In between writing reviews of tech books I've been gradually working my way through a wonderful little book called Do Good Lives Have To Cost The Earth?. I'll write about it in more detail later, but it was very much in my mind as I read an article Nick posted back in January about Bolivia's new constitution.
While much of the consideration of "democracy" over the past few years has been focussed on US elections, ill-advised adventures in the Middle East, and occasional flare ups in other places, Bolivia has been hard at work on a new constitution. And whereas that often means a dry process of regulations and legal language, this constitutional process has been about throwing off the shackles of imperialism and looking for ways for a country to reflect its plurality, its history, and economic contributions from outside the normal economic sphere.
It's exciting stuff, and may just provide some inspiration for those of us looking for how our western societies could better engage their growing diversity and value lives lived with a lower toll on the planet.
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