Synopses & Reviews
Learning to Count What REALLY Counts introduces bold new perspectives on how
values, systems thinking, and the sacred have opened new dimensions of
economic productivity. Factor-Ten Economics, pioneered by Bender, is
creating seismic waves in both environmental and business worlds with
simultaneous order-of-magnitude gains in resource productivity, institutional
and financial performance, personal and social well-being, and planetary
health. With it, we can make the world a success.
Review
"This wise book belongs on the shelf of every civic activist and
global citizen alike." Hazel Henderson, author of Beyond Globalization and Paradigms in Progress
Description
Values and the sacred may seem to be strange bed-fellows with
economics. This book shows that they are not only compatible, but essential
elements of achieving immense economic productivity gains that can create a
secure, abundant and caring future for all.
Advocates for community well-being, ecological health, and wiser patterns of
living have long shied away from root issues of economics, because it seemed
their ideas were insupportable by rigorous economic analysis. No more.
Bender provides clear documentation that economics based on values, ecology,
and the sacred out-performs conventional economics by an order of magnitude.
In the process, our conventional economic tools such as "future discounting"
and "present value accounting" are shown to be what they really are ? ways to
conceal the real costs of policies that benefit special interests.
Factor Ten Economics, which Bender pioneered in the early 1970s, is already
bringing ten-fold improvement in energy efficiency and resource
productivity. It has become public policy of many nations, international
development organizations and leading businesses. These gains have been well
documented in Paul Hawken and Amory and L. Hunter Lovins' best-selling
Natural Capitalism that is creating seismic waves in the business world.
Bender's new book shows, however, that resource productivity is only one
dimension of Factor Ten Economics. Equally immense improvements are
simultaneously possible in institutional and financial performance, personal
and social well-being, and in planetary health and goals. Surprisingly,
values and the sacred are key.
Bender shows that new perceptions, not new technologies, are what is needed
to achieve most of these gains. He provides the key tools to obtain them
and perhaps most importantly, shows how totally different personal and
community life is within this new economics. He cautions, however, that
change of this magnitude may be a one-shot opportunity, and discusses what we
can achieve with this wonderful gift.
The aftermath of the recent terrorist attacks has brought significant
questioning of the direction our global culture has taken. Disparities of
material wealth and poverty, questionable ethics used to maintain economic
supremacy, and absence of spiritual dimensions in our culture appear to be
central issues behind both religious fundamentalism and recent terrorism.
Bender's latest work provides an unexpected path out of this quagmire. It is
clear from what he shows us that we have the resources to make the whole
world a success erasing poverty, eliminating starvation, and ending battles
over resources. It is time now for compassion and sharing, not greed.
Wisely used, they can open a brighter world for us all. This is vital
reading for all.
About the Author
Tom Bender is recipient of national and international awards for
his seminal work in development of sustainable economics, communities and
design. A former consultant to the Office of Technology Assessment, energy
researcher for Oregon Governor Tom McCall, an editor of RAIN Magazine, and a
practicing architect, his trailblazing work has spanned the gamut from
technical tools such as solar design to the spiritual roots of our cultural
problems.
Table of Contents
The economics of wholeness -- Factor ten economics -- Qualities, goals and values -- Ecology and energy -- Life-force energy and the sacred -- Crisis equals opportunity -- Tools for whole-systems economics -- Governance and community -- Economics where people do matter -- New measures of success.