Category Archives: Books

The Economics of Kindness: Moving from a Selfish Economy to a Cooperative Economy

by Guy Dauncey  July 2023

Palgrave/MacMillan, Summer 2024

Chapter 1: To Change the World

Our world needs more kindness. People need more kindness. Nature needs more kindness. But we need it deep within our economies, where so many of our troubles begin. 

We have been told a thousand times that the capitalist free-market economy is the best and indeed the only kind of economy that works, but for so many people, it’s no longer working. Surely, there must be a better way. Our economies have been built on the primacy of selfishness and greed. What is the alternative? The economics of kindness – and it’s not just an idea. It’s a very real thing. Before we begin, however, we must answer the question that’s being asked by so many people around the world: 

“Why is our world in such a mess?”

Continue reading The Economics of Kindness: Moving from a Selfish Economy to a Cooperative Economy

Central Concerns

In his book, Value(s): Building a Better World for All, former governor of The Bank of England  Mark Carney,  looks at value beyond dollars and demands your attention.  Review by Guy Dauncey. First published in The MINT Magazine, September 2021.

When the world’s best-known central banker writes a new book, we should sit up and pay attention, especially since Mark Carney is one of the few central bankers who really gets the climate crisis.

It’s a quite personal book; his writing reveals a deep commitment to ethical values, and service to the wider community. He makes me feel that I know him, and we’d get along well over a pint of beer. He often shares stories from his time at the Bank of England, and as chair of the Financial Stability Board, which was set up after the 2008 financial crash, resulting in over 100 reforms. Will they work? Time will tell.

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Hamlet’s Ode to the 21st Century

To grow, or not to grow: that is the question,

Whether ’tis nobler on Earth to suffer

The filth and waste of outrageous production

Or to take arms against a toxic sea of troubles,

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Twelve Tips to Write a Great Blog

by Guy Dauncey

Have you ever been invited to write a blog, and felt intimidated? Well don’t. Here’s some advice to get you going. I wrote this for the Yellow Point Ecological Society, which is why it is full of nature references, but the advice applies to all good blogging. 

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100% Climate and Nature Friendly by 2025

by Guy Dauncey

The pandemic has seized our attention, and so it should – but the climate and ecological emergencies haven’t paused out of sympathy, thinking “Let’s give the humans a break.” That’s not the way Nature works.

We can’t afford to relax our climate and environmental concerns just because we’ve got other concerns. We have to do both. And being stuck at home gives us an opportunity to do some serious planning. Serious, as in “Let’s make our family 100% climate and ecologically friendly within five years.”

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Book Review: The Clean Money Revolution – Reinventing Power, Purpose and Capitalism

by Joel Solomon with Tyee Bridge

New Society Publishers, April 2017.  Review by Guy Dauncey.

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This is a great book. It’s personal, committed, passionate, informative, and full of great stories. For an addicted change-the-worlder, what more can you ask?

And the stories, from Joel’s personal life and those of his colleagues, are about one of the most important challenges we need to embrace on our planet – changing the way we invest our money.

Continue reading Book Review: The Clean Money Revolution – Reinventing Power, Purpose and Capitalism