WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?A response with embedded benefitsRaymond De Young Re-ImagingOur Economic System2013 MSU CCED Institute 26March 2013
Raymond De Young
Re-Imagining our Economic System2013 MSU CCED Inst i tute
26 Ma rc h 2 0 1 3Source: Joel Pett, Cartoonist Group Image Number 41786
Embedded benefitsSimplificationContext Pre-familiarization
Overview Premise: End of cheap energy
Rising defensive expenditures
·Result: Business-as-usual disrupted
Response:Localization» Psychological aspects:
1. Simplifies behavior change2. Pre-familiarization will ease the
change3. Embedded benefits within the
change
Adapted from Holmgren (2009) Future Scenarios Scenarios
Embedded benefitsSimplificationContext Pre-familiarization
Scenario analysis
Do we pick which scenario to pursue? The scenario we end up on is not
primarily based on our choices
Largely due to biophysical realities driven by geology, biology and climate
Our choices are in crafting responses
One response: Sudden localism
Random House, 2009
Jeff RubinCanadian economist, author and former chief economist at CIBC World Markets
Other authors, darker visions:The Long DescentThe Revenge of GaiaThe Long EmergencyThe Collapse of Complex Societies
Another response: Localization
A process of Transitioning to place-based communities Adapting goals, expectations and daily
patterns to biophysical limits Shifting our attention from Centrifugal forces of industrialization toward
(cheap and plentiful raw materials and energy, displaced wastes, consumerism, concentrated governance)
Centripetal forces of localization (sustainable use of local energy and materials, local production and provisioning, discursive governance )
A process of rebuilding
With more focus on Personal proficiency Community self-reliance Place-based social interactions Locally provisioned goods & services
Embedded benefitsSimplificationContext Pre-familiarization
Behavior change is simplified
No choice but to live simpler lives Less need to persuade or motivate people People will change behavior
• Without awaiting our interventions• Without seeking permission
Embedded benefitsSimplificationContext Pre-familiarization
Gaining experience beforehand
People not limited by status quo
But they need to pre-familiarize
Embedded benefitsSimplificationContext Pre-familiarization
Benefits from process of localization
Intrinsic satisfactions derived from• Competence – learning skills• Frugality – being resourceful• Participation – helping others
Behavioral aesthetics
Raymond De YoungAssociate Professor of Environmental Psychology and Planning
School of Natural Resources and Environmentwww-personal.umich.edu/~rdeyoung
Drawing source: Agricultural urbanism by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, LLC at www.lindroth.cc/pdf/QuickReadAgf.pdf
De Young & Princen (2012) The Localization Reader: Adapting to the Coming Downshift. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press
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