Today the ideas of Ecological Economist Herman Daly are exceptionally relevant. Daly was ahead of his time when he set forth a powerful message: We are using far more resources than the earth can produce. Documentary filmmaker John de Graaf has captured Herman Daly’s life and his span of influence that has transcended time and traveled around the globe. de Graaf shows us why Daly is heralded as the father of ecological economics.
This 45-minute documentary brings together economists, activists, students, and historians to talk about Daly’s most urgent ideas: hard limits to unbridled growth, the economy’s irrational dependence on the Earth’s finite resources, the need for scale and fair distribution, the consequences of overconsumption, and the growing dangers of globalization.
It has taken the world fifty years to catch up with Herman Daly, who long ago warned there were limits to growth. Daly believed that unbridled economic growth was just not possible on a planet that had finite resources. “The economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment, not the reverse.”
Ironically, it is the conservative economist Milton Friedman who once said, “only crisis, real or perceived, brings about real change.” Econoclast gives us hope that Daly’s pragmatic and prudent solutions can be implemented before there is an enormous global crisis.
This is the most important film John de Graaf has made since Affluenza. While Affluenza took a hard look at American consumerism, Econoclast delivers the practical reality that we must manage the Earth’s resources or else risk a catastrophe of epic proportions.
Econoclast premieres in Minnesota on September 22. Please see https://www.econoclast.film/ to learn more about the film and screening opportunities throughout the country. View the Documentary Trailer here.
#