Events

  Raj Patel, academic, journalist and bestselling author of Stuffed and Starved will be signing copies of his new book, The Value of Nothing at Pegasus Downtown. Mr. Patel is on a tight schedule and is slotting us in between other commitments, hence the unusual time for this event. “This is a deeply thought-provoking book about the dramatic changes we must make to save the planet from financial madness” — Naomi Klein. Opening with Oscar Wilde’s observation that “nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing,” Patel shows how our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. He reveals the hidden ecological and social costs of a hamburger (as much as $200), and asks how we came to have markets in the first place. Both the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis, Patel argues, are a result of our democratically bankrupt political system.  This short, timely and inspiring book reveals that our current crisis is not simply the result of too much of the wrong kind of economics.  The Value of Nothing offers a fresh and accessible way to think about economics and the choices we will all need to make in order to create a sustainable economy and society.