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Ecotechnic Future

Envisioning a Post-Peak World

Paperback

Published: 1st October 2009
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" John Michael] Greer's work is nothing short of brilliant. He has the multidisciplinary smarts to deeply understand our human dilemma as we stand on the verge of the inevitable collapse of industrialism. And he wields uncommon writing skills, making his diagnosis and prescription entertaining, illuminating, and practically informative. Not to be missed."--Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute and author of "Peak Everything"

"There is a great deal of conventional wisdom about our collective ecological crisis out there in books. The enormous virtue of John Michael Greer's work is that his wisdom is never conventional, but profound and imaginative. There's no one who makes me think harder, and The Ecotechnic Future pushes Greer's vision, and our thought processes in important directions." --Sharon Astyk, farmer, blogger, and author of "Depletion and Abundance" and "A Nation of Farmers"

"In The Ecotechnic Future, John Michael Greer dispels our fantasies of a tidy, controlled transition from industrial society to a post-industrial milieu. The process will be ragged and rugged and will not invariably constitute an evolutionary leap for the human species. It will, however, offer myriad opportunities to create a society that bolsters complex technology which at the same time maintains a sustainable interaction with the ecosystem. Greer brilliantly inspires us to integrate the two in our thinking and to construct local communities which concretely exemplify this comprehensive vision." --Carolyn Baker, author of "Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse," and publisher/editor, "Speaking Truth to Power"

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 the Ecotechnic Age; and part three opens a door to the complexity of future visions.

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

John Michael Greer is a certified Master Conserver, organic gardener, and scholar of ecological history. He blogs at "The Archdruid Report" (www.thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com), and is the author of"The Long Descent."


This is an extremely erudite book, filled with references to philosophies, and ancient works, which is also readable and an exciting addition to what might be called the 'libraries of the future', which try to make sense of our predicament and offer not just hope, but a intellectual route map to a better way of living.—, "earthtimes.org"

Introductionp. xi
Orientations
Beyond the Limitsp. 3
Human Ecologies
Tomorrow Comes Anyway
The Illusion of Independence
The Way of Successionp. 19
Succession in Action
Succession and Agriculture
Succession and Technic Societies
The Long Road to Sustainability
A Short History of the Futurep. 37
Glimpsing the Deindustrial Age
The Depopulation Explosion
Völkerwanderung
Culture Death
A Different Planet
The World Is Round
Toward the Ecotechnic Agep. 57
What Evolution Means
The End of Affluence
The Age of Scarcity Industrialism
The Age of Salvage
The Coming of the Ecotechnic Age
Resources
Preparationsp. 79
Projecting the Shadow
The Effects of Homeostasis
The Twilight of Technology
Adaptive Responses
A Time For Dissensus
The Mariner's Two Hands
Foodp. 101
The Next Agriculture
Compost as Template
In the Dark with Both Hands
Pieces of the Puzzle
Homep. 109
TomorrowÆs Homes
Retrofitting the Future
The Household Economy
The Decline and Fall of Home Economics
The Specialization Trap
Workp. 141
A Hundred Energy Slaves
The Deindustrial Want Ads
The Twilight of Automation
Trailing-Edge Technologies
Energyp. 159
The Innovation Fallacy
The Paradox of Production
Jevons' Alternative
Master Conservers
Communityp. 177
Lifeboat Ecovillages
Cities in the Deindustrial Future
The Ecology of Social Change
Culturep. 191
A Failure of Mimesis
The Twilight of Culture
Cultural Conservers
Religion and the Survival of Culture
Sciencep. 209
Saving Science
Appropriate Ecology
Toward Ecosophy
Possibilities
The Ecotechnic Promisep. 225
History's Arrow
History s Wheel
History, Meaning and Choice
The Eyes of feature
Afterwordp. 245
Notesp. 247
Bibliographyp. 255
Indexp. 263
About the Authorp. 271
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9780865716391
ISBN-10: 0865716390
Audience: Professional
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 269
Published: 1st October 2009
Dimensions (cm): 15.5 x 23.0  x 2.3
Weight (kg): 0.44