Book Review: God and the Evil of Scarcity

God and the Evil of Scarcity: Moral Foundations of Economic Agency by Albino Barrera, O.P. (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005. 272 pp)

Albino Barrera teaches economics and theology at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. In addition to God and the Evil of Scarcity, he wrote Modern Catholic Social Documents and Political Economy (Georgetown University Press) in 2001.

It Begins with Malthus

For Albino Barrera, God and the Evil of Scarcity is essentially a response to the Malthusian understanding of theodicy.  While most consider resource scarcity and population control when Thomas Malthus comes to mind, Barrera explores Malthus’ foundational views of God that lead him to his conclusions on resource scarcity.

Simply put, Barrera understands Malthusian theodicy as a source for human mastery when he writes,

“Using natural theology, Malthus argues that God created a world of scarcity to provide people with reason and incentive to apply themselves in work and striving” (2).

In other words, the condition of scarcity – an evil for all intents and purposes – inspires the pursuit of good. Despite the insistence through Christian tradition that evil is an absence of the good and an occurrence resulting from our fallen nature, Malthus sees evil as a root cause that generates the desire for good.

Theodicy and Economic Scarcity

Rejecting this notion of theodicy, Barrera explores Thomistic and New Testament traditions seeking to better understand the reason for existing economic scarcity. For Barrera, God contains the power to provide humanity with everything it needs to flourish on earth.

Since humankind struggles with its allocation of resources, Barrera reasons that God must provide a good reason for the existence of such scarcity. Barrera notes,

“The economic statutes and ordinances that flow from such historicity become the means for God to proffer and elicit human participation in divine holiness, righteousness, and providence. Scarcity makes conformity to the Law that much more sacrificial, but that much more consequential as well” (199).

In other words, scarcity offers humanity the opportunity to sacrificially work with God in the world. As people encounter need, scarcity makes help sacrificial and more meaningful. Thus, the evil of scarcity exists not to require harder work from people in order to gain assets but to supply a cost for the apostolate work of giving to those in need.

Scarcity and My Pre-Conceived Notions

In all honesty, I found Barrera’s position on scarcity to be extremely refreshing. Before reading this book, my understanding of scarcity was exceptionally negative. At best, scarcity explained why some people owned much and others possessed little; at worst, scarcity is a deeply engrained selfishness that limits the ability for the poor to survive in a harsh world. By reframing the discussion, I found it encouraging to consider scarcity as a way for sacrificial giving to truly have meaning.

What About Excessive Population and Sustainability?

Nevertheless, Barrera’s thesis is lacking in one critical category. Whether or not Malthus carried erroneous assumptions about theodicy, the damning portion of his thought in modern life is the effect of population on the environment. With fewer people, the allocation of resources is out of mind and out of sight. However, exponential human growth requires a similar growth in resource usage. Since the earth is finite, no matter the theological value of scarcity in sacrificial giving, an unsustainably large population incurs an enormous burden on scarce resources.

While most of God and the Evil of Scarcity ignores the role of population in the discussion of scarcity and sufficiency, Barrera attempts to answer the critique in an appendix to the book. He writes,

“The universe cannot reach its external end in God if its parts (humans, in this case) are unable to operate according to the nature of their being for want of material nourishment and the other means necessary for their full actualization” (234).

In simple terms, God will not allow a population to balloon in such a way that it debilitates humanity and creation.

Sadly, such a position ignores the fact that sacrificial giving to the world’s poor will greatly burden our access to scarce resources. Moreover, this position ignores the crucial work of sustainability experts who are reconsidering humanity’s relationship with resources arguing that consumption is possible without deteriorating resources (See William McDonough and Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (New York: North Point Press, 2002).

Scarce Words

Despite my gratitude for the new perspective Barrera offers on scarcity, namely, its existence for the sacrificial giving of resources to others, I find both the population problem and current sustainable considerations for resources help to render Barrera’s thesis problematic.

Likewise, this book feels like the reworking of a dissertation. Each page contains excessive citations and footnotes which provide clear evidence that Barrera completed his homework, yet, it creates difficult reading throughout the work.

