Product Description

When first published in 2005, Capitalism as if the World Matters, by one of the leading eco-warriors of our time, shocked both a generation of environmentalists and a generation of business people by brushing aside their petty squabbles and artificial battle lines with a powerful argument that the only way to save the world from fuel shortages, climate change and environmental catastrophe is to embrace a new type of capitalism, and to do it quickly.

In this substantially revised and updated edition, Porritt extends his powerful and controversial argument and answers his critics by providing fresh evidence and suggests new actions in a tightly argued and highly accessible book. New material includes in-depth coverage of the United States and the politics of climate change, the state of environmental debate and the massive upsurge in religious engagement with climate and the environment. Fresh case studies include the role of huge US corporations such as Walmart and General Electric in our sustainable capitalist future. Porritt also looks in-depth at China and the global impact this economic giant may have as it grows into the most environmentally damaging—or perhaps the first sustainable—superpower of the 21st century.

This is a must read for all readers with a stake in the future of the world from business executives to environmental activists and community leaders to students to the very politicians with their hands on the levers of power.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #583238 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781844071937
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Review
"* 'A message that business may find they are surprised to agree with' Financial Times * 'Persuasive philosophical evocations and tactical guidelines, invites and repays detailed study' Choice * 'In this brilliant and timely book Porritt has thrown down the gauntlet and provided the necessary data and analysis on our collective dilemma' Scientific and Medical Network Review * 'Excellent, readable, comprehensive and ultimately quite optimistic. Essential reading for anyone interested in the world, the environment, humanity or the future' Warmer Bulletin * 'A vital contribution to the most compelling issue of our times' Will Hutton"

About the Author
Jonathon Porritt CBE, is Co-Founder and Program Director of Forum for the Future. A leading adviser to business and industry, he was appointed by Tony Blair as Chairman of the new UK Sustainable Development Commission. He is Co-Director of The Prince of Wales's Business and Environment Program as well as a Board Member of the South West Regional Development Agency in the UK. Jonathon Porrit has been named Green Personality of the Year 2008, ahead of the other short-listed contenders George Monbiot, Prince Charles, David Attenborough and Gordon Brown.

Amory B. Lovins

Customer Reviews

A bold new vision for capitalism
Activist Jonathon Porritt offers the startling proposal that capitalism may provide the best solution to poverty and global environmental degradation, though his solution requires reshaping capitalism. Porritt is aware that conventional environmental activists, greens and political academics favor socialism more than capitalism. However, he takes them to task for ignoring the power and potential of such capitalist mechanisms as markets and property rights and for their naïveté in expecting voters or political leaders to embrace their dismal vision of environmental responsibility as asceticism. We find his book more suggestive than programmatic. It meanders like a river and is sometimes directionless. The author makes his passions apparent, including anti-Americanism and scathing criticism of certain forms of Christianity. Though Porritt does not offer a detailed description of his vision or the practical steps needed to realize it, he does suggest a path toward a utopian ideal; for that hope, he deserves appropriate attention.

How business and government can build a better world
Jonathan Porritt's CAPITALISM AS IF THE WORLD MATTERS provides college-level readers with a fine survey of how capitalism at its foundations may be a part of the environmental problem as a whole. Many time commercial activities themselves lend to eroding environments: it's up to both business and government to work hand in hand to build a form of capitalism and free market solutions which lend towards sustainability rather than away from it - and to consider the chapters in CAPITALISM AS IF THE WORLD MATTERS, which offers commentary and guideposts for building different capital resources.

Wishful Thinking
The author goes to great lengths to demonstrate that, when natural capital is included in the calculation, capitalism can be made docile. Capitalists are disinclined to follow this more ethical course without guns pressed to their temples, however. Corporations are mandated by Supreme Court decisions to put return on investment before any other consideration, meaning they are prohibited from acting ethically if profits might be compromised. This sociopathic perspective means corporations must "externalize" whatever costs they can, environmental costs being the easiest. "Free market democracy" (as used by neocons) means we must eat the soot and drink the effluent of industry.