Most Western citizens are dependent upon large industrial companies for their food, power, and almost all other necessities and desires. This is ultimately unsustainable, not only for the world in general, but also for the individuals involved. Because of the focus on mass consumption as promoted by the media, the human tendency is to want whatever the media promotes. This leads to unsustainable lifestyles, which contributes to further problems like debt and the like. Rather than the happiness and fulfillment promised by the many products on offer, misery increases. As such, hyper-individuality and unsustainable mass-consumerism appear to be at the basis of the emotional and lifestyle problems people tend to experience today. McKibben offers some interesting alternatives. Although the communally-based lifestyle he suggests appears somewhat extreme at first glance, I do believe that a compromise needs to be made in order to ensure the future of humanity. McKibben's book is...

Policies could be put in place for example to focus on implementing solar power on the local level.
I am not entirely sure that local currency is a viable idea in the global environment. Although communities may well function sustainably on the local scale, certainly the global economy will not simply vanish. Perhaps the local currency can be supplemented by a global one as well.

In general, McKibben makes some very good points, particularly in terms of the isolating effect of mass consumerism and the increasing wealth of a few, while the rest of the world languishes. In terms of the future, certainly implementing even some of the ideas described in the chapter will go a long way towards improving the prospects for future generations.

Source

McKibben, Bill (2007). Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. Times Books. (Chapter 4).