This week I spoke to RNZ’s Jesse Mulligan about the conversation our political leaders aren’t having. The fact that we live on a finite planet, and we cannot sustain an economy that is dependent on exponential growth (whether we label it “green” or not).
Instead, we should be talking about the alternative, and only viable future pathway: an economy centred on wellbeing, which operates within safe ecological limits. Listen to our conversation here.
In this piece for the Kākā, I argue that this election is big on marketing strategy and slogans, but appreciably thin on vision. And it is a marketing campaign largely based on the assumption that the voter is Homo Economicus – that is, a person who makes decisions exclusively guided by self-interest. But my sense is that, despite what politicians think, New Zealanders do care about the world beyond their own economic status – and a growing number of us are acutely aware that the growth-based economy is not working for either people or the planet. But New Zealanders are not being given the chance to contemplate an alternative future because no one in any position of influence is talking about it. Our politicians are too pre-occupied with their desperate appeals to Homo Economicus.
Read the full article on the Kākā.
envirohistory NZ 