Economy

Thoreau’s Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy at Walden Pond (Part II of Ecological Civilisation)

By Samuel Alexander, originally published by Simplicity Institute

March 3, 2022

Walden Pond

This presentation gives an overview of Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy of sufficiency, which he developed and practised during his famous simple living experiment at Walden Pond (1845-47). Dr Alexander uses Thoreau’s life story to explore the question: How much is enough?

This is Part II of the Ecological Civilisation series, written and presented by Samuel Alexander, co-director of the Simplicity Institute.

The introduction is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxC-r…

This series will be grappling with the problems of consumerism and the growth economy; envisioning alternative, post-carbon ways of life; and considering what action can be taken, both personally and politically, to help build an ecological civilisation.

New presentations will be added to this playlist over time: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…

You can support this channel by purchasing an e-book from the Simplicity Institute, available on a ‘pay what you can’ basis (edit the price as you choose for a donation): https://249897.e-junkie.com

Paperbacks are available here: https://au.permacultureprinciples.com…

Samuel Alexander’s work is available here: http://samuelalexander.info

The Simplicity Institute website is here: https://simplicityinstitute.org

We’d like to thank Andrew Doodson, Jordan Osmond, and Antoinette Wilson for offering invaluable production advice.

The opening image is kindly provided by Melissa Davis.

Other image references are available here: http://samuelalexander.info/image-ref…

The music is provided by Mortimer’s Method: https://mortimersmethod.bandcamp.com

 

Teaser photo credit: By ptwo from Allahabad, India – 985Uploaded by Ekabhishek, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16428533

Samuel Alexander

Dr. Samuel Alexander, co-director of the Simplicity Institute, is a lecturer at the Office for Environmental Programs, University of Melbourne, Australia, teaching a course called ‘Consumerism and the Growth Economy: Critical Interdisciplinary Perspectives’ into the Master of Environment. He is also a Research Fellow with the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute. He is author of eighteen books, including Degrowth in the Suburbs: A Radical Urban Imaginary (2018), Art Against Empire: Toward an Aesthetics of Degrowth (2017), Just Enough is Plenty: Thoreau’s Alternative Economics (2016), Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits (2015), Sufficiency Economy: Enough, for Everyone, Forever (2015), and Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation (2013), and he is editor of Voluntary Simplicity: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture (2009) and co-editor of Simple Living in History: Pioneers of the Deep Future (2014). A full publication list is available here.

As well as his academic work, in recent years Sam has been working on a ‘simpler way’ demonstration project which became the subject of a documentary, ‘A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity‘. He is also founder of the Simplicity Collective, a website and social network dedicated to exploring the relationships between voluntary simplicity, energy descent, and post-growth / degrowth economics.  Dr. Alexander’s PhD thesis, conducted through Melbourne Law School, is entitled “Property beyond Growth: Toward a Politics of Voluntary Simplicity”.

Tags: Simplicity, sufficiency economy

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