Climate change, along with the depletion of oil, coal, and gas dictate that we will inevitably move away from our profound societal reliance on fossil fuels; but just how big a transformation will this be? While many policy-makers assume that renewable energy sources will provide an easy "plug-and-play" solution, author Richard Heinberg suggests instead that we are in for a wild ride; a "civilization reboot" on a scale similar to the agricultural and industrial revolutions.
Afterburn consists of 15 essays exploring various aspects of the 21st century migration away from fossil fuels including:
- Short-term political and economic factors that impede broad-scale, organized efforts to adapt
- The origin of longer-term trends (such as consumerism), that have created a way of life that seems "normal" to most Americans, but is actually unprecedented, highly fragile, and unsustainable
- Potential opportunities and sources of conflict that are likely to emerge.
From the inevitability and desirability of more locally organized economies, to the urgent need to preserve our recent cultural achievements and the futility of pursuing economic growth above all, Afterburn offers cutting-edge perspectives and insights that challenge conventional thinking about our present, our future, and the choices in our hands.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-195) and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Description conventions
- rda
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 304.2
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 23
- Distributor
- Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
- General Note
- A collection of 15 essays written in the years 2011-2014 and previously published on the websites resilience.org, commondreams.org, and earthisland.org, and in Orion magazine Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- ISBN
- 1550925849 9781550925845
- LCCN
- HM681
- LCCN Item number
- H44 2015eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaBNVSL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (ix, 205 pages)
- Published in
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00930617 (OCoLC)913977468 (CaOOCEL)467314
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Title proper/short title
- Society beyond fossil fuels
- Transcribing agency
- CaBNVSL
Table of Contents
- Front Cover 1
- Praise 2
- Title Page 6
- Rights Page 7
- Contents 8
- Acknowledgments 10
- Introduction 12
- Chapter 1: Ten Years After 18
- Chapter 2: The Gross Society 30
- Chapter 3: Visualize Gasoline 44
- Chapter 4: The Climate PR Puzzle 48
- Chapter 5: The Purposely Confusing World of Energy Politics 58
- Chapter 6: The Brief, Tragic Reign of Consumerism—and the Birth of a Happy Alternative 68
- Chapter 7: Fingers in the Dike 76
- Chapter 8: Your Post-Petroleum Future (a commencement address) 84
- Chapter 9: The Fight of the Century 94
- Chapter 10: The Anthropocene: It’s Not All About Us 114
- Chapter 11: Conflict in the Era of Economic Decline 128
- Chapter 12: All Roads Lead Local 144
- Chapter 13: Our Evanescent Culture—and the Awesome Duty of Librarians 158
- Chapter 14: Our Cooperative Darwinian Moment 172
- Chapter 15: Want to Change the World? Read This First 182
- Notes 196
- Index 208
- About the Author 216
- A Guide to Responsible Digital Reading 217
- Books to Build a New Society 218
