Whole earth discipline

Description

An icon of the environmental movement outlines a provocative approach for reclaiming our planetAccording to Stewart Brand, a lifelong environmentalist who sees everything in terms of solvable design problems, three profound transformations are under way on Earth right now. Climate change is real and is pushing us toward managing the planet as a whole. Urbanization—half the world's population now lives in cities, and eighty percent will by midcentury—is altering humanity's land impact and wealth. And biotechnology is becoming the world's dominant engineering tool. In light of these changes, Brand suggests that environmentalists are going to have to reverse some longheld opinions and embrace tools that they have traditionally distrusted. Only a radical rethinking of traditional green pieties will allow us to forestall the cataclysmic deterioration of the earth's resources.Whole Earth Discipline shatters a number of myths and presents counterintuitive observations on why cities are actually greener than countryside, how nuclear power is the future of energy, and why genetic engineering is the key to crop and land management. With a combination of scientific rigor and passionate advocacy, Brand shows us exactly where the sources of our dilemmas lie and offers a bold and inventive set of policies and solutions for creating a more sustainable society.In the end, says Brand, the environmental movement must become newly responsive to fast-moving science and take up the tools and discipline of engineering. We have to learn how to manage the planet's global-scale natural infrastructure with as light a touch as possible and as much intervention as necessary.

Description

With a combination of scientific rigor and passionate advocacy, Brand shows exactly where the sources of environmental dilemmas lie and offers a bold and inventive set of policies and solutions for creating a more sustainable society.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Whole earth discipline: an ecopragmatist manifestoViking2009-01-01
• Whole Earth DisciplineElectronic resourcePenguin USA, Inc.2009-01-01
• Whole Earth DisciplineAtlantic Books, Limited2010-01-01
• Whole earth disciplineAtlantic Books2010-01-01
• Whole Earth DisciplinePaperbackAtlantic2010-10-01