Last edited Sat Nov 27, 2021, 08:07 PM - Edit history (1)
such books lurking nearby on my shelves.
I'll be adding this one soon -- Headed Into the Abyss.
The truth of human inertia is hard to live with and be compassionate about.
From Amazon's blurb:
The current states of just ten forces -- capitalism, technology, the internet, politics, media, education, human nature, the environment, population, and transportation -- are driving society in predominantly negative ways. These forces are powerful and interconnected and their combined operation and dynamics will carry us into any number of disasters well before 2100. We have the knowledge and solutions to address our difficulties, but for many reasons we won't be able to meaningfully employ either.
From the book itself:
Only a society comprised of some large, critical mass of reasonably emotionally healthy and responsible individuals would possess the attributes necessary to sustain civilization indefinitely (p. 15).
Much of the anger and alienation in the American citizenry today – especially in the more conservative half of the electorate – is a product of being told a narrative for 40 years that was largely a lie (p. 124).
We have a failure of the American people to do the job required of a citizenry inhabiting a representative democracy. We have a failure of the American people to keep themselves sufficiently informed about whole areas of knowledge that are necessary to truly possess that identity called 'citizen' (p. 137).
We are rapidly approaching the time when planet earth will no longer support the large societies and civilizations that are spread across its surface. It will no longer be hospitable to billions of humans (p. 164).
"It doesn’t take a lot to seduce and manipulate us. So, as the world deteriorates in every conceivable way, everywhere we go we drag with us 4,000 pounds of steel, glass, plastic, carbon fiber, wiring, and computers. We are headed for the abyss alright, but damned if we’re not going in anything less than the biggest, fanciest Nissan Armada. I mean, c’mon, it’s going to be all-electric" (p. 197).
We will run out of time, resources, water, health, and peace long before capitalism and the developed nations are transformed into sustainable models. And, tellingly, very few citizens and scientists and economists – and not one politician, Democrat or Republican – are stating the obvious need to create a capitalism and a market not based on large levels of consumption. That is a message no one wants to give, and no one wants to hear (p. 222).
Of all the threats we face, the ongoing destabilization of the biosphere is probably the ultimate one. There are other catastrophes that could occur first..., but in the absence of those it will be environmental chaos that spells the end of civilization as we know it. That will occur this century. There are simply too many significant obstacles woven through all the aspects of our culture and economy – locally and globally – for us to be able to respond quickly and effectively to the ecological crises around us. We just can’t redesign every single thing – capitalism, economics, the market, consumerism, politics, the energy infrastructure, standards of living, and our own attitude and understandings – in any relevant time span, if ever (p. 275).
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