The History of the World in Seven Cheap Things
by Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore, 2018
Buy low and sell high—the best advice for those who want to make money. But there’s a problem with that. Capitalists are encouraged to cheat—under pay their labor or if they can figure out how, not pay them at all. The seven cheap things are: cheap nature, cheap money, cheap work, cheap care, cheap food, cheap energy, and cheap lives.
Humanity has over reached the world’s resources many times in the past—destroying our source of food, water and nature. It wasn’t so dangerous when we had a few million people living on the earth, but with over seven billion people who hold unbelievable technology, we can lay waste to all the cheap things, even if it kills us.
Rather than tell citizens that they have to change their ways, the authors recognize that the problem is systems. Yes, some poor people have a huge carbon footprint, but when they were forced out of their neighborhood due to gentrifying and they have to drive an hour each way to work—then it’s not the individual but the system we need to change.
Sometimes when you read a book like this, the authors merely give you language to more clearly understand the problem. Patel and Moore do a lot more than that by tying history to what we’re doing today.
I highly recommend reading this book. It’s an easy read of 212 page written in accessible language. You’ll be glad you read it.