Sustainability and globalization

Abstract

This chapter argues that the current global economy is fundamentally, structurally unsustainable, and that, if our goal is to protect the natural world, effectively address poverty, and rebuild harmonious societies, a shift from globalizing to localizing our economic activity is absolutely necessary. Despite the damage it is inflicting on the human and non-human world, the current global economy is heavily supported by tax incentives, subsidies, regulations, and, importantly, deregulatory “free trade” agreements. Together, these have systematically promoted the growth of global banks and corporations, leaving governments to take responsibility for the social and environmental problems that are inevitable byproducts of long-distance trade and corporate growth.  Among the many impacts are community breakdown, economic destabilization, rural-to-urban migrations, and the inflaming of intolerance and ethnic conflict - all of which further undermine sustainability. The Himalayan region of Ladakh, where the author has been working since 1970, provides an in-depth example of this process. Re-localizing our economic activity—through a combination of grassroots action and policy change—can counter social and economic breakdown and advance true sustainability in both the Global North and South. Because localization simultaneously addresses so many problems—social, economic, and environmental—it has the potential to link together many single-issue causes into a single, powerful movement. The policy and regulatory changes necessary to facilitate this global to local shift are also explored.