The Great Disruption
Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
It's time to stop just worrying about climate change, says Paul
Gilding. We need instead to brace for impact because global crisis is no
longer avoidable. This Great Disruption started in 2008, with spiking
food and oil prices and dramatic ecological changes, such as the melting
ice caps. It is not simply about fossil fuels and carbon footprints. We
have come to the end of Economic Growth, Version 1.0, a world economy
based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our
planet's ecosystems and resources.
The Great Disruption
offers a stark and unflinching look at the challenge humanity faces-yet
also a deeply optimistic message. The coming decades will see loss,
suffering, and conflict as our planetary overdraft is paid; however,
they will also bring out the best humanity can offer: compassion,
innovation, resilience, and adaptability. Gilding tells us how to
fight-and win-what he calls The One Degree War to prevent catastrophic
warming of the earth, and how to start today.
The crisis
represents a rare chance to replace our addiction to growth with an
ethic of sustainability, and it's already happening. It's also an
unmatched business opportunity: Old industries will collapse while new
companies will literally reshape our economy. In the aftermath of the
Great Disruption, we will measure "growth" in a new way. It will mean
not quantity of stuff but quality and happiness of life. Yes, there is
life after shopping.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gilding, former director of Greenpeace International and now on the faculty at Cambridge University s Program for Sustainable Leadership, proposes that global warming is just one piece of an impending planetary collapse caused by our overuse of resources. According to the Global Footprint Network, we surpassed Earth s capacity in 1988, and by 2009, we needed the resources of 1.4 planets to sustain our economy and any increases in efficiencies that some claim will solve the problem are likely only to encourage us to use more. Gilding argues that, like addicts who need to hit bottom, we energy users will deny our problem until we face head-on the risk of collapse, but when we do, we will address the emergency with the commitment of our response to WWII and begin a real transformation to a sustainable economy built on equality, quality of life, and harmony with the ecosystem. Gilding s confidence in our ability to transform disaster into a happiness economy may astonish readers, but the book provides a refreshing, provocative alternative to the recent spate of gloom-and-doom climate-change studies.
