I received an email today from Rob Dietz, Executive Director of The Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE). CASSE has now officially launched their new website! More great news: they have completely re-invigorated their blog, now known as The Daly News.  Herman Daly, the award-winning economist and incisive writer who developed the concept of the steady state economy, will kick off the new blog on March 1.

In addition to Professor Daly, the core rotation of authors at The Daly News includes Brian Czech (wildlife biologist, ecological economist, and author of Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train), Brent Blackwelder (former president of Friends of the Earth and founder of American Rivers), and Rob Dietz (environmental scientist and executive director of CASSE). (There is even a rumor that yours truly might be privileged enough to post along side these greats as a guest contributor!) You can access the blog on CASSE’s website or via RSS feed.

CASSE has also released an entertaining animated short called Add It Up that tells the truth about pursuing perpetual economic growth. The animation, produced by film students at the University of Southern California, is available on CASSE’s website and YouTube, as well as here:

For more information about these resources and other news about the steady state economy, please read the most recent edition of CASSE’s The Steady Stater newsletter (pdf)

Contraction Might Do Us Good

In just over a month another gathering of minds will discuss the many aspects of an economy not devoted to growth for growth’s sake. The 2nd Conference on Economic Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equality will take place March 26th through 29th in Barcelona, Spain.

Whilst I would love to be in attendance, I can neither afford the plane ticket (nor do I like the idea of so much plane travel) or the associated costs of attending. However, Donnie Maclurcan, a prominent steady-stater we’re trying to get working with us on Post Growth, will be attending as well as at least one member of CASSE.

The goal of the conference is to “develop clear policy proposals and strategies for action on degrowth and define the key open questions and research agenda.” They are hoping to create a publication from the conference and publish articles in scientific journals – I hope they do just that.

Degrowth is an interesting movement, a step most likely necessary in transition to a sustainable economy, it is one oriented towards the contraction of the physical size of the economy as a means of creating social justice and ecological sustainability. It is focusing on people instead of technology for the prosperity of society.

To learn more about the Degrowth movement, please check here, here, here, here, and here.

The holidays are a sacred time of year for many over this small blue world. We each have our own traditions, songs, celebrations and gatherings. One thing we all share is a connection with one another during the end of the year and the start of a new one. In the last 50-plus years this community-gathering, family-focused yule-time has been distorted by conspicuous consumption and environmental destruction.

Less and less a season of humanity, the final few months of the year are a season of consumption. But why complain about it when you can actually do something? By taking individual action to simplify your holiday season you are leading by example and often influence those around you more than you know. This season focusing on creating no environmental impact can actually result in focusing more of your time and energy on family, community, health, happiness and simplicity.

The Happy, Simple Holiday

In our neck of the woods we celebrate Christmas. Traditionally my family has done the big tree, wrapped gifts, and taken a flight to visit distant relatives. Since college I have significantly reduced my holiday-impact and now with my own family we are trying something different as well. We’re starting our son’s first holiday by creating meaningful, positive-impact traditions.

This year instead of buying a dying tree that will be thrown in the trash, we are buying a living tree to plant after the holiday. This year we are staying home and sleeping in. This year we are giving the gift of experiences to each other (us parents are going in on a gym membership to improve our health and well-being). This holiday season we are simplifying our expenses to reduce waste: wasted money, wasted time, wasted gifts. This year we’re really excited for the holiday because of it all!

The No Impact Man Screening

Why don’t you do something to make a more meaningful, environmentally and socially responsible holiday season? Find a community screening of the No Impact Man documentary near you. If you live in the Seattle area, please come join our screening! We’re hosting a special viewing of the film at the Greenwood Senior Center this Friday, December 18th at 7pm. Following the film there will be discussion on simplifying the holiday season.

For more information visit the eventbrite site for more information. I also wrote a post about this earlier. If you come to the Seattle screening (admission is free) be sure to bring $5 or 3 cans of food to be entered in the raffle for one of the pre-release DVDs or books!

One year ago I started writing out of passion (and some anger). My how things have evolved! This blog has seen 75 posts in the last year, some of them great, some of them alright, some perhaps less so. I have tried my best to write about the issues important to me: a sustainable society, a healthier planet, a ethcial economy, and a more just world.

I have also learned so much about life, happiness, sustainability, and where I want to be in the world. More importantly, I have learned there is quite a large group of people out there feeling the same way, and we are all beginning to see the division between economic growth and true prosperity. What do you think? I would really value your input on ways I could make this blog better, both in function and in form. Please comment on this post or email me!

