A new freely downloadable book

I would like to announce the publication of a book, which reviews the lives and thoughts of some of the women and men who have addressed the crucial problems of ecology and sustainability that we are currently facing. I have tried to let them speak to us in their own words.The book may be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link:

http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Lives-in-Ecology-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf

We face an ecological crisis

The Industrial Revolution marked the start of massive human  use  of  fossil  fuels.    The  stored  energy  from  severalhundred  million  years  of  plant  growth  began  to  be  usedat  roughly  a million  times  the  rate  at  which  it  had  beenformed.  The  effect  on  human  society  was  like  that  of  anarcotic. There was a euphoric (and totally unsustainable)surge  of  growth  of  both population  and  industrial  production.   Meanwhile,  the  carbon  released  into  the  atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels began to duplicate the conditions which led to the 5 geologically-observed mass extinctions, during each of which more than half of all living species disappeared forever.

Industrialism and the rapid development of science and technology have given some parts of the world a 200-year period of unbroken expansion and growth, but today this growthis headed for a collision with a wall-like barrier - limits setby the carrying capacity of the global environment and by the exhaustion ofnon-renewable resources. Encounteringthese limits is a new experience for thethe industrialized countries. By contrast, pre-industrial societies havealways experienced limits. The industrialized world must soon replacethe economics of growth with equilibrium economics. Pre-industrialsocieties have already learned to live in equilibrium -in harmony with nature.

It is assumed by many people in the industrialized North that if the developing countries would only learn mass production, modern farming techniques and a modern lifestyle, all would be well. However, a sustainable global future may require a transfer of knowledge, techniques and attitudes in preciselythe opposite direction - from pre-industrial societies to highlyindustrialized ones. The reason for this is that the older societies have cultures that allow them to live in a sustainable way, in harmony with nature. Thisis exactly what the highly industrial North must learn to do.

We need their voices today!

How can we avoid the ecological megacatastrophe that is currently threatening both human society and the biosphere? How can we achieve a stable and sustainable global society? Voices from those who have thought deeply about the problems can help us. We need their voices today!

Other books and articles about  global problems are on these links

http://eacpe.org/about-john-scales-avery/

https://wsimag.com/authors/716-john-scales-avery

I hope that you will circulate the links (as well as the link at the start of this article) to friends who might be interested.