Review by Caspar Davis for email news list.

For much too long I have been putting off letting you know about Mike Nickerson's important book, Life, Money and Illusion, Living on Earth as if we want to stay, which came out almost exactly one year ago.

The book is a compendious review of where we are, how we have gone astray, and of the many complementary reforms that could put us back on track to create a society that works with our planet's finite resources to provide a decent life for all.

At the heart of the book is the best description I have seen of what money is, how it is created, and how the creation of money through interest-bearing debt inexorably drives our society to seek more rather than better. The book is well worth reading for the section on money alone, but it is also a valuable compilation of both what has gone wrong and of ways we can get back on track.

Mike was largely responsible for introducing genuine progress indicators to Ottawa through his work with then MP Joe Jordan on the Canada Well-Being Measurement Act, which was introduced as a private member's bill but unfortunately did not pass.

For many years, Mike has been promoting the Sustainability Project, at the heart of which is a set of guidelines similar to the Natural Step:

Well-being can be sustained when activities:
1 - use materials in continuous cycles.
2 - use continuously reliable sources of energy.
3 - come mainly from the qualities of being human
(i.e. creativity, communication, movement, appreciation,
and spiritual and intellectual development).

Long-term well-being is diminished when activities:
4 - require continual inputs of non-renewable resources.
5 - use renewable resources faster than their rate of renewal.
6 - cause cumulative degradation of the environment.
7 - require resources in quantities that undermine other people's well-being.
8 - lead to the extinction of other life forms.

I urge you to look at http://www.flora.org/sustain/LMI/lmisummary.html where you will find the book's Table of Contents of Life, a brief summary of the book, and ordering information.