’ politics. Our second conclusion was that it was important to draw a distinction between the sort of human-centred economics we are seeking to create and the environmental economics that has been the response of the conventional mind-set to the environmental critique. What we wanted our authors to attempt was to dismiss all assumptions that dominate the culture we live in and to address the central issues of economics ab initio. Their aim was to write about an economics for people, and which would meet their basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, and a decent quality of life. Green Economics represents the first venture by Green Audit along the route to developing a humane and sustainable economic system. Green Audit's critique of the single currency project is presented in a paper on the EMU. A shorter report on the impact of out-of-town shopping on the community base of Local shopping is also available on-line as is our contribution to the discussion of pollution taxation, the Planetary Impact Index (the PII) . Contributions to our ongoing development of a sustainable trade theory would be welcome. Green economics is a nascent discipline. As such it has very many interesting, and conflicting, ideas. It has not yet reached the stage of establishing a paradigm, which makes it a lively arena for discussion. Green economics has its journals and its working groups; the closest thing to an academic institution it has is the New Economics Foundation (http://www.neweconomics.org/), which provides literature for the curious; its proponents share some assumptions--the moral equivalence of human beings, the reality of planetary limits--but the field is open to new ideas. Read through those provided in the links from this page, and provide some of your own. We hope you will take up this important challenge. |
