This is a masterful ‘key ideas’ book on the sociology of community by UK sociologist Gerard Delanty. In the view of the textbook author a significantly revised 2nd edition, published in 2010, is not as good as the first.

This chapter provides an overview of efforts made to make mainstream economics more responsive to environmental issues.

Having been educated in England and the USA, Australian social and political theorist John Dryzek gained early insights on the differing values and assumptions that underpin different positions within international debates on environmental sustainability. He brings insights derived from Michel Foucault and Jürgen Habermas to his renowned treatment of environmental discourses. Dryzek is a strong advocate of ‘deliberative democracy’.

This is the second, revised, edition of a book first published in 2009 in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. Although the first edition was based on a report commissioned by the British government, the suggestion that prosperity could be achieved without economic ‘growth’ was highly controversial and Jackson spent the next six years examining the criticisms and developing responses. The result is an even stronger edition which has won widespread praise. It argues that we can achieve prosperity by focusing on social care and craft instead of consumption and endless productivity gains. The book argues for changing the role of money in the economy and it outlines a strategy for mobilising investments in a future economy that will deliver social benefits without causing ecological degradation.

Senior Brookings Institution researcher and former advisor within the International Monetary Fund, Graham has sought to bring the pursuit of happiness into the mainstream of economic theory and practice. She argues that economic theory needs to be more consciously framed by broader social goals such as the pursuit of happiness.

A well-researched and well-constructed argument for deep cultural and social changes in order to act on sustainability imperatives. It includes a chapter (6) on ‘social sustainability’ and another chapter (11) ‘Solutions for Sustainability’ which includes many tips on ‘What you can do’.

Vastly experienced Australian community arts practitioner Jon Hawkes was commissioned by the Australian Cultural Development Network to write about the importance of culture for the sustainability of local communities. He described ‘cultural vitality’ as the ‘fourth pillar’ of sustainability and this idea has attracted interest in Europe, Canada and New Zealand as well as in Australia.

US architect William McDonough teamed up with German chemist and foundation member of the German Greens Michael Braungart to write this highly influential book calling for another ‘industrial revolution’ aimed at closing the circle between production and waste disposal.

Best known for his work on ‘the democratic deficit’ in the functioning of the European Union, Italian political economist and public policy expert Giandomenico Majone wrote this book to argue that value judgements always underpin policy formulations, However, ‘argumentation’ about the values that should underpin public policy needs to be made much more transparent, he wrote.

Highly regarded UK human geographer Doreen Massey has been writing about the impacts of globalisation on local social life since the early 1980s. Increased mobility and migration makes it more, rather than less, important to pay attention to the challenges of coexistence within shared spaces, she has argued, and this book pulls together her key insights on the ‘throwntogetherness’ of contemporary social life.

Born in 1941, David Pearce was schooled in conventional economic theory, yet in the 1980s he became a pioneer in the new field of environmental economics. In 1989, he led a team of authors to produce the first of several editions of Blueprint for a Green Economy, with the most recent edition being produced by his colleagues in 2012. Pearce’s 1998 paper provides a good introduction to the central concerns of environmental economics.

www.aere.org

This is the website of the international association for economists working in the area of environment and natural resources. The association was established in 1979, before environmental economics became a distinct field of economic thought.

www.isecoeco.org

ISEE is a member-driven association with no particular affiliations. It supports an active network or national and regional associations and produces the Ecological Economics journal.

www.localfutures.org

Founded by Helena Norberg-Hodge, ISEC has campaigned for the ‘localisation’ of social and economic life. Its biggest project of late has been the production of the film The Economics of Happiness.

www.fourthpillar.biz/about/fourth-pillar/

Following unexpected international interest in his 2001 proposal that cultural vitality should be seen as the ‘fourth pillar’ of sustainability, Australian author Jon Hawkes has established this website to further promote the idea and share relevant news.

http://evergreencooperatives.com/

Formed in 2008 to promote new employment opportunities for people made jobless by the closure of large industries in Cleveland Ohio, Evergreen Cooperatives have been responsible for a range of interesting green economy initiatives.

http://community-wealth.org

A US-based network aimed at promoting research and sharing information on practice in community-based economic development.

http://www.mondragon-corporation.com

A rather small town in the Basque country of Spain is the surprising home of the world’s largest worker co-operative, first formed in 1956.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euhkIesmW7E

Duration: 12:25

This video provides a great introduction to arguments around ‘limits to growth’ and the resultant criticisms of endless economic growth. While it looks at the causes of the 2008–09 Global Financial Crisis it goes on to examine the link between economic growth and cheap energy, discussed in Chapter 5. It is also featured on the Doing It Ourselves website (http://www.doingitourselves.org).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZsp_EdO2Xk

Duration: 24:31

A well-presented TED talk by the leading international ecological economist Tim Jackson explaining why the world cannot continue with existing trends in economic growth and development. An accessible account of the blind spots in global economic systems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3dXMeLooyQ

Duration: 7:01

A television interview with Carol Graham about her book The Pursuit of Happiness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irornIAQzQY\

Duration: 23:58

This YouTube video is the second chapter of the documentary version of Alain de Botton’s book Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness. It provides a good introduction to Epicurean ideas on the examined life, consumerism/materialism and how to achieve real happiness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkdnFYDbiBE

Duration 3:24

The trailer produced by the makers of the 2011 documentary film. Details about how to access the full 66-minute film can be found at the official film website, http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uetxoLSk6zE

Duration: 6:54

Helena Norberg-Hodge talks about her documentary film The Economics of Happiness on a US television show in 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjCDjmIpGoU

Duration: 14:55

A short US documentary on how local communities in Cuba responded when Cuba suddenly lost its oil supplies following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1MqJPHxy6g

Duration: 2:23:06

A documentary film made in 2014.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi30KbzsT2o

Duration: 16:00

Australian cultural development worker Jon Hawkes speaks at a UNESCO conference on the rather surprising success of his 2004 monograph arguing that cultural vitality should be seen as the ‘fourth pillar’ of sustainability.