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Tweet | In “Wanted: Worldly Philosophers,” Roger Backhouse and Bradley Bateman say:|”IT’S become commonplace to criticize the “Occupy” movement for failing to offer an alternative vision. But the thousands of activists in the streets of New York and London aren’t the only ones lacking perspective: economists, to whom we might expect to turn for such vision, have long since given up thinking in terms of economic systems — and we are all the worse for it. ”
As these pictures, from here, and here, show, the “Occupy” movement supports labor rights and environmental protection. The “Occupiers” do not, therefore, lack perspective.
They – we – see my work here at Popular Logistics, here at XBColdFingers, or meet me at Zuccotti – lack influence.
Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz are the most famous economists whom Backhouse and Bateman might describe as “Worldly Philosophers with perspective.” Tom Friedman may not have have studied economics; but he too fits the bill of “Worldly Philosopher with Perspective.” There are others.
- The late Donella Meadows, of MIT and Dartmouth, who wrote Thinking In Systems, ISBN: 978-1603580557, and founded the Sustainability Institute,
- Wendell Berry, philosopher, and farmer, author most recently, of
The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture, ISBN: 978-0871568779,
- Robert Costanza, founder of the Gund Institute of Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont,
- Herman Daly, who teaches ecological economics at University of Maryland, and co-wrote, with Joshua Farley, the book on Ecological Economics, ISBN: 978-1559633123
- John Ehrenfeld, author of Sustainability by Design, ISBN: 978-0300158434
- Jim Gordon, and the people working to build Cape Wind,
- Al Gore, and the people who wrote Earth in the Balance back in 1992, current edition, ISBN: 1594866376, and the people who worked with him on An Inconvenient Truth.
- Van Jones, author of the Green Collar Economy, ISBN: 0061650765, and for a short time an adviser to President Obama,
- Amory Lovins and the people at the Rocky Mountain Institute,
- Hunter Lovins and the people at Natural Capitalism,
- Bill McKibben, scholar in Residence at Middlebury College, who wrote Eaarth, ISBN: 978-0312541194, Deep Economy, ISBN: 978-0805087222, The End of Nature, ISBN: 978-0812976083, and other books, his colleagues at 350.org and the people who joined him outside the White House protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline,
- Roger Saillant at the Weatherhead School at Case Western, and Bob Siegel, who co-wrote Vapor Trails, ISBN: 978-0615297477, an eco-thriller,
- Elizabeth Warren, whos work on consumer credit and bankruptcy led to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and should have led her to appointment as head of that agency, but may lead to an election to the United States Senate,
- the students and faculty who think about business and sustainability at places Marlboro College, where I earned my MBA in “Managing for Sustainability,” the Fowler Center for Sustainable Value at Case Western, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Presidio, Bainbridge, etc.
Sadly, Obama, Biden, Sommers, Geithner, and Chu, like Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rove and Rumsfeld, like Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Huntsman, Paul, Perry, Romney, and Santorum, don’t know the answers – and what is worse, they don’t even seem to know which questions to ask.
As noted above, “the ‘Occupiers’ do not lack perspective. They – we – lack influence.” To correct that I would like to personally extend an invitation to President Obama, Vice President Biden, any members of the cabinet, or the White House or campaign staff and any of the current candidates for the Republican nomination to meet me at Zuccotti Park, or at the time and place of their choosing, for a discussion on the issues.
