Author(s): Richard Heinberg

Society & Culture

Power -- why giving it up might just save humanity and the planet

This is the story of power -- humanity's power over nature and the power of some people over others.

How has Homo sapiens -- one species among millions -- become powerful enough to threaten a mass extinction and disrupt the Earth's climate? Why have we developed so many ways of oppressing one another? Can we change our relationship with power to avert ecological catastrophe, reduce social inequality, and stave off collapse?

These questions -- and their answers -- will determine our fate.

Weaving together findings from a wide range of disciplines, Power traces how four key elements developed to give humans extraordinary power: tool making ability, language, social complexity, and the ability to harness energy sources -- most significantly, fossil fuels. It asks whether we have, at this point, overpowered natural and social systems, and if we have, what we can do about it.

Most crucially, the book explores how self-limitation of power is rooted in evolution and human history, though our memory of it has been buried under a century of fossil-fuel driven economic growth. Now, at this vital moment, we must rapidly relearn the lessons of power if humanity is to have a thriving future.

Essential reading for everyone who calls planet Earth home.