Although not an explicitly Christian text this is an important book for all of us who are seeking a better future and freedom from our present addiction to growth and consumerism, which together are ruining our lives and wasting our planet.
I was a little discouraged at first by the author’s use of anecdotes from his writing retreats on the Pembrokeshire coast, the Cornish Coast, Tredegar in the Welsh valleys, as well as close to Stonehenge. And then I came to understand his method. Once I understood his method, I was hooked. Like a good preacher Tim knows how to use anecdotes in the service of his message!
Tim shows how our economy is fixated on consumerism, profit and growth to the detriment of care. He traces the links from our present economy to poor public health citing such links as the growing incidence of type 2 diabetes and other disorders than can be attributed to pollution and disordered diet. As he puts it: ‘Care is the foundation for life itself. But its fate in the economy is precarious and uncertain. In our hearts it’s honoured as an irreducible good. But in the market it’s treated as a second class citizen—barely recognised in the relentless rush for productivity and wealth. How did we arrive in this dysfunctional place? And what can we do to change things?’
Tim emphasizes the folly and futility of our present pursuit of growth. This pursuit is ultimately producing not growth but inequality and instability. The desperate search for increased productivity undermines full employment and destabilises both the economy and the wider society. Policy makers and opinion formers need to transition away from growth and consumerism focused on “stuff”and instead re-focus the economy on care. This is the crucial route towards a sustainable method of tackling climate change.
Tim Jackson OBE is the head of the Centre for Sustainable Prosperity at the University of Guildford (CUSP). CUSP has been a good friend to Joy in Enough over the years. The Care Economy is published by Polity Press and can be accessed as a hardback, a paperback and as an e book.
By Peter Grimwood
Joy in Enough 