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Our house

I have been thinking about this idea of the household. George Monbiot wrote this week:

Ecology and economy are both derived from the Greek word oikos - a house or dwelling. Our survival depends upon the rational management of this home: the space in which life can be sustained. The rules are the same in both cases. If you extract resources at a rate beyond the level of replenishment, your stock will collapse.

We can get our heads round running our own household in a responsible way, balancing the needs of the residents, even caring for the animals. We never doubt for a moment that it is our responsibility - it's our house and most of s understand that we need to at least let our neighbours live in the same sort of way: so we don't throw rubbish over the wall.

When we talk about the economy we make ourselves into passive victims. It's God's world and our (large and complex and beautiful) household. We should not leave it to the experts who run the Economy.

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