The Case Against the Global Economy

The contributors to this handbook--among them Jeremy Rifkin, Ralph Nader, Kirkpatrick Sale, Wendell Berry, Richard Barnet, William Greider, ecological economist Herman Daly and World Bank environmental adviser Robert Goodland--argue that the rush toward economic globalization, based on free trade and deregulation, is both harmful and reversible. Its consequences, they contend, include overcrowded cities, widening of the gap between rich and poor, lowering of wages while prices soar, destruction of wilderness, flattening of local traditions and cultures. The contributors recommend pursuing the opposite path--promoting greater economic localization through cooperatives and small companies that cater to local or regional markets. Essays deal with corporate control of the media and of financial markets; biotechnology's patenting of life forms as neocolonialist exploitation; the worldwide small-farm movement; the emergence of local currencies, barter and work exchange networks; and how global trade agreements (NAFTA, GATT) override decisions on worker safety and environmental standards made democratically by member nations. An important, vital resource for planetary stewardship. Mander (In the Absence of the Sacred) cofounded the International Forum on Globalization; Goldsmith is a founding editor of Britain's Ecologist. (Sept.)