Right Relationship
Building a Whole Earth Economy
By: Peter G. Brown, Geoffrey Garver
Published: February 2009
Format: Paperback, 216pp
ISBN: 9781576757628
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
"The global economy today is overwhelming the ability of the earth to maintain life's abundance". write environmental thinkers Peter G. Brown and Geoffrey Garver in their thought provoking and inspirational book Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy. The authors present the Quaker concept of "right relationship" as a basis for a new economy, that considers both the relationship between people, as well as their relationship with the earth's environment as a whole.
Peter Brown (photo left) and Geoffrey Garver consider the current economic model of continual growth to be unsustainable, and that the concept of unlimited growth is not possible on a planet with finite resources. Along with the reality of limits to economic growth, the authors also consider the impact of economic decisions on the relationships between people. The authors point to recent scientific discoveries that have changed the older reductionist thinking, and replaced that outmoded concept with one of relationships between all living things and the context in which they dwell. The premise of the book goes far deeper than one of sustainability to consider creating a system that operates in harmony with the reality of science and enduring ethical considerations.
Geoffrey Garver (photo left) and Peter Brown consider the current global economic model to be based on what they call wrong relationships. The authors point out the contradiction between how riches are counted despite an actual decrease in wealth. They ask the difficult questions of what an economy is for and how it works. Peter Brown and Geoffrey Garver don't believe that moving away from the wrong, and often forced, relationships between people and with the environment results in economic doom. On the contrary, the authors believe firmly that an economy based on the right relationship will present opportunities for more people to live fuller and happier lives than ever before.
For me, the power of the book is the case presented by Peter Brown and Geoffrey Garver for building a strong economy that benefits people, creates real wealth, and maintains the environment. The authors understand that the theory of unlimited growth is a failed paradigm, as is the concept that the earth is subsidiary to the the economy. The book describes how measuring wealth only in terms of money is flawed and how externalities must be considered in any realistic economic analysis. The authors point out that unlimited growth is not possible on a finite planet. and that the barriers to growth are showing up everywhere. The book proposes a more fair distribution of wealth that requires a change in governance from one that supports the wrong relationships at the expense of the right relationship. In response to those challenges, the authors propose steps to achieving a whole earth economy.
I highly recommend the paradigm challenging book Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy by Peter Brown and Geoffrey Garver, to anyone seeking a workable and effective alternative to the current global economic system. In a world where Peak Oil and environmental degradation, as well as human exploitation for short term profit and long term loss, are recognized, the authors propose a way out of the current wrong relationships. The authors are not anti-business, but rather are pro-fairness and support ethical treatment of others and the environment.
Read the important, often controversial, and societal changing book Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy by Peter Brown and Geoffrey Garver, and discover the real value of the holistic approach of the right relationship. Far from being a pie in the sky dream, the concept embraces the scientific reality of the limits to the planet's resources. At the same time, the authors recognize that a system that is unfair in relationships between humans, as well as out of step with resources, is doomed to failure.
History is littered with failed societies that failed to understand interpersonal relationships and their interaction with the earth. The book is a crucial guide to avoid repeating those past societal and environmental disasters.
