An excellent, if somewhat depressing, account of the many (he says 12 main) challenges facing us as 1st world society. He begins with a very interesting examination of several societies from the past and how they failed - I found the Greenland account most interesting, and most reflective of our society, I suppose because we are both european societies in origin.
His discussion of our current situation is clear and each of the 12 problems is presented succinctly. None of the problems are really news to anyone who has followed environmental issues over the past decade or two.
One idea that caught my attention was the idea that we in North America are not really wealthy - what we have been doing over the past 300 years is spending/depleting (devouring) the natural capital that was here in North America before colonization. The equivalent of spending your financial capital - this is false wealth that leads to crisis and poverty.
Another thing I got from the book is a different perspective on the daily news of conflict from around the world. It gives this news a different context, and environmental context. You can see many of the current conflicts in the world as stemming from some of the environmental issues he mentions - shortage of resources equals conflict between countries and elements of society.
The chapter on China is also interesting - the news coverage of China does not portray the deep environmental hole they continue to dig themselves into. Expenditure of natural capital on an unprecedented scale.
Highly recommened. With an extensive bibliography at the back if you want to depress yourself further...
His final comment - "cautious optimism", which I think is generous.
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