Juliet B. Schor: "Plenitude"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-06-03/juliet-b-schor-plenitude
The economic and sociological factors behind ecological decline and how by developing new sources of wealth, green technologies, and different lifestyles, individuals and the country as a whole can be better off and more economically secure for years to come.
Guests
Juliet Schor
author of "The Overworked American" and "The Overspent American," is a professor of sociology at Boston College.
Comments
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For Professor Schor, Where Have You Been?!!? The voices of capitalist oriented economists seem to have become America’s new priests. Yet, the gospel they adhere to is largely responsible for America’s environmental, cultural and political degradation.
Sociology potentially has much to say in this public discussion, but I hear no such interventions in media accounts of anything. It’s all economists. Sociology as a discipline as taught in most community colleges, high schools, and universities, has become merely requiring students to read enormous, often erroneous textbooks that march students through memorizing names and words in bold. By and large, students take sociology as the easy social science. It’s a shame we do not use it, instead, to require students to see the familiar and everyday as utterly strange and unfamiliar through sociological thinking.
Thank you for your books. Would you please comment on the role of sociology in public discourse, the role of economic imperialism, and the role of individualism in ecological distortion and destruction.
Are you familiar with the book "the long emergency"? I read it last summer and was dumbfounded by how grim the distant future looks for the human race. It basically lays out how there exists no substitute for cheap oil. All other energy sources (including nuclear) require cheap oil to harvest, transport, maintain and use and cannot exist without it. Even worse, our food is predominately grown with artificial fertilizer which requires oil to produce. Without oil we will basically regress to a late medieval society with 18th century population levels. Austerity won't be an option, it will be inevitable.
Please comment on the accuracy of this prediction.
Would your book be appropriate for reading by students in school? It sounds like kids could discuss the topics and issues and be inspired to take more action. Thanks, L Baete
I think you mean the book "World Made by Hand" which immediately came to my mind today. I believe the same author wrote "The Long Emergency". I'd love to hear what Ms Schor thinks of this also.
I am enormously frustrated listening to Frank Sesno undermining Professor Schor. Could he just keep silent and let listeners join the conversation?
Fantastic subject!
I agree with all I've heard so far. The comment I want to make is what the current laws have done for small businesses.
While it's largely ignored by many cottage industries, the current lead laws technically put all of us who make clothing or toys for children out business.
However, the big businesses, for whom were the biggest offenders of the lead levels and the reason the laws were changed, do not have to go through the expensive testing process to have their items "legal."
Thanks for writing this book! I'm going to pick it up as soon as I can! We try to live close to some of this as we can, our limited funds help with that. I'm trying to find a way to operate an online sewing business around the above mentioned law.
I am tired of people saying they have no control over their lives. Dont have kids! Dont take on a mortgage you cant afford. Dont put yourself into those corners IF you think they limit your life. These are choices and just about anyone can make the changes suggested on this show. Our problem is that the United States is simply the laziest country in the developed world. We are the WalMart of the world. Lowest common denomenator Nation! Get up Stand Up!
I tuned in looking forward to hearing what Professor Schor had to say. Everything I heard is in tune with how I have tried to live. I have longed to find more support in the greater community.It is a very rich way to live, not a poor one. The current lifestyle of trying to find meaning in materialism is not sustainable.
I have been very put off by the demeanor of the guest host, Frank Sesno, whose questioning, in my mind, is very hostile and on a experience level, quite uninformed. This is not what I expect on the Diane Rehm show. I applaud Professor Schor for keeping her cool and her clarity despite.
Ms. Schor is right on, especially when she says "we have the worst of capitalism and socialism: private profits, public responsibility"........
Also, on a more trivial note: Doesn't she mean energy "regimen", not "regime"?
Thanks,
e.l. harmon
Since 80s. the focus on big business rewarded the exporting middle class entry and mid level, destroying the middle class tax base and forcing those people into lower paying jobs with wages that often don't pay the rent in most of the country. Bringing those jobs back or increasing the service sector wages is not socialism. It is bringing those people back to a level where they can once again contribute more fully to our economy, both in terms of the taxes they pay and and their buying power.
Juliet, Bless you....and waiting around to get permission to change is not the way to go.
Check this out...found on NPR....I think it's time to start weaving all of us together to move forward.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125504307
I have not read the book, but no one is suggesting that we ditch oil completely,better that we use it wisely. Incorporating carbon fibers to create light cars, choosing smaller vehicles, moving out of the suburbs into the cities,...just setting higher fuel standards would go along way in oil conservation. The biggest savings would come from people moving closer to work. I work at a large hospital and many people have an hour commute on their way into work. They feel they can get more house for less money....fewer taxes, etc. True, but if the price of gas reflected all of the cost to the community as a whole, living in the city would be a small price to pay for energy efficiency and security.
