Edited by John Culp
As society grapples with the reality of climate change, many believe that technology will somehow save the planet. As this book argues, that is not enough: larger-scale collaboration, coordination, and funding is needed. Individuals and groups, even with significant personal resources, will not be able to reverse the present course of ecological disaster. What our endangered planet needs is broadly supported community action, which is what happens when people come together and organize for the common good. What we need, in short, is political structures and actions. The essays in this book examine the political structures that have led to our present crisis and offer concrete lessons from the U.S., Japan, Brazil, and Greece, that can, if heeded, bring us back from the brink and toward an ecological civilization.
"These real-world applications are ideal for students who want to see actual, on-the-ground sustainability efforts worldwide, and for instructors who want to demonstrate the value of service learning and case study research. One cannot read this book without feeling hope."
Table of Contents
Introduction: What to Do in the Current Ecological Crisis, John Culp
Part One: The Challenge
1. The Collapse of Democratic Nation States, John B. Cobb. Jr.
Part Two: Global Issues and Possibilities
2. Progress Toward an Ecological Civilization: Ecological Footprint Success and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Yoshiihiko Wada and Katsunori Iha
3. Brazilian Contributions to Rebuilding: Brazilian Cases of Socio-Political and Economic Resistance, Lilas Dias Marianno
4. Greece and the Global Debt Crisis, Thomas H. Greco
Part Three U.S. Issues and Possibilities
5. Integrity or the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth, Carl Herman
6. Chris Hedges on the Corruption of Democracy and the Collapse of Hope in National Politics, Joseph C. Hough
7. The "Revolution" We Need, Sheila D. Collins
8. How America Became an Oligarchy, Ellen Brown
9. How Private Currencies and Credit Clearing Exchanges Can Help Save Civilization, Thomas H. Greco
Part Four
10. Richmond, California: A Local Community Defines Its Destiny, Gayle McLaughlin
11. Local Responses to Crisis and Collapse, Tina Clarke
12. SanDiego350 Activism, James Long, Ashley Mazanec, and Michael Brackney
13. Rebuilding a Foundation: The Critical Role of Materials for a Sustainable World, David Stone