Table des matières

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Evolutionary Challenge
    At the cutting edge
    From tipping points to transformation
    Changing the world
    The design of this book

Part 1: Collapse — the dominant trend
Chapter 1: Overshoot
    The debate over limits to growth
    Growing populations
    Growing consumption
    Available global resources
    Ecological footprints
    Overshoot

Chapter 2: Growing Global Crises
    Vital signs
    Growing energy shortages
    Increasing climate change
    Growing water shortages
    Growing food shortages
    Accelerating rates of extinction
    Growing crises
    Rich world, poor vision
    Spaceship Earth

Chapter 3: The Unsustainable Global Culture
    The fundamental problem
    Greeds not needs
    Socially structured behaviors
    Fear and addiction
    Real and artificial scarcity
    Structural inequality and structural violence
    Selfishness and exploitation
    Hierarchy and discrimination
    Cultures of violence
    War and domination
    Cultural destruction
    How much is enough?

Chapter 4: The Need for a New Model
    The historical expansion of the industrial system
    The evolution of the industrial system
    The origins of the industrial worldview
    The development of industrial social structures
    The development of industrial technologies
    Designed for constant growth
    An obsolete model

Chapter 5: Cascading Crises and System Failure
    Why earlier civilizations have collapsed
    The causes of collapse
    The loss of resilience
    Parameters and perfect storms
    The consequences of system failure
    Why we can't see the dangers

Part 2: Transformation —the emerging trend
Chapter 6: Sustaining Development or Developing Sustainability?
    What is sustainable development?
    What are biophysical needs?
    What are human needs?
    Genuine Progress Indicators
    The requirements of a sustainable societal system

Chapter 7: Transformative Material Technologies
    New scientific paradigms
    The emerging worldview
    The promise of new technologies
    Renewable energies
    Conservation
    Nanotechnologies, biotechnologies and biomimicry
    Decentralized, distributed production
    Computers and the Internet
    Whole-systems design
    Ecodesign
    The limits of market forces
    Planning for sustainable development
    Flipping the paradigm
    The evolutionary race

Chapter 8: Transformative Ideas and Social Movements
    History is now
    The process of social transformation
    Growing awareness and rising expectations
    Changing global values
    The power of social movements
    The emerging integral worldview
    The spread of deep democracy

Chapter 9: Constructive and Destructive Responses to Crises
    Forecasting the future
    Probable responses to growing energy shortages
    Probable responses to growing water and food shortages
    Probable responses to growing economic crises
    Probable responses to conflicts over scarce resources
    Probable responses to climate change and the loss of biodiversity

Chapter 10: Future Scenarios
    The two main trends — collapse and transformation
    The three possible future scenarios
    The strengths and weaknesses of the global system
    Constructive and destructive interventions
    Scenario 1: Business as usual
    Scenario 2: Adjusting the existing system
    Scenario 3: Transformational change
    The dynamics of societal change
    Possible time frames for future scenarios
    The risks and costs of action versus inaction
    Constructive change is possible

Chapter 11: The Design of a Flourishing Earth Community
    Health is wholeness
    Conscious self-organization
    Governance and peace
    Individual and societal health
    The culture pattern of a sustainable civilization

Chapter 12. Tools for Transformation
    The power of love
    The moral imperative
    Helping people become engaged
    The Earth Charter
    Building global agreement
    Supporting constructive change
    Include and transcend
    Truth, trust and transformation
    Courage and commitment
    Supporting evolution: the magical formula
    Love and faith: the gift of our ancestors

Endnotes
Index
About the Author and Illustrator

The brink of catastrophe or the edge of evolution? The choice is ours.

La description

It is now 5 minutes to midnight on the Doomsday Clock, reflecting the fact that we are closer to assuring the obliteration of our species than we have been at any time since the early eighties. We are rapidly approaching a tipping point, where we will either transform our violent, exploitative global system into a peaceful, cooperative one, or enter a catastrophic decline. Evolution’s Edge shows that limitless economic expansion is impossible on a finite planet. Our growth-based global system will collapse as critical resources become scarce and major ecosystems fail. However, new ideas, values and technologies can help us avoid disaster and create a better world. Using evolutionary systems theory, Evolution’s Edge explains how societies evolve and why rapid, non-linear change is not only possible but inevitable. It describes:

  • Collapse — how cascading crises will soon provoke system failure
  • Transformation — how emerging technologies, ideas, values and social organizations are supporting the evolution of a sustainable system
  • Analysis — how societies evolve into increasingly complex and conscious systems
  • Action — how a common, cooperative vision can accelerate constructive global change.

Evolution’s Edge is the winner of the 2009 Independent Publisher’s (IPPY) Outstanding Book of the Year Award in the category “Most Likely to Save the Planet”. The book is a practical guide to a sustainable future and is vital reading for activists, educators, progressive thinkers and anyone concerned about the state of our world.