“.. Although economic growth has been an important driver of human progress in the past ..
– we in the developed world must now look elsewhere for improvements in our quality of life.
It seems likely that environmental constraints on economic growth will dominate world politics for the foreseeable future.
A pessimistic view would be that this is the beginning of the end of the most prosperous chapter in human history ..
.. and that business activity will be submerged — if not by storms and rising sea levels — then by a rising tide of government restrictions.
A more optimistic response is to view the necessary constraints on economic growth as an opportunity to create a new and better post-consumerist society.
As the quality of life is so often defined in terms of material living standards and national income per person ..
.. it might seem paradoxical to claim that environmental restrictions on economic growth need not involve sacrificing our quality of life.
But if instead we define the ‘quality of life’ in terms of life expectancy, happiness and well-being, then the data clearly shows that we, in the rich market democracies, no longer benefit from increasing affluence.
Although economic growth has been the most important driver of human progress in the past and still has a crucial role to play in improving lives in developing countries ..
.. we in the developed world must now look elsewhere for further improvements in the real quality of life..”
go to source/story>>Hey, America: It’s Time to Redefine the “Good Life” | | AlterNet