Cities and suburbs have the same people, and myths of high crime in cities haven't been to New York City or Tokyo. If people feel that spending two hours commuting to and from work everyday is a healthy choice, thenI wonder how their kids will feel twenty years from now when our carbon emissions have rendered life on this planet a true challenge.
I have lived off the grid, given up my car for years at a time, and grown my own food, all while taking care of 2 kids and a needy husband.
These lifestyle choices are for the strong, humble and not-greedy!
I loved it, my children benefited from it, my husband did not like the hard work, so we left the off the grid life.
Now, I am a divorced, unemployed, single parent back to school full time who is trying to regain energy to find a path back to simple living, but this time the goal is to stay in town.
I just cannot do it alone.
Juliet is so right in every way, especially about our social inequity. Starting over in a new town as a single mother is so hard. Neighbors don't know each other, good men are extremely rare and the children are paying the price.
How do I keep up these values in my situation? How do I give the gift of sustainability living to my children?
OK, as I listened further, I guess he was playing Devil's advocate rather than being a shill for the status quo. However, I still found his manner off putting. Diane can do the same thing by sounding interested rather than hostile.
OK, as I listened further, I guess he was playing Devil's advocate rather than being a shill for the status quo. However, I still found his manner off putting. Diane can do the same thing by sounding interested rather than hostile.
I am looking forward to reading your book.
I understand what you are saying.
The world you speak off will come. Many of us who are listening to you understand. Stay with it and may you be blessed with grace and wisdom as you continue this signficant journey.
I am looking forward to reading your book.
I understand what you are saying.
The world you speak off will come. Many of us who are listening to you understand. Stay with it and may you be blessed with grace and wisdom as you continue this signficant journey.
These are old ideas with no new solutions to my ear. I am curious about how much air travel is involved in Ms. Schor's book promotion tours. What does her ecological footprint look like?
Great perspective. However, I don't hear her speaking to the consequences of war, covert operations, control of foreign oil supply related to our oil addiction. In addition, our auto industry is also guilty of not transitioning and the result was bankruptcy and the bali outs.
The aspect of having enough and not more than you need is a spiritual idea. We are driven for more money, stuff from emotions. Without emotional security which allegedly can be obtained only thru spiritual connection, these material addictions are doomed. They will not fill the internal void that results in contentment and security. Only good relationship to your own understanding of spirit will.
Frank Cesno's constant interruptions of Ms. Schor and his combative attitude led me to turn off the program and go in search of her book at Borders.
He was very annoying.
Bill Sullivan
I couldn't agree with Juliet Schor more and throughly enjoyed the interview. In the early 90's my husband and I bought 100 acres with the intention of eventually making a living in the country.
After 26 years in the corporate world I had an opportunity to take early retirement in 2000 at age 43. We are not rocket scientists but decided we better sell our house at an over-inflated price before the market went south. We started to build our little 1 bedroom house in the woods in 2004 and sold our house in the city in 2005. For over 2 years we lived in a 15 x 18 foot shack without hot water.
I am fortunate that I earn my living working part-time from home doing sales support in the industry I retired from. I am working to replace that income building a business as a Virtual Assistant for Internet marketers and small business owners. With Internet I can earn a living while living simply in the country. We have a garden, plus purchase other food items from our neighbors and once a month at a food buying club. I sometimes go 4 or 5 days and don't venture past the mailbox. We volunteer with a few groups in town as a way to meet people and socialize. Living simply isn't easy but it is satisfying.
Many years ago I read "Your Money or Your Life", since then I always think about how many hours I will have to work to make a purchase. I will ask our local library to get a copy of Professor Schor's new book to add to their collection.
My father, who was a life long conservative, lived almost off the grid. He lived and promoted exactly what your book Plenitude" is all about. He along with his brothers built our family a comfortable home out of brick " built to last" that has been passed down to my brother. He learned to stop using DDT and went completely organic way back in the 1970's. His gardens covered a couple of acres and we had fresh veggies year round. He was an engineer who designed a fully operational active solar system for the Washington Gas Light Company during the last "oil crises" in the 70's. It has taken me a lifetime to try to understand just how powerful the oil companies are and how they block any innovation that might move us off of oil. I was horrified at ignorant callers who claimed you were a commie for your independent ideas. They could not be further from the truth. I am buying your book to recommend to my book club. Keep up the good work you are our best hope for the future!