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The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World Paperback – October 1, 2009
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How to survive and thrive in the post-industrial age
In response to the coming impact of peak oil, John Michael Greer helps us envision the transition from an industrial society to a sustainable ecotechnic world-not returning to the past, but creating a society that supports relatively advanced technology on a sustainable resource base.
Fusing human ecology and history, this book challenges assumptions held by mainstream and alternative thinkers about the evolution of human societies. Human societies, like ecosystems, evolve in complex and unpredictable ways, making it futile to try to impose rigid ideological forms on the patterns of evolutionary change. Instead, social change must explore many pathways over which we have no control. The troubling and exhilarating prospect of an open-ended future, he proposes, requires dissensus-a deliberate acceptance of radical diversity that widens the range of potential approaches to infinity.
Written in three parts, the book places the present crisis of the industrial world in its historical and ecological context in part one; part two explores the toolkit for Ecotechnic Age, and part three opens a door to the complexity of future visions.
For anyone concerned about peak oil and the future of the industrial society, this book provides a solid analysis of how we got to where we are, and a practical toolkit to prepare for the future.
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherNew Society Publishers
- Publication dateOctober 1, 2009
- Dimensions6 x 0.58 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100865716390
- ISBN-13978-0865716391
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Greer's work is nothing short of brilliant. He has the multidisciplinary smarts to deeply understand our human dilemma as we stand on the verge of the inevitable collapse of industrialism. And he wields uncommon writing skills, making his diagnosis and prescription entertaining, illuminating, and practically informative. Not to be missed."
Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute and author of Peak Everything
"There is a great deal of conventional wisdom about our collective ecological crisis out there in books. The enormous virtue of John Michael Greer's work is that his wisdom is never conventional, but profound and imaginative. There's no one who makes me think harder, and The Ecotechnic Future pushes Greer's vision, and our thought processes in important directions."
Sharon Astyk, farmer, blogger (SharonAstyk.com) and author of Depletion and Abundance and A Nation of Farmers
"In The Ecotechnic Future, John Michael Greer dispels our fantasies of a tidy, controlled transition from industrial society to a post-industrial milieu. The process will be ragged and rugged and will not invariably constitute an evolutionary leap for the human species. It will, however, offer myriad opportunities to create a society that bolsters complex technology which at the same time, maintains a sustainable interaction with the ecosystem. Greer brilliantly inspires us to integrate the two in our thinking and to construct local communities which concretely exemplify this comprehensive vision."
Carolyn Baker, author of Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse and publisher/editor, Speaking Truth to Power (CarolynBaker.net )
Review
"Greer's work is nothing short of brilliant. He has the multidisciplinary smarts to deeply understand our human dilemma as we stand on the verge of the inevitable collapse of industrialism. And he wields uncommon writing skills, making his diagnosis and prescription entertaining, illuminating, and practically informative. Not to be missed."
Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute and author of Peak Everything
"There is a great deal of conventional wisdom about our collective ecological crisis out there in books. The enormous virtue of John Michael Greer's work is that his wisdom is never conventional, but profound and imaginative. There's no one who makes me think harder, and The Ecotechnic Future pushes Greer's vision, and our thought processes in important directions."
Sharon Astyk, farmer, blogger (SharonAstyk.com) and author of Depletion and Abundance and A Nation of Farmers
"In The Ecotechnic Future, John Michael Greer dispels our fantasies of a tidy, controlled transition from industrial society to a post-industrial milieu. The process will be ragged and rugged and will not invariably constitute an evolutionary leap for the human species. It will, however, offer myriad opportunities to create a society that bolsters complex technology which at the same time, maintains a sustainable interaction with the ecosystem. Greer brilliantly inspires us to integrate the two in our thinking and to construct local communities which concretely exemplify this comprehensive vision."
Carolyn Baker, author of Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse and publisher/editor, Speaking Truth to Power (CarolynBaker.net )
Book Description
How to survive and thrive in the post-industrial age
From the Inside Flap
Greer's work is nothing short of brilliant. entertaining, illuminating, and practically informative. Not to be missed.
Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, and author of Peak Everything
As peak oil reshapes the terrain of our future, John Michael Greer offers an inspiring vision of cultural evolution rooted in environmental science. Human societies are ecosystems, subject to the same rules as other living communities, and follow trajectories of change over which we have no control.
The crisis of the industrial world can be seen as the first stage in a complex and challenging transition that leads, not back to past social patterns, but forward to a new kind of human ecology -- the ecotechnic societies of the far future -- that can support relatively advanced technologies on a sustainable resource base.
