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Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

By Bill McKibben

Times Books / Henry Holt and Company

New York

At the heart of Bill McKibben's new book is the contrarian idea that rapid and widespread economic growth is not the key to global well-being and prosperity.

Rather, he argues in Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, the overarching emphasis on economic growth by governments, corporations, and most consumers is not merely bad for the planet (it leads to global warming) but also mostly unsuccessful at providing the human happiness it seems to promise.

"Growth is bumping against physical limits so profound--like climate change and peak oil--that continuing to expand the economy may be impossible; the very attempt may be dangerous," writes Mr. McKibben.

"But there's something else too, a wild card we're just now beginning to understand: new research from many quarters has started to show that even when growth does make us wealthier, the greater wealth no longer makes us happier."

Compellingly argued with statistics and anecdotes from around the world, Mr. McKibben says humanity must move towards an updated version of community-based economics that emphasizes buying and selling at...

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