As the country plunges further into recession, Deep Economy offers a financial solution based on common sense. Written long before the current financial crisis, Bill McKibben’s book casts doubt on our current model of capitalism, a system sustained by the production of everything from food to fuel on a massive scale: a model that benefits some, but leaves many behind. Instead, McKibben suggests we take a look closer to home at a financial model benefitting everyone, including our planet.

Chock full of case studies, the book features community organic farms in Cuba, solar energy sharing plans in U.S. neighborhoods, and rabbit micro-businesses in China. Globally, community members are coming together to develop new financial projects that branch out and touch the lives of all affected, while simultaneously protecting our planet. Sure, most folks realize the ecological benefits of eating locally—but who knew it could have financial pay-offs as well?

Deep Economy is not a liberal or a conservative text. Well researched, it draws upon economic studies to poke holes in the current American capitalist logic that suggests “more is better. “

McKibben points out that “The idea that there is a state called happiness, and that we can dependably figure out what it feels like and how to measure it, is extremely subversive. It would allow economists to start thinking about life in far richer terms, allow them to stop asking ‘What did you buy?’ and start asking ‘Is your life good?’…Because if you ask someone ‘Is your life good?’ and count on the answer to mean something, then you’ll be able to move to the real heart of the matter, the question haunting our moment on earth: Is more better?”

McKibben examines the benefits—psychological, financial, and environmental—of being part of a thriving community structure. The book dismisses as flawed our current economic model, which relies heavily on a sense of individualism, a model that the planet physically cannot sustain.

If Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle proves that eating locally is good for our planet, and Dr. Daphne Miller’s The Jungle Effect illustrates the health benefits of such a diet, then Bill McKibben’s Deep Economy casts the final, favorable vote by showing the financial benefits of local eating. This book stands up in favor of family, community, quality over quantity, planet sustainability, and richness of life.

As our politicians discuss bailout packages and CEO salaries, perhaps one of them will pick up a copy of Deep Economy. I believe they will find a winning solution in its pages. In the meantime, the book offers a way for all of us to follow its wisdom in our own, simple lives.

Labels: "Animal, "The Jungle Effect", Bill McKibben, book review, community garden, Deep Economy, eating locally, economics, locavore, Miracle", planet, recession, sustainability, vegetable

Grow your own peanuts! Make your own cheese! Pluck your own turkeys!

This is the stuff of Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a memoir in which her whole family devotes a year to living off the land. The tales of their strict locavore diet make for humorous and delightful reading, but importantly, this story will invoke action.

The book marches the reader through the seasons on Kingsolver’s Midwestern farm, unveiling at each page turn a new garden discovery or pleasant culinary surprise brought from their local lifestyle. Her teenage daughter provides seasonal recipes, and journal-style entries of a modern youth wholeheartedly embracing what might otherwise seem a quaint, hippie parent’s fad. Kingsolver’s husband contributes sidebars to each chapter, providing statistics and historical research that will send you running (not driving) straight to the farmers’ market.

For instance, he explains that "If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That's not gallons, but barrels."

Part of the charm of this tale lies in its ability to entice the reader with the joys, but also the manageability, of eating locally. Kingsolver describes making homemade mozzarella cheese at home (she claims it can be done in under 30 minutes!), growing bean sprouts on her window sill, or using their bread maker on a regular basis. Also, for those not ready to dive head-first into a “purist” locavore lifestyle, she offers suggestions to make the transition easier. For instance, each of her family members selected one must-have product that would not be grown locally. From coffee to spices to chocolate, they each chose an item that could be shipped in dry, bulk form, thereby creating less ecological damage than, say, shipping bottles of orange juice cross-country.

The book also provides guidance for finding heirloom seeds for your garden, and reviews of farmers and restaurants that are committed to sustainable practices that support a locavore lifestyle.

Chock-full of advice, information, and tasty tales, this book will satisfy your reading cravings, while inspiring you to step out and fill your life with a richness that is unattainable through the aisles of your local supermarket. Read this book, and let the inspiration begin!

Labels: animal, barbara kingsolver, book review, farm, locavore, vegetable