This week I delivered a lecture to UC Berkeley students who are studying sustainability. I’ve done this for the past ten years or so, and I’m delighted to be asked back year after year.The topic is “What is Wealth?” but, if you know me, you know I cannot answer that by simply giving a few definitions. To answer that properly we have to understand the nature of money and debt, and the placement of those social agreements within the boundaries of the natural world and energy particularly.So this presentation is really The Crash Course, delivered concisely, with a few markers that are relevant to our situation today, such as Jay Powell’s recent Senate testimony on debt.This will be a great refresher for many of you, brand new for some of you, and designed to be shared widely with people who you may know who maybe should hear it.After all, you can always say, “this is a really important university lecture I just stumbled across, what do you think? Is this guy nuts, or completely insane?”I had fun assembling this, I hope you find it useful and stimulating.
Infinite economic growth on a finite planet is not possible.
