Sustainable Economies: A Question of Values

First paragraph: I work with my hands in the ground, as a farming educator in San Francisco, working to reskill communities with sustainable agricultural design tools that I believe will contribute to a more sus­tainable society, person by person. Specifically, my work is located in communities on the economic edge of society because I believe strongly that a “sustainable” food system must by nature be equitable. Throughout this work, while occupied with everyday concerns of running community food projects, I have remained concerned with how true, or global, sustainability might be achieved within a context of the current economic structure and its apparent commitment to endless growth. Due to my growing interest in the complex factors determining the success of projects like mine, I was excited to review John Ikerd’s Essentials of Economic Sustainability (EES). Knowing of Ikerd’s background in neoclassical agricultural economics and his conversion over time to a position more appropriate to an ecological economist, I figured he would have something valuable to offer regarding the prospects for transitioning to more sustainable economics....