The New Economy

In an ecologically stressed world, we cannot entrust our future to an economy based primarily on people buying a lot of resource-intensive goods that they really don't need, often can't afford, and--if they reflected at any length--actually don't want. Our country must change the face of commerce by shifting away from reliance on the sale of consumer items built for abbreviated durability and one-time disposal. The U.S. economy must depend more heavily on the marketing of technological innovation. Expansion and maintenance of municipal and transportation infrastructures and alternative energy systems should be major new sources of jobs. Other avenues of employment that should assume a larger role are the agricultural sector and labor-intensive service/entertainment industries, ranging from education and health to arts and recreational pursuits. Our factories should concentrate more on the manufacture, repair, recycling, and reuse of essential products, especially big-ticket items.

As much as possible, all goods should be produced with recycled materials that when exhausted or outmoded could be recycled once again, perhaps for some lesser use. Raw materials utilized in manufacturing should, when feasible, be of the renewable kind, and extracted at a rate that allows adequate time for regeneration.

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