Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition

The present convergence of crises—in money, energy, education, health, water, soil, climate, politics, the environment, and more—is a birth crisis,

The money of the future will be backed by the things we want to nurture, create, and preserve: by undeveloped land, clean water and air, great works of art and architecture, biodiversity and the genetic commons, unused development rights, unused carbon credits, uncollected patent royalties, relationships not converted into services, and natural res

every substance produced through industrial processes or other human activities is either used in some other human activity or, ultimately, returned to the ecology in a form, and at a rate, that other beings can process.1

The problems with cap-and-trade suggest a different approach: direct taxes on pollution, such as Paul Hawken’s carbon tax.

an essential purpose of government—maybe the essential purpose of government—is to serve as the trustee of the commons. The commons includes the surface of the earth, the minerals under the earth, the water on and under the ground, the richness of the soil, the electromagnetic spectrum, the planetary genome, the biota of local and global ecosystems

This sense of mixed awe and gratitude is a clear sign of the presence of the sacred.

Limiting resource consumption is one of the pillars of a steady-state or degrowth economy, which short-circuits this primary driving force for war and frees up vast resources to turn toward the goal of healing the planet.

What would be the effect of money that, like all other things, decays and returns to its source?

We have gotten so used to the world of usury-money that we mistake many of its effects for basic laws of economics or human nature.

make wise decisions on how to direct the magical flow of human creativity.