Humanity, and each and every one of us, is failing to rise up to the dual catastrophes of climate change and the over consumption of materials combined with the resulting overly large and toxic waste stream. What we have done, are doing, propose to do, and will do, if current social conditions prevail is an absolute failure.
The source of this post is the Resilience website to which, if you aren’t already, you should subscribe. Go do it now.
I admit that I have just started the book after a more or less cursory scan; this scan was hard because, over and over there seemed to be vital information and interesting graphs worth stopping for, and I could not help but read that section. It’s actually impeding this review as I cannot stop reading it! This is one way I identify a book I want to buy, and this one is FREE here. Go get it, but, more importantly, read it, and act on it. Information in your head is worthless if you don’t act on it.
There is much information and thought about change, For instance, did you know “that successful movements only require 3.5% of active grassroots support from the population”? Did you know that the Paris agreement rests on an imaginary system to remove and store CO2 from the atmosphere, necessary because “the non-binding national pledges in place actually allow the world to burn 1,000,000,000,000,000 tonnes33 more than the 2◦C heat ceiling could handle.
“The challenges are overwhelming, and the existential situation is not one that can be solved or resolved without disaster and loss.”
and
“It is far too late for our environmental organizations and for ‘Big Green’ to suggest lifestyle changes, because the reductions needed for climate stability need to be achieved by systemic constraint, not by exhortations to lifestyle adjustments, like driving less, eating less meat, and lowering one’s ecological footprint. The reductions needed are beyond lifestyle adjustments and must include systemic adjustments, like restrictions on planes, cars and fossil consumption, or stability is not achievable.“
The second half of the 113 page book deals with solutions to the dilemma, none of which are complete or always pleasant; we are long past that Pollyanna.
Get this book. Read this book. Act on it too.
Read a better review than mine here.
The picture of a Four-spotted Skimmer dragonfly is not relevant to this review; it’s here because I like its beauty. One of the things that keeps me working is the awesome beauty of my fellow Earthlings.
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