Thanks to my good brother Joseph Carr for passing this book review along.
…This is not a book about the successes and challenges of a particular community garden or biodiesel scheme. That research is important, but it’s already been done: there are plenty of detailed empirical surveys of local projects and their participants. They usually end with the hope that people will take the example and try it elsewhere, implying that local projects can be spread throughout the economy. But if localists had a greater understanding of how capitalism works, they might not be localists. That’s why No Local is largely a theoretical book. Although it examines plenty of localist projects, its purpose is to provide what they lack: a critical understanding of the internal drives of capitalism and how they limit the potential for small–scale alternatives.
Karl Marx showed how capitalists must do everything possible to sell their commodities at the lowest price. That means lowering wages and not paying for environmental costs. Firms do so not because they’re evil but because they have to grow. If they don’t, they’ll be forced into bankruptcy…
via No Local – Why Small-Scale Alternatives Won’t Change The World, Greg Sharzer – Zero Books Blog.
CALL ME MAGGIE 