Book Intro

The evidence is overwhelming that unlimited industrial growth is no longer  possible. Our challenge now is  to find ways to shrink the overall size of the  economy without creating  massive unemployment and poverty. This book examines the possibility of counter  balancing efficiencies within the  economy with certain key inefficiencies for the purpose  of maintaining high employment in a shrinking economy.

REVIEWS

Alternatives to Growth may be the most important book I have read on climate change.  Conrad Schmidt discusses the interconnectedness of the history of the Industrial Revolution, the economy, the environment and the social and cultural interdependencies that define our human communities – all in 150 pages!  He describes the false hope and environmental and social devastation that unlimited growth and a consumption based lifestyle has produced. Conrad presents solutions to the combined crises of climate change, energy stress, poverty and wealth inequity, and environmental degradation. It’s one thing to understand how we got to a place where radical and rapid change is necessary, it’s another to provide the blueprint for how that change can happen so that it feels simple and straightforward and safe. That’s exactly what efficiency shifting does and the solutions are powerful on many levels. 

Conrad Schmidt hits the ecological nail on the head once again with "Efficiency Shifting." As with Workers of the World Relax, Schmidt understands that humanity cannot grow itself out of its  dilemma of overshoot. Growth is our problem. In this book he describes the only path that will help us restore a genuinely sustainable society. We cannot just continue to create meaningless work, but must rediscover fundamental values of nature, family, community, and the time-honoured practice of just hanging out with each other.

With his new book, EFFICIENCY SHIFTING, Conrad Schmidt shows once again what a truly creative and out-of-the-box thinker he is.  
This excellent
primer provides a whole new paradigm for thinking about the economy.  It
offers real potential of pulling us away from our present chaotic and
unsustainable economic course and finding our future jobs among the
caring and earth-friendly activities that are not "profitable" in our
current market-driven world. EFFICIENCY SHIFTING deserves a wide
readership!

John de Graaf
Director, Take Back Your Time and co-author, AFFLUENZA: THE
ALL-CONSUMING EPIDEMIC