If you are interested in the intersection between theology and economics, God and the Evil of Scarcity offers a unique perspective. However, for most people, I would not recommend this book. 

Book Review: Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How It Can Renew America

By Thomas L. Friedman (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. 448 pp.)

A prominent author, reporter, and columnist, Thomas L. Friedman has worked for The New York Times since 1981. During his time with the paper, Friedman has won multiple Pulitzer Prizes and published five best-selling books, including From Beirut to Jerusalem and The World Is Flat.

Who Will Cut the Last Tree?

Putting on my 20-20 hindsight glasses, a quick survey concerning the downfall of ancient empires seems to be closely connected with an overextension of resources.

In a classic example, the Rapa Nui people deforested Easter Island to build villages and the moai, the world-famous monolithic statues erected around the island. Who cut down the last tree? Did that person know he or she dealt the final and fatal blow?

In Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Thomas Friedman suggests that civilization faces a similar scenario: the proverbial trees are dwindling and we face the ultimatum of rethinking the way business does business or continue to outstrip the land of its resources.

Hot

As the title suggests, Friedman argues that the world is becoming hot, flat, and crowded.

Aligning more or less with the consensus of scientific research, Friedman views global warming as a clear and present danger to society as a whole. Of course, writing first and foremost as a journalist, Friedman spends little time making a scientific case for global warming. His position, in short, states that the scientists confirm its veracity, so this event will likely occur. For this reason, Friedman condemns the global addiction to fossil fuel.

Flat and Crowded

The flat and crowded sections, however, display Friedman in his finest form. Expressing similar sentiments to those stated in his groundbreaking book, The World Is Flat, Friedman continues relating the many ways in which civilization today functions on a more level playing field.

As depicted in the emergence of China, India, and Brazil, the flattening factor is creating a crowding affect. 

Friedman writes,

“The biggest upside is that globalization is bringing more people out of poverty faster than ever before in the history of the world. The biggest downside is that in raising standards of living, globalization is making possible much higher levels of production and consumption by many more people. That’s flat meeting crowded” (147).

In other words, while globalization offers the best opportunity to eradicate poverty, it also creates more consumers and, consequently, more carbon emissions and pollution.

The Green Revolution

Friedman proposes, then, that a green revolution offers the only answer to this global conundrum.

With evidence increasingly pointing toward the profitability of sustainable business practices (see Ray C. Anderson’s book, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist), Friedman views renewable energy and biodegradable products as the industry of the future. If achieved, the green revolution would continue at a global level to lift the poor out of poverty while simultaneously permitting the developed world to continue its consumption.

Friedman concludes the book with a challenge. Observing the significant economic, albeit polluted, growth of China, he suggests that competing with this country can supply the United States with the proper incentive to become the first mover in the green revolution.

If the United States proves that sustainable practices win in both economic and environmental terms, China will be compelled to follow. With two global powers operating with environmental priorities, the rest of the globe will fall in line.

Dominion: Domination or Stewardship?

In the dominant Christian worldview, creation is viewed as a gift of God given to humanity. Genesis 1:26 proclaims, “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

What does it mean to have dominion over the earth? Too often, Christians wrongly interpret dominion to mean absolute authority over the use of creation. Bolstered by this ethic, then, leaders of the industrial revolution acted as if humanity’s dominion over the earth equaled dominance of the earth.

In truth, there is no such thing as an endless resource and Easter Island offers a grim illustration of the repercussions resulting from depleting resources beyond repair.

Nature sustains us. Without its complex web of connections, humans face dangerous circumstances. The idea of Christian stewardship promotes a reconnection with God’s creation and God’s intention for our stewardship within creation. For these reasons, spearheading a green revolution not only makes business and environmental sense; it also aligns theologically with a care for creation.

Giving Business the Green Light

Many Christians consider global warming to be a hoax concocted by the liberal media. But I contend that the ultimate results of global warming factor far less into sustainability than the role of biblically based stewardship of creation. Whether global warming results in harsher storms and a radical rising of the sea level or an over-hyped hypothesis with little empirical results, operating business as if creation exists as a slave for the whims of human fancy is pure hubris.