The Ecotechnic Future prepares us for the long transition to the ecotechnic age by offering:
- a compelling exploration of the future taking shape ahead of us,
- a useful guide to the tools and resources needed to navigate the transition, and
- a vision of the open-ended possibilities of a world we are called upon to create.
For anyone concerned about peak oil and the future of industrial society, this book is an essential guide to the deep patterns of change wracking the world today, and a practical toolkit for building a sustainable future.
Greer brilliantly inspires us to construct local communities which concretely exemplify [his] comprehensive vision of a post-industrial milieu.
-- Carolyn Baker, author of Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse, and publisher/editor, Speaking Truth to Power (CarolynBaker.net)
John Michael Greer is a certified Master Conserver, organic gardener, and scholar of ecological history. He is the author of The Long Descent, and he blogs at TheArchdruidReport.blogspot.com.
From the Back Cover
Greer's work is nothing short of brilliant. … entertaining, illuminating, and practically informative. Not to be missed.
Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, and author of Peak Everything
As peak oil reshapes the terrain of our future, John Michael Greer offers an inspiring vision of cultural evolution rooted in environmental science. Human societies are ecosystems, subject to the same rules as other living communities, and follow trajectories of change over which we have no control.
The crisis of the industrial world can be seen as the first stage in a complex and challenging transition that leads, not back to past social patterns, but forward to a new kind of human ecology -- the ecotechnic societies of the far future -- that can support relatively advanced technologies on a sustainable resource base.
The Ecotechnic Future prepares us for the long transition to the ecotechnic age by offering:
- a compelling exploration of the future taking shape ahead of us,
- a useful guide to the tools and resources needed to navigate the transition, and
- a vision of the open-ended possibilities of a world we are called upon to create.
For anyone concerned about peak oil and the future of industrial society, this book is an essential guide to the deep patterns of change wracking the world today, and a practical toolkit for building a sustainable future.
Greer brilliantly inspires us to … construct local communities which concretely exemplify [his] comprehensive vision of a post-industrial milieu.
-- Carolyn Baker, author of Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse, and publisher/editor, Speaking Truth to Power (CarolynBaker.net)
John Michael Greer is a certified Master Conserver, organic gardener, and scholar of ecological history. He is the author of The Long Descent, and he blogs at TheArchdruidReport.blogspot.com.
About the Author
John Michael Greer is a scholar of ecological history, an award-winning author and an internationally renowned Peak Oil theorist whose blog, "The Archdruid Report", has become one of the most widely cited online resources dealing with the future of industrial society. He is a certified Master Conserver, an organic gardener, and has been active in the alternative spirituality movement for more than 25 years. John lives in Cumberland, MD.
Product details
- Publisher : New Society Publishers; First Edition (October 1, 2009)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0865716390
- ISBN-13 : 978-0865716391
- Item Weight : 1.03 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.58 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,251,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #523 in Canadian Politics
- #2,134 in Globalization & Politics
- #3,244 in Human Geography (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Born in the gritty Navy town of Bremerton, Washington and raised in the south Seattle suburbs, I began writing about as soon as I could hold a pencil. SF editor George Scithers' dictum that all would-be writers have a million words of so of bad prose in them, and have to write it out, pretty much sums up the couple of decades between my first serious attempt to write a book and my first published book, "Paths of Wisdom", which appeared in 1996. These days I live in Cumberland, Maryland with my spouse Sara; serve as presiding officer -- Grand Archdruid is the official title -- of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), a Druid order founded in 1912; and write in half a dozen nonfiction fields, nearly all of them focused on the revival of forgotten ideas, insights, and traditions of practice from the rubbish heap of history.
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What I like about this book is that Greer shows an unusually large amount of humility and restraint for a futurist. Rather than paint a dramatic and detailed picture of America's future, he has the maturity to make some broad guesses while acknowledging the details are currently unknowable (and largely irrelevant).
Greer is at his best when reminding us that humans get no exemptions from ecological law, and he uses Nature as a great source for metaphors for the current human condition. An articulate writer with encyclopedic knowledge, Greer takes us on a compelling jaunt through a decidedly downbeat future. Weirdly, it was enjoyable.
I've bought copies of this book for two of my friends. The ultimate vote.
Furthermore, there is absolutely no way to communicate with Amazon about this situation. No customer service anywhere. I will not buy from Amazon again unless they respond to this in someway.
I am rating this book a five because I know that it will be when I order it from my local bookstore.
