[CLUE-Talk] Capitalism as we know it vs. ...?

[Matt Gushee]

One last thought before I go back in my corner ...

In the debate following my "Call to Action," several people have invoked
the bogeyman of communism. I have tried to make it clear that I'm not
advocating communism, nor indeed any kind of radical disengagement with
the mainstream economy. But I haven't said what I do stand for,
philosophically.

I think one of the best representations of the school of thought I
follow can be found in the book _Natural Capitalism_, by Paul Hawken and
Hunter and Amory Lovins. For those who don't know, Hawken is the founder
of several successful "alternative" businesses and a wonderful author;
the Lovinses are the founders of the Rocky Mountain Institute right here
in Colorado, which started out in the 70s researching renewable energy
technologies and has since branched out into education and consulting
around a variety of "sustainable business" issues.

Anyway, _Natural Capitalism_ advocates mostly market-based solutions,
with a few carefully targetted government interventions (e.g. an energy
tax).  Or so I understand--I've read a couple of Hawken's books, and
have been aware of the Lovinses' work for many years, but just started
reading this one.

Anyway, there's a web site for the book: <http://www.natcap.org/>. And
apparently you can read the whole thing online; they have at least
several chapters on the site.

-- 
Matt Gushee
Englewood, Colorado, USA
mgushee at havenrock.com
http://www.havenrock.com/