Molly Scott Cato - The Bioregional Economy: Land, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

In a world of climate change and declining oil supplies, what is the plan for the provisioning of resources? Green economists suggest a need to replace the globalised economy, and its extended supply chains, with a more local economy. But what does this mean in more concrete terms? How large is a local economy, how self-reliant can it be, and what resources will still need to be imported? The concept of the bioregion developed and popularised within the disciplines of earth sciences, biosciences and planning may facilitate the reconceptualisation of the global economy as a system of largely self-sufficient local economies.

A bioregional approach to economics assumes a different system of values to that which dominates neoclassical economics. The global economy is driven by growth, and the consumption ethic that matches this is one of expansion in range and quantity. Goods are defined as scarce, and access to them is a process based on competition. The bioregional approach challenges every aspect of that value system. It seeks a new ethic of consumption that prioritises locality, accountability and conviviality in the place of expansion and profit; it proposes a shift in the focus of the economy away from profits and towards provisioning; and it assumes a radical reorientation of work from employment towards livelihood.

This book by leading green economist Molly Scott Cato sets out a visionary yet rigorous account of what a bioregional approach to the economy would mean and how to get there.

Molly Scott Cato is Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at Roehampton University, UK. She is the author of Green Economics: An Introduction to Theory, Policy and Practice (Earthscan, 2008) and she has written widely on themes concerned with mutualism, social enterprise, policy responses to climate change, banking and finance, and local economies. She works with Transition Stroud and Stroud Common Wealth.

First published 2013
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2013 Molly Scott Cato

The right of Molly Scott Cato to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cato, Molly Scott.
The bioregional economy : land, liberty and the pursuit of happiness / by Molly Scott Cato.

p. cm.

1. Sustainable developmentSocial aspects. 2. Economic developmentEnvironmental aspects. 3. Regional economicsEnvironmental aspects. 4. Human ecologyEconomic aspects. I. Title.

HC79.E5C3827 2012
338.927dc23

2012017740

ISBN: 978-1-84971-458-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-50082-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-08286-7 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Taylor & Francis Books

In Memory of
Richard Douthwaite
You are so deeply missed
And yet every day your work helps us to build
a sustainable future.

Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,
The seasons difference, as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winters wind,
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say
This is no flattery: these are counsellors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in every thing.
I would not change it.

Duke Senior in As You Like It, II.1, on The Forest of Arden