Drawing on her long involvement with an ancient culture in Kashmir, Hodge illustrates how the integration of a self-reliant traditional economy into the modern market economy has actively impoverished a proud people psychologically, as well as economically. This story is more fully documented in a highly recommended book and videotape. Massive agribusiness corporations have substantially monopolized the growing, processing and distribution of food in the United States and nearly eliminated the small farmer in the United States. A citizen policy research group in Japan concludes that slimming, not growth, is the key to moving the Japanese economy toward sustainability. Slimming would include a radical reduction in Japanese exports.
Cities inevitably have an ecological footprint far larger than their political boundaries.
Their often substantial ecological deficits are masked by exporting them to distant peoples through trade. Policies advanced by official agencies place the interests of the powerful ahead of the interests of the poor. The fact that their decision making is secret is cause enough for concern. Deep democratic reform is needed in international rule making. Art The Bretton Woods institutions were created to advance a commitment to an integrated global economy in the belief that this was the key to universal peace and prosperity in the modern world.