good essay on need for "new economy"

The idea that we need a “new economy”—that the entire economic system must be radically restructured if critical social and environmental goals are to be met—runs directly counter to the American creed that capitalism as we know it is the best, and only possible, option. Over the past few decades, however, a deepening sense of the profound ecological challenges facing the planet and growing despair at the inability of traditional politics to address economic failings have fueled an extraordinary amount of experimentation by activists, economists and socially minded business leaders. Most of the projects, ideas and research efforts have gained traction slowly and with little notice. But in the wake of the financial crisis, they have proliferated and earned a surprising amount of support—and not only among the usual suspects on the left. As the threat of a global climate crisis grows increasingly dire and the nation sinks deeper into an economic slump for which conventional wisdom offers no adequate remedies, more and more Americans are coming to realize that it is time to begin defining, demanding and organizing to build a new-economy movement.

SUNY New Paltz Sets Local Food on Plates

i have heard that Metropolitan at BC is purchsing food from Long Island farms, wonder how much etc.  mm

As with many institutions, feeding a population of thousands of customers is a big production, often requiring the dining service to be run and supplied by large corporations. How can an institution integrate local and organic food when so much of the food is tied to a wholesaler that is not necessarily connected to local farms, and is likely more concerned with quantity and price than with quality and sustainability? SUNY New Paltz’s story involves many different constituents: farmers, students, staff, corporate-run dining service representatives, the USDA, and more. In a collaborative effort, fueled by persistence, the stakeholders worked to bring more local food to the tables of SUNY New Paltz’s dining halls.

How It All Began

SUNY New Paltz’s Environmental Task Force was convened in 2005 under the leadership of long time Environmental Consortium member and professor of sociology, Brian Obach. Along with several colleagues and students, the Task Force brings together many constituents from campus to address environmental concerns. Members of Students for Sustainable Agriculture, as well as the New Paltz Recycling Club, overlap with the Task Force members, creating a wealth of connections and synergies that make the interest and pursuit of sustainable measures possible at New Paltz.

New Paltz students Marigo Farr, Katy Kondrat, and John Wilson co-founded Students for Sustainable Agriculture that same year with a mission to promote a sustainable food system that is healthy for consumers, farm-workers, and the environment. The group has worked tirelessly ever since to bring changes to their campus. Co-founder Marigo Farr remarks, "After approximately 5 years of educating the campus, rounding up support from the student body for a change in food policy, and numerous meetings with Campus Auxiliary Services and Sodexo Corporation, Sodexo approved a new vendor that was capable of providing the university with local food.."

Complaint Box: Powerless in Brooklyn - NYTimes.com

This has got to be a major topic at the journalism department at BC, right? I never really thought about it this way.

Of the boroughs outside Manhattan, Brooklyn gets the most buzz — as a tourist attraction, a “hipster brand” and an incubator of art and artisanal products. That has provoked a backlash from longtime Brooklynites and others wary of smugness from the borough’s Brownstone Belt.

However entertaining these debates, Brooklynites — and, I dare say, all of us in the non-Manhattan boroughs — share one common problem: we’re essentially powerless. We lack meaningful local government, as well as broad-based media and civic organizations.

Complaint Box: Powerless in Brooklyn - NYTimes.com

Worldwatch Institute's State of the World 2011 Shows Agricultural Innovation Is Key to Reducing Poverty, Stabilizing Climate | Worldwatch Institute

In Kibera, Nairobi, the largest slum in Kenya, more than 1,000 women farmers are growing "vertical" gardens in sacks full of dirt poked with holes, feeding their families and communities. These sacks have the potential to feed thousands of city dwellers while also providing a sustainable and easy-to-maintain source of income for urban farmers. With more than 60 percent of Africa's population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, such methods may be crucial to creating future food security. Currently, some 33 percent of Africans live in cities, and 14 million more migrate to urban areas each year. Worldwide, some 800 million people engage in urban agriculture, producing 15–20 percent of all food.


Worldwatch Institute's State of the World 2011 Shows Agricultural Innovation Is Key to Reducing Poverty, Stabilizing Climate | Worldwatch Institute

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund : Why Did Progressive Media Miss This Important Progressive Story?

The gasfracking stuff is gonna get heated here in NY State and its crucial to look at what Pittsburgh did last year to ban it. This article cites the important pieces but also engages in a very important critique of so-called left progressive media. mm


"What would change if We awoke from our century-long slumber and started questioning corporate Constitutional “rights” again? If we began to understand that in fact there is no greater political power in this country than We the People, acting together. We are the Goliaths, if we dare to see ourselves as we truly are. And this is exactly what the good people of Pittsburgh and 120 other towns in four northeastern states are beginning to understand and to act upon. They are relearning their history and discovering that they have the legal authority to govern themselves, regardless of what state government or corporate leaders claim. They have the right to prohibit corporate engagement in whatever ways they deem necessary for the common good. That regardless of whether they are conservative or progressive, rural or urban, they’re tired of being told that there’s nothing they can do to protect their communities and natural areas from corporate harm. Pittsburgh banned corporate drilling for natural gas. Other towns have passed bans on corporate water extraction, corporate mining, corporate factory farms, etc. And all of them have reclaimed their community’s right to self-governance – to design and define their communities’ futures."

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund : Why Did Progressive Media Miss This Important Progressive Story?