The title of this book (and of the abundance movement) is a bit misleading because when we think of abundance we think “overflowing, unlimited.” But its meaning in this book and this movement is to live not governed on scarcity, not focusing on protecting what we have so that others cannot get it. Scarcity thinking is this: with fewer homes available, my home’s value increases or if we let people come to our country, I won’t have access to a good job. So the argument in the book is “let’s make it easier to build and create more so there is enough for everyone.”

The audience here is primarily liberals, who are “progressive,” yet when it comes to housing or the environment or infrastructure projects, they are often the ones with so many demands, regulations, requirements, requests…that nothing gets built. So the authors are putting forth a philosophy of trade offs: maybe we can’t preserve every environmental or zoning desire we want, but preserving some is better than doing nothing at all. 

I think of it as letting go of perfectionism and accepting some choices we don’t like but that will ultimately be a net positive: more lax zoning might bring an apartment complex where I don’t want it, but with increased units, we begin to solve housing shortages. A new wind farm might impact animal habitat that I value, but it would greatly reduce the cost of energy. Instead of saying “no,” what concessions can we accept to say “yes” instead? Can we solve problems through supply? Build more homes, approve more clean energy projects, streamline scientific research.

Instead of vehemently defending government when conservatives want to eliminate it, let’s question and suggest how government can do better. The authors argue that the right has fought government but the left hobbled it.

This book made me reflect, and it’s helped me to rethink my own attitudes toward trade offs and how I could be more open to fewer regulations in a lot of areas. 

Where the book falls short is in not addressing specific policies. The authors call it a “lens,” and I appreciate this way of thinking, but also I think some very practical solutions would help. Many ideas make sense in theory but are far more difficult to implement in practice. Also they really don’t address how any of this will help in our current “burn it down” authoritarian government that’s looking less at solutions and more at creating enemies. What’s the path forward?