Bill Mckibben's Deep Economy

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The Wonders of Community In the world today, we have become more independent than ever. Ideas and dreams of living the American dream and being number one flood our minds. Independence is mostly seen as a great accomplishment, but just how much is our independence affecting the world around us? Bill McKibben writes about this in Deep Economy, a text where he takes a hard look on America’s economy. One of his arguments is about the importance of community. The idea of communities might seem to some that it will not have much effect to the world but in reality it does. McKibben argues that if the community becomes the priority instead of the individual, the world would benefit greatly. In American it is very common for a family to own multiple cars, but to help our environment we would really benefit from a better bus system. McKibben talks about the bus system in Curitiba, Brazil created…show more content…
McKibben talks about a cohousing project done in Ithaca, New York. He explains that this village had residents that were “trying to reduce their impact on the planet”.(155) According to McKibben, the houses were built so to maximize the sunlight that was received, and the community had its own garden, which they all shared. As much as this type of life reduces the amount of oil that they are using, McKibben states that people were more attracted to this way of life for human contact. He goes on by describing a story he was told by EcoVillage’s founder, Liz Walker, where a women was diagnosed with incurable stomach cancer and was taken care of by the people in the village. The village made a celebration for her that was taped, since she was too sick to attend and the woman watched the tape several times before she died.(156) Humans need company. Even though America, as a whole, places more emphasis on the importance of personal space, people still need some type of human
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