An Inconvenient Apocalypse
Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity
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3.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Confronting harsh ecological realities and the multiple cascading crises facing our world today, An Inconvenient Apocalypse argues that humanity’s future will be defined not by expansion but by contraction.
For decades, our world has understood that we are on the brink of an apocalypse—and yet the only implemented solutions have been small and convenient, feel-good initiatives that avoid unpleasant truths about the root causes of our impending disaster. Wes Jackson and Robert Jensen argue that we must reconsider the origins of the consumption crisis and the challenges we face in creating a survivable future. Longstanding assumptions about economic growth and technological progress—the dream of a future of endless bounty—are no longer tenable. The climate crisis has already progressed beyond simple or nondisruptive solutions. The end result will be apocalyptic; the only question now is how bad it will be.
Jackson and Jensen examine how geographic determinism shaped our past and led to today’s social injustice, consumerist culture, and high-energy/high-technology dystopias. The solution requires addressing today’s systemic failures and confronting human nature by recognizing the limits of our ability to predict how those failures will play out over time. Though these massive challenges can feel overwhelming, Jackson and Jensen weave a secular reading of theological concepts—the prophetic, the apocalyptic, a saving remnant, and grace—to chart a collective, realistic path for humanity not only to survive our apocalypse but also to emerge on the other side with a renewed appreciation of the larger living world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jackson (Hogs Are Up), cofounder of the Land Institute, and journalist Jensen (The Restless and Relentless Mind of Wes Jackson) opt for blunt realism in this impassioned take on having to "accept changes in the way we live and in the way we think about being alive" to thwart the worst of climate catastrophe. Suggesting that humanity suffers from crises of consumption and of meaning, the authors assert a need for an "honest reckoning" at this "all-hands-on-deck point in human history." They propose a "fewer-and-less" future in which fewer people consume less energy, though they "don't pretend to know" what a stable global population number might be. They warn, too, that "modern systems are coming to an end" and "there are many things that we believe we can't do without," such as coffee, that people will lose in the coming decades. To facilitate a "low-energy world," the authors encourage individual skill-building in areas such as agriculture and carpentry, and development of community-based living. Harrowing and accessible, this is just the thing for readers interested in a sociological or philosophical examination of the climate crisis.
