The Constant Economy

Since the industrial revolution, the economies of developed nations have grown at the expense of the natural world. But the earth's resources are finite, climate change threatens to dramatically transform how and where we live, and the global economic system is in disarray. One way or another we will have to change. The longer we delay, the more our societies will be at the mercy of events and the harsher the eventual adjustments. Fortunately, as this book shows, there is an alternative. Zac Goldsmith argues for the creation of what he calls a 'constant economy' – in which resources are valued not wasted, food is grown sustainably, and goods are built to last. The constant economy operates at the human scale, and above all it recognises nature's limits. He shows that almost every action needed to support the environment is already being carried out somewhere in the world, by companies, communities and governments determined to blaze a trail. Where they have done the right thing, their customers and voters have rewarded them. Practical solutions exist, and they are brought together and set out in this ground-breaking book.