ABSTRACT
Our economic decisions need to be taken within the limits provided by biophysical reality [Chapters 9–13]. This requires a radical rethinking of the key questions of economics: how we work, produce and consume goods, and forge our individual and social identities. For many Greens and environmentalists, the conclusion is that we must relocalise our economies and that the trend of the past century towards increasing trade volumes, travelling greater distances, relying on extended supply chains and fossil fuel dependency must all be reversed. The cry has been for strengthened local economies and yet little work has been undertaken to define what a local economy might look like and how local our economic relationships are likely to become in an environmentally sustainable future.
