where do we go from here?

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

rdeyoung@umich.edu

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