Ultimately, the compelling portion of Hot, Flat, and Crowded resides in Friedman’s encouraging position concerning the role of business. Where he could have presented the book as another exhibit decrying the evils of humanity regarding the environment, Friedman suggests that a green revolution offers business the opportunity to lead America into a new, vibrant century. I recommend reading this book.

Originally published at http://www.spu.edu/depts/sbe/cib/reviews/review-hot-crowded.asp

Book Review: Cradle to Cradle

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart (New York: North Point Press, 2002. 208 pp)

Known best for his work in sustainable architecture and design, William McDonough is a world leader in sustainable business practices. Winner of the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, the National Design Award, and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, McDonough’s philosophies on sustainability find popularity amongst companies desiring to go green. Additionally, McDonough is the founder of William McDonough + Partners, an international architecture firm, and co-founder with this book’s co-author of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC).

Michal Braungart is a German chemist who, in addition to co-founding MBDC, founded EPEA International Umweltforschung GmbH. Braungart holds the Cradle-to-Cradle chair at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands and is employed as a professor of process engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Suderberg. In partnership with William McDonough, Braungart is best known for the engineering philosophies presented in Cradle to Cradle.

Eco-Partisan

Sadly, environmentalism seemingly exists only in the far reaches of the liberal spectrum. As an increasingly volatile political debate, these ideas are a source of contention for countries, counties, cities, and families.

Some might say, “Al Gore thinks the world is going to end? I disagree with him politically so he must be wrong.” Others contend, “Why do conservatives fight science? We are empirically ruining our world and they just dismiss these arguments as if they are merely political rhetoric?”

Taking extreme positions on either side of the political aisle carries certain financial incentives. The more thrilling the premise of your book, the more likely it will receive media attention and higher book sales.

Remaking Business

While William McDonough and Michael Braungart might personally hold an extreme environmental position, the premise of Cradle to Cradle suggests a rethinking of business practice. Without heavily relying on the doom-and-gloom game that many environmentalists maintain, these authors advocate for remaking business manufacturing.

Currently, companies manage a product from supply chain to the retail floor. Under such practices, the company cares little about the danger a product might exhibit at the end of its life. Therefore, waste overflows landfills with decaying products that emit toxic chemicals as garbage is either incinerated or left to rot in the open air.

Almost as bad, the potent mixing of biological and technical nutrients in most products makes recycling nearly as hazardous as throwing objects away. Under extreme amounts of energy, recycled products become capable of reuse. Sadly, recycled products never contain the same amount of quality as a new product.

Waste Equals Food

What if products were manufactured with an end in mind? Observing the patterns of nature, McDonough and Braungart assert that business must manufacture products in a similar way.

As it stands, business produces goods under the old manufacturing forms concocted during the industrial revolution. Labeled “cradle-to-grave” manufacturing, this form considers the earth an endless resource worth exploiting. Logically, however, such thoughts are invalid as it is not only entirely possible but also documented that humanity contains the means by which they can outstrip resources.

Mimicking the environment, the authors make a case for “cradle-to-cradle” manufacturing. In nature, a fallen tree becomes the source of nutrients for new foliage. In other words, nature’s waste equals nature’s food. If business operated with the understanding that waste equals the supply chain for new products, it would close the loop of exploitation we see in the world.

McDonough and Braungart write,

“Ultimately, we want to be designing processes and products that not only return the biological and technical nutrients they use, but [also] pay back with interest the energy they consume” (138).

Interestingly, Cradle to Cradle not only preaches this message chapter by chapter, it acts this message from page to page. The book itself is made from DuraBook technology making the pages highly durable and waterproof.

Let’s Walk on the Moon

On the whole, Cradle to Cradle urges its readers to dream. Just as a 1950s mindset considered walking on the moon an impossibility, business of today thinks that any action contrary to the norm is a fruitless endeavor. The authors believe that sustainable innovation is not only possible, but also profitable. Whether or not you think that environmental degradation is a real problem or an idea concocted by the radical fringe, this book contains pertinent ideas. If you are interested in business, the environment, or sustainability, I highly recommend this book.