Cindy,
 
You note that ". . . economic prosperity, as we currently define  it, depends 
on growth."
 
This summarizes the problem perfectly. Our mainstream economists define a  
healthy economy as being a growing economy. A recession is defined as a  
cessation of economic growth.
 
Yet it occurs even to bright middle school students that on  a finite planet 
endless growth is impossible. But being an "adult" means  denying this obvious 
fact. 
 
In an underdeveloped country, economic growth is needed just  to provide 
enough for everyone. But in over-developed regions like the US,  growth serves 
mainly to provide more wealth for the already rich. And despite  the events of 
the past two weeks, it is the rich who run the country, including  its media, 
and who keep alive the myth that growth equals prosperity. 
 
We clearly need a new economics, one which defines prosperity as  
sufficiency, not growth.
 
Richard Douthwaite has written a very good book whose title summarizes  these 
issues. (The Growth Illusion: How economic growth has enriched the few,  
impoverished the many, and endangered the planet, New Society Publishers, 1992,  
1999.)
 
Tom



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