Deep Economy

KQED San Francisco had an outstanding interview with ecology author Bill McKibben [here]. Available as an MP3 or audio stream. The high points:

1. To avoid nasty, pointy death, we need to start consuming far, far less.
2. That sounds scary, but it's really not. All our excess consumption isn't making us happier.
3. In fact, it's done a lot to erode our sense of community, which significantly harms our quality of life.
   
4. Part of the solution involves rebuilding local, small-scale economies (farmers markets being a good example).
5. The McKibben family is facing a Beanie Baby overpopulation crisis.