Since today marks Steady State Revolution’s one year blogiversary I decided to take a look at the very first post and revise it with some fresh ideas (and hopefully improved writing skill). Here’s the 75th post on the 1-year blogiversary!

Citizen or Consumer?

The US Consumer Unit

Yesterday was the start of the “Christmas Shopping Season.” Aside from the typical trampling of an elderly person at a Wal-mart, this day signifies the beginning of the American Consumer’s busiest time of the year. Between today and New Years we Americans will increase our waste by 25%.

Each year we start sooner and sooner with our Christmas consumption, this year marketers started preparing for the season around Halloween. The average consumer spends about $1,100 a year on gifts, over $800 worth of which is holiday-related purchases. This means 73% of all our gift-related buying is done in the holiday season. That’s a lot of consumption.

Consumerism accounts for a large cog in the economy. Consumption drives the sales of goods, which is incentive to produce more goods. Producing goods is the basis our growth model. In order to grow the throughput (GDP) of our economy, we must increase the production and consumption cycle. What better way to do so than to make it your intuitive nature to spend? What if we could find a way to move people from identifying as themselves, or their jobs, but instead as what they buy? From this the American Consumer is born.

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CASSE is in the running to receive valuable help for their efforts to spread awareness about the steady state economy. Free Range Studios is an outstanding online marketing group that specializes in progressive causes. They are the makers of the online video, The Story of Stuff. Voting is now open for an organization to receive $15,000 worth of marketing services from Free Range. CASSE is one of 400 candidates and can become a finalist by “winning the election.” Each person who signs up can cast 3 votes. It takes several steps to vote, but only a minute or two.

Here are the steps:

1. Go to this URL: http://youtopia.freerangeproject.com/
2. Click on Vote Now.
3. Click on “Sign Up” in the upper right corner.
4. Click on “Signup” at the lower left.
5. Enter your information, check the “Accept terms of service” box, and click the Sign Up button.
6. Click on Sustainable Living in the list of categories on the right.
7. Find “Grow better, not bigger!” in the list that appears.
8. Click on “Vote”.
9. Click on 3 to answer “How many votes?”

If you are inclined, please cast your votes for CASSE now, and encourage your colleagues to do the same.

Click here to go to the voting website.

Here are two lists for the post-growth, steady state economy. The first list is for those of you who haven’t done much reading or are new to the topics. I would suggest reading them for an introduction into steady state concepts and then move on to the more in-depth list. The second list is what I consider (so far) to be the top books/articles – the “must haves” on your post growth reading list and is an expanded companion to the introduction list.

If you only read 5, 10, or 16 books/articles about sustainable economics and post-growth thought these are my suggestions:

Introduction to Post Growth, Steady State Economics

1. Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train, by Brian Czech
2. Thought Control in Economics, Adbusters Issue #85
3. Deep Economy, by Bill Mckibben
4. Prosperity Without Growth, report by Prof. Tim Jackson at the SDC (now a book)
5. The Great Transition, report by New Economics Foundation

Further Post Growth Reading

There you have it. There are many other books/articles/blogs out there and I would definitely recommend you read as much as you can on anything that interests you. My problem usually lies in having more books to read than I have time to devote to them. I’m sure there are worse up-hill battles to be in, though.

A Great, Sustainable Meal

I’m approaching another year older (hopefully wiser) and was taken out to a surprise location for dinner by my partner. She did her research and found a great place near us that represents what I envision life in a steady state economy to be like: focused more on the local economy, a greater sense of community, and more time to enjoy living our lives with less of an impact on the environment.

Sutra is a vegetarian restaurant in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle, nestled amongst the many former-homes-turned-businesses along 45th street. A beautiful, intimate space awaits up to 35 guests for a dinner seating serving four community-style courses. Seasonal food from Forged and Found Edibles, Full Circle Farm, and other local food suppliers are masterfully combined into delicious meals.

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Externalities With Value

Our accepted model provides us with a free market – one that is omniscient and omnipresent – that allocates resources, goods and services. Neoclassical economists generally assume that when a consumer (that’s you – got to love that label, huh?) makes a decision, he/she does so with all the information required.

When you buy those pants, neoclassical economists assume that you take into account not only the price, but the material the pants are made from, its scarcity, environmental damage, labor associated with its creation, et cetera when you decide to purchase them. In this way the market is perfect at managing scarcity. We all know that reality is far from this picture, however; consumers make decisions with limited information and often without consideration of the far-reaching effects and “externalities.”

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