Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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106 S politics and governance<br />
There are many reasons why an economic doctrine over two<br />
centuries old and on speed for <strong>the</strong> last 60 years could not work for<br />
long in a biosphere with rules evolved over 3.5 billion years. They<br />
are well described by economists such as Herman Daly, Robert<br />
Costanza, Peter Vic<strong>to</strong>r, and Richard Douthwaite. The point<br />
is that this president and those <strong>to</strong> follow must begin <strong>the</strong> diffi -<br />
cult but necessary task <strong>of</strong> educating <strong>the</strong> public <strong>to</strong> understand why<br />
<strong>the</strong> growth economy measured as quantity will end one way or<br />
ano<strong>the</strong>r and must be replaced by an economy based on durability,<br />
quality, and fairness. It will be necessary <strong>to</strong> state <strong>the</strong> obvious but<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten overlooked facts that <strong>the</strong> benefi ts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> growth economy<br />
were distributed unfairly, and <strong>of</strong>ten in ways that were ugly and<br />
inconvenient <strong>to</strong> boot. Urban sprawl, for example, fueled a great<br />
deal <strong>of</strong> economic growth, but also squandered energy, time, land,<br />
people, and quality <strong>of</strong> life. For those left behind in <strong>the</strong> cities, <strong>the</strong><br />
experience <strong>of</strong> growth has <strong>of</strong>ten been a nightmare <strong>of</strong> crime, diminished<br />
services, bad schools, and joblessness. In ei<strong>the</strong>r case, beyond<br />
some fairly minimal point, <strong>the</strong> growth economy did not contribute<br />
nearly as much <strong>to</strong> our well-being and happiness as promised<br />
and is not sustainable anyway. The challenge for this and future<br />
presidents is <strong>to</strong> use <strong>the</strong>ir authority and powers <strong>to</strong> free us from <strong>the</strong><br />
grasp <strong>of</strong> outworn economic doctrines and align our expectations<br />
and behavior with biophysical realities.<br />
S<br />
True leadership, such as that shown by Lincoln and Franklin<br />
Roosevelt, is <strong>the</strong> rarest <strong>of</strong> human traits. It is <strong>of</strong>ten confused with<br />
management, which keeps <strong>the</strong> trains running on time and paper<br />
moving effi ciently through <strong>the</strong> bureaucracy. 2 Management is<br />
about effi ciency, what German sociologist Karl Mannheim (1940)<br />
once called “functional rationality,” while leadership has <strong>to</strong> do<br />
with “substantive rationality,” or <strong>the</strong> big choices that we make.<br />
Leadership is about direction, relating our highest ideals <strong>to</strong> our