{"id":1250,"date":"2012-06-13T16:27:22","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T16:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews\/?p=1250"},"modified":"2018-06-03T14:23:07","modified_gmt":"2018-06-03T14:23:07","slug":"a-better-world-is-possible-by-bruce-nixon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/2012\/06\/13\/a-better-world-is-possible-by-bruce-nixon\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Better World Is Possible\u2019 by Bruce Nixon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

O Books, 2010<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-1-84694-514-4<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Moragh Mason<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

______________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I read this book, my feelings ranged from anger, despair, incredulity, a sense of inadequacy \u2026 but ultimately hope. Nixon began writing this at the start of the credit crunch in 2008 and it was published shortly after the UK Coalition government was formed in 2010 \u2013 a pretty tumultuous period both financially and politically.\u00a0 From the early days it was obvious that systems were breaking down, and as we lurched from one crisis to the next it was equally obvious that the response from our institutions was to try to put Humpty back together again rather than seizing the opportunity to create, as the title of the book proposes, a better world.<\/p>\n

In the first part of the book, Nixon sets out to make sense of the situation we are in.\u00a0 He examines the origins of the financial crisis which began with largely untested free market economic theories whose stated aim was to increase prosperity, and it certainly did for some.\u00a0 However, thirty or more years on we see the dangers of the doctrine of continuous economic growth \u2013 the depletion of the Earth’s resources, the destruction of the ecosystem and increasingly volatile weather patterns.\u00a0 Far from increasing prosperity, the gap between rich and poor is widening.\u00a0 And as natural resources dwindle, the threats of violence, war and nuclear annihilation will increase as people fight for their very survival.<\/p>\n

Serious as these matters are, Nixon points out that they are only the symptoms of this malaise, which is much broader and deeper.\u00a0 What is needed is a moral and spiritual awakening (pg 60).<\/p>\n

He emphasises the need to address the underlying problem: the system itself, which focuses on self-interest rather than the common good.\u00a0 ‘Quick fixes,’ campaigns etc will not work because they are only sticking plasters.\u00a0 Our political system is primitive \u2013 adversarial, bullying and pervaded by group-think (pp 166-7).\u00a0 It is dysfunctional.\u00a0 In contrast, Gandhi’s ideas on the subject, which Nixon describes as ‘a system of interrelated thought’<\/em> (pg 173), seem remarkably fresh and offer a constructive solution to our current apparently rudderless course.<\/p>\n

In Part 2, Nixon turns to ways we can transform these failing systems and move towards a better world for all.\u00a0 He puts forward proposals for all the big issues discussed previously.\u00a0 Drawing on a number of sources, he explores ways to reduce consumption to a sustainable level and distribute the world’s resources fairly.\u00a0 He argues for a sustainable and just economy, involving reform of the large global financial institutions currently dominated by the interests of big business and rich countries.\u00a0 Among the possibilities he discusses are a global citizens’ income and rich countries paying for use of ‘commons’ such as ocean fishing, sea-bed mining and flight lanes (pg 257).\u00a0 He proposes unlocking democracy by moving to a more participatory system, with more power at a local level.\u00a0 He also illustrates how the money currently poured into the military machine could be used for conflict resolution and war prevention.\u00a0 Additionally, he addresses the issues of eradicating world hunger, creating sustainable (and beautiful) towns and cities, and the challenges and opportunities arising from the Copenhagen Climate Conference.<\/p>\n

This book clearly outlines the challenges facing us, along with the danger of proceeding down the business-as-usual path.\u00a0 Bruce Nixon has compiled a source book that brings together current thinking on where to go from here, with action resources at the end of each chapter in Part 2.\u00a0 There is a vast amount of information contained in this book, covering all the major issues that face us today and giving us the means to respond to them.<\/p>\n

This book will be a very useful resource for anyone who cares about the planet and who feels that the time has come to build a better future for everyone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After reviewing what is wrong with today’s world, Nixon argues for a sustainable and just economy, involving reform of the large global financial institutions currently dominated by the interests of big business and rich countries. He proposes unlocking democracy by moving to a more participatory system, with more power at a local level. He also illustrates how the money currently poured into the military machine could be used for conflict resolution and war prevention. Additionally, he addresses the issues of eradicating world hunger, and creating sustainable (and beautiful) towns and cities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-politics","category-practical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1250"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2889,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250\/revisions\/2889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}