The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World - Softcover

Greer, John Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0865716390 ISBN 13: 9780865716391

Publisher: New Society Publishers, 2009

Synopsis

How to survive and thrive in the post-industrial age

In response to the coming impact of peak oil, John Michael Greer helps us envision the transition from an industrial society to a sustainable ecotechnic world-not returning to the past, but creating a society that supports relatively advanced technology on a sustainable resource base.

Fusing human ecology and history, this book challenges assumptions held by mainstream and alternative thinkers about the evolution of human societies. Human societies, like ecosystems, evolve in complex and unpredictable ways, making it futile to try to impose rigid ideological forms on the patterns of evolutionary change. Instead, social change must explore many pathways over which we have no control. The troubling and exhilarating prospect of an open-ended future, he proposes, requires dissensus-a deliberate acceptance of radical diversity that widens the range of potential approaches to infinity.

Written in three parts, the book places the present crisis of the industrial world in its historical and ecological context in part one; part two explores the toolkit for Ecotechnic Age, and part three opens a door to the complexity of future visions.

For anyone concerned about peak oil and the future of the industrial society, this book provides a solid analysis of how we got to where we are, and a practical toolkit to prepare for the future.

About this title

About the Author

John Michael Greer is a scholar of ecological history, an award-winning author and an internationally renowned Peak Oil theorist whose blog, "The Archdruid Report", has become one of the most widely cited online resources dealing with the future of industrial society. He is a certified Master Conserver, an organic gardener, and has been active in the alternative spirituality movement for more than 25 years. John lives in Cumberland, MD.

From the Back Cover

Greer's work is nothing short of brilliant. … entertaining, illuminating, and practically informative. Not to be missed.
Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, and author of Peak Everything

As peak oil reshapes the terrain of our future, John Michael Greer offers an inspiring vision of cultural evolution rooted in environmental science. Human societies are ecosystems, subject to the same rules as other living communities, and follow trajectories of change over which we have no control.

The crisis of the industrial world can be seen as the first stage in a complex and challenging transition that leads, not back to past social patterns, but forward to a new kind of human ecology -- the ecotechnic societies of the far future -- that can support relatively advanced technologies on a sustainable resource base.

The Ecotechnic Future prepares us for the long transition to the ecotechnic age by offering:

• a compelling exploration of the future taking shape ahead of us,
• a useful guide to the tools and resources needed to navigate the transition, and
• a vision of the open-ended possibilities of a world we are called upon to create.

For anyone concerned about peak oil and the future of industrial society, this book is an essential guide to the deep patterns of change wracking the world today, and a practical toolkit for building a sustainable future.

Greer brilliantly inspires us to … construct local communities which concretely exemplify [his] comprehensive vision of a post-industrial milieu.
-- Carolyn Baker, author of Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse , and publisher/editor, Speaking Truth to Power (CarolynBaker.net)

John Michael Greer is a certified Master Conserver, organic gardener, and scholar of ecological history. He is the author of The Long Descent , and he blogs at TheArchdruidReport.blogspot.com.

From the Inside Flap

Greer's work is nothing short of brilliant. entertaining, illuminating, and practically informative. Not to be missed.
Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, and author of Peak Everything

As peak oil reshapes the terrain of our future, John Michael Greer offers an inspiring vision of cultural evolution rooted in environmental science. Human societies are ecosystems, subject to the same rules as other living communities, and follow trajectories of change over which we have no control.

The crisis of the industrial world can be seen as the first stage in a complex and challenging transition that leads, not back to past social patterns, but forward to a new kind of human ecology -- the ecotechnic societies of the far future -- that can support relatively advanced technologies on a sustainable resource base.

The Ecotechnic Future prepares us for the long transition to the ecotechnic age by offering:

• a compelling exploration of the future taking shape ahead of us,
• a useful guide to the tools and resources needed to navigate the transition, and
• a vision of the open-ended possibilities of a world we are called upon to create.

For anyone concerned about peak oil and the future of industrial society, this book is an essential guide to the deep patterns of change wracking the world today, and a practical toolkit for building a sustainable future.

Greer brilliantly inspires us to construct local communities which concretely exemplify [his] comprehensive vision of a post-industrial milieu.
-- Carolyn Baker, author of Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse, and publisher/editor, Speaking Truth to Power (CarolynBaker.net)

John Michael Greer is a certified Master Conserver, organic gardener, and scholar of ecological history. He is the author of The Long Descent, and he blogs at TheArchdruidReport.blogspot.com.

Edition details

• Publisher: New Society Publishers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0865716390
• ISBN 13: 9780865716391
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288