Bioregionalism and Global Ethics

An important book about achieving ecological sustainability, social justice and human well-being, and one can only hope that it soon comes out at a more affordable price in paperback! The thesis is that current trends towards globalisation are creating entirely new social and environmental problems that require cross-cultural dialogue towards the creation of a new global ethic. The emphasis on well-being includes psychological, social and cultural dimensions. The author seeks to reframe environmental ethics by going beyond our current inherently unecological systems, and frames his analysis in the three forms of interaction between self and nature, self and society, and society and nature. He argues that our current system is neither ecological sustainable, socially just, nor humanly satisfying. He also criticises the dominant developmental paradigm based on economic growth and skewed aid policies, proposing instead a more self-reliant model based on local production for local consumption, as advocated by bioregionalism. This also decentralises political and economic decision-making to the local level, encouraging a revival of democracy. The book as a whole provides a viable alternative to current models.