Book Report

Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to Stop Them All

In Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to Stop Them All (University of California Press, 2000), Brian Czech drafted a blueprint for the "steady state revolution." The goal of the steady state revolution is ecological and economic sustainability, which entails replacing the national goal of economic growth with the national goal of a steady state economy. The steady state economy is indicated by equilibrating, sustainable gross national product, and some view it as the macroeconomic manifestation of the Green Party platform.

According to Czech the steady state revolution consists of two major stages. First, the theory of economic growth touted by mainstream or "neoclassical" economists is replaced by a theory of economic growth founded upon ecological principles. In particular, the notion that economic growth has no limits is debunked.

The neoclassical notion of unlimited growth is based on the substitutability of resources and increasing productive efficiency. These phenomena indeed occur, but not in perpetuity. Limits to economic growth are clearly revealed by the biological and physical sciences. Meanwhile, empirical evidence such as proliferating species endangerment, aquifer depletion, and atmospheric disruption are red flags of impending limits.

The new field of ecological economics has the potential to overcome neoclassical economics because it is consistent with the natural sciences and with the common sense of students and citizens. Ecological economics contains the academic underpinnings of a Green political economy. In the academic component of the steady state revolution, the ecological wisdom of the steady state economy overwhelms the ecological ignorance of neoclassical economics. Tomorrow's economists will therefore inform policy makers accordingly.

The social component of the steady state revolution occurs as the historical emulation of conspicuous consumers is replaced with an equally powerful castigation of such consumers. Czech defines three classes of consumers: the steady state class, the amorphic class, and the liquidating class. As the steady state class learns that each spent dollar represents the liquidation of natural resources - resources needed by the grandkids - steady staters (including Greens) will recognize the sociopathic recklessness of the liquidating class. Because liquidators consume as they do largely for the sake of self-esteem, castigation by the majoritarian steady state class will result in behavioral modification; the liquidators will consume less and will therefore enter the amorphic and steady state classes.

Eventually, when a stable, sustainable level of human economy is reached (as indicated by a cessation of species endangerment, for example) the castigation may cease in the midst of a new, much greener society. The new society is one in which conservation, not conspicuous consumption, is emulated. Czech thinks that the steady state revolution is possible in a capitalist democracy, but with the emphasis on democracy thus the link to the Green party.

Perhaps Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train will become a rallying point for the Green Party as it develops a specific economic philosophy that truly distinguishes it from Republicratic parties.

A link to Shoveling Fuel may be found at www.steadystate.org.

A Poem

torn suddenly
vital fibers exposed

what is torn?
name it
name what tugs
at the deepest hurt
and you know where to focus the healing

dollars only sheathe flesh
an outer smoothness superimposed

petroenergy provides a vehicle
but for what, going where?

food does truly nourish
can't live without it, true
but food alone isn't living

all of these are only
at the service of
let's face it
love

the tenderness
at the site
is the cruel disruption
of the threads of family,
community, and humankind

that is
where to focus the healing
*******************************
name what tugs
at the deepest hurt
and you know where to focus the healing

or leave it unnamed
leave it unhealed

the next time
the tearing begins deeper