Many of today’s most troubling environmental and economic issues have come to seem insoluble: ‪‎carbon‬ emissions, overshoot, ‪‎inequality‬, ‪‎joblessness‬, and a dysfunctional food system. Can we change direction, move away from business as usual, and achieve a more sustainable, empowering, and humane ‪economy‬? Sustainable Lifestyles and the Quest for Plenitude: Case Studies of the New Economy, edited by Juliet B. Schor and Craig J. Thompson, affirms that we can.
In locations across the United States and around the globe, local participants are forging their own versions of small-scale, low-footprint, high-satisfaction lifestyles and communities. From raw-milk consumers and members of alternative agricultural initiatives to time bankers, artisan producers in the Aude region of France, and bicycle mechanics on the South Side of Chicago, individuals and small groups are exploring the practice of plenitude. Their efforts demonstrate how social and economic transformation happens and suggest new paths toward larger-scale change and a richer quality of life for all. (Free access to the introduction chapter)