A New Covenant With Nature: Notes on the End of Civilization and the Renewal of Culture [Hardcover]

Richard Heinberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 1996

Is modern civilization fundamentally flawed? Is society itself a world threatening catastrophe?

Editorial Reviews

Review

A New Covenant With Nature addresses such vital questions as "Has modern civilization really improved human life?"; "Is money evil?"; "Is government necessary?"; and "What can we each do to renew our connection with all that is wild, generative, and free?". Ecophilosopher Richard Heinberg"s A New Covenant With Nature is a radical and thought-provoking book providing perception and refreshing insight with wit, insight, and well articulated observations. Each culture, Heinberg shows, makes a covenant or agreement with nature. Our culture's agreement is obviously crumbling. If we are to create a new covenant, we must begin by rethinking the gives of society from the ground up, or even, quietly, desert the existing social system and help birth a better. one. A New Covenant With Nature is fascinating, thoughtful, and thought-provoking reading. A "must" for anyone concerned with the problems of the impact on ecology by 20th century industrial, cultural, and political values. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Quest Books (November 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0835607461
• ISBN-13: 978-0835607469
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,262,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Heinberg is the author of ten books including:

The End of Growth: Adapting to our New Economic Reality (June 2011)
Blackout: Coal, Climate, and the Last Energy Crisis (2009)
Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines (2007)
The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and Economic Collapse (2006)
Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World (2004)
The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies (2003)

He is Senior Fellow-in-Residence of the Institute and is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost Peak Oil educators. He has authored scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such journals as Nature, The Ecologist, The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, Quarterly Review, Z Magazine, Resurgence, The Futurist, European Business Review, Earth Island Journal, Yes!, Pacific Ecologist, and The Sun; and on web sites such as Alternet.org, EnergyBulletin.net, TheOilDrum.com, ProjectCensored.com, and Counterpunch.com.

He has appeared in many film and television documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio's 11th Hour, and is a recipient of the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education.

More information about Richard can be found on his website: richardheinberg.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new covenant with nature, November 30, 2008

By 

Jeffrey Funk (Bigfork, MT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A New Covenant With Nature: Notes on the End of Civilization and the Renewal of Culture (Hardcover)

Richard Heinberg is perhaps better known for his work on Peak Oil and resource depletion, but this 1996 work which fits more broadly into the realm of cultural ecology is terrifically insightful and urgently important today, in 2008. It approaches the subject of civilization from anthropological and spiritual perspectives that are both moving and brilliant. Highly recommended.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Broad-range discussion, totally grounded on fundamental questions., November 29, 2005

By 

ideas equate (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A New Covenant With Nature: Notes on the End of Civilization and the Renewal of Culture (Hardcover)

So broad yet rightly detailed -- a rare combination in modern writing.

The book cannot be simplified into one idea, but the big question seems to be, are our cultural choices inhuman and even worse?

Clearly and sincerely written, so that anyone anywhere on the spectrum of opinion can appreciate the thoughts and motivations of the writer.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More Hippie Claptrap, December 12, 2007

By 

Matthew Kruvczuk (King of Prussia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New Covenant With Nature: Notes on the End of Civilization and the Renewal of Culture (Hardcover)

This is just one more in a line of books that put forward no original ideas, but simply decries our interaction with the earth and suggests that something needs to be done. It suggests that the indigenous people of the world were right and we are all wrong.

It addresses serious problems, but does not provide any practical or novel contributions to the discussion.

In short, there are many books on this subject and this is not one of the best.