Description
New Society Publishers Life Rules Natures Blueprint for Surviving Economic and Environmental Collapse by Ellen LaConte
Corporate capitalism has ravaged the planet the same way HIV ravages the human body, triggering a critical mass of cascading environmental, economic, social, and political crises. Economic and climate instability, collapsing ecosystems, peak fossil fuels, devastating resource wars--if the Earth were a patient, her condition would be critical. Life Rules offers a comprehensive analysis of our present circumstances, combined with a holistic treatment protocol for restoring health to vulnerable human and natural communities. Predicting that Life will last, but if we don't make some fundamental changes, life as we know it--and a lot of us--won't, Life Rules identifies natural laws that have allowed non-human communities to thrive and prosper for several billion years, including: * Local self-reliance * Mutual interdependence * Reliance on non-fossil sources of energy * Resource conservation, sharing, and recycling * Radically democratic self-organization and governance This sobering yet essentially optimistic manifesto is required reading for anyone concerned about our ability to live within Earth's means.A powerful tool for community transition and cultural transformation, Life Rules offers a solution to our global challenges that is at once authentically hopeful, deeply inspiring, and profoundly liberating. Ellen LaConte is acting director of the EarthWalk Alliance, a contributing editor to Green Horizon Magazine and The Ecozoic, a frequent talk show guest, and publisher of the Starting Point online newsletter. She has written two books about Helen and Scott Nearing, homesteaders and best-selling authors of Living the Good Life, and she is the author of the upcoming environmental novel Afton.show more