Today’s Pick: What’s the economy for, anyway?
This weekend marks the first of the 2007-2008 Green Festivals in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by two nonprofit organizations, Global Exchange and Co-op America, Green Festivals promote the goal of a “just, sustainable, inclusive economy – a green economy.”
The Festival’s schedule of events includes the What’s the Economy For, Anyway? conference, where speakers including John DeGraaf, author of Affluenza; Francis Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet; and Ann Crittenden, author of The Price of Motherhood, will tackle the economics of quality of life, social justice and sustainability.
In the American Prospect, Courtney Martin agrees that “a renewed conversation about basic economic priorities is long overdue.” Concluding that “the economy is not about number crunching and cost-benefit analysis alone,” Martin calls for a new economics that incorporates “political philosophy, ethical commitment, and most of all, moral imagination.”
This conference should give you some tough questions to chew on along with your Thanksgiving turkey.
Kathryn is the Market Research Information Specialist Intern at MaRS. She is a recent graduate of the Masters of Information Studies program at the University of Toronto.