Very informative book, 08 Aug 2007
This book is used as a study material at the Open University in Energy for a sustainable future course (T206).

The boook won't tell you how to fit a solar panel or a wind turbine on your roof nor how to connect your panels to the battery but it will tell you about various renewable energy sources and its pros and cons. The book looks at the energy needs on local, national and international scale, not on individuals scale. Each chapter also has a large list of references for further information.

There is a lot of calculations present so, you'll be able for example to calculate the area of solar panels required for your needs or prove that off shore wind turbines generate more electricity than on shore ones.

I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in renewable energy.

Very informative book, 08 Aug 2007
This book is used as a study material at the Open University in Energy for a sustainable future course (T206).

The boook won't tell you how to fit a solar panel or a wind turbine on your roof nor how to connect your panels to the battery but it will tell you about various renewable energy sources and its pros and cons. The book looks at the energy needs on local, national and international scale, not on individuals scale. Each chapter also has a large list of references for further information.

There is a lot of calculations present so, you'll be able for example to calculate the area of solar panels required for your needs or prove that off shore wind turbines generate more electricity than on shore ones.

I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in renewable energy.

Disappointing, 10 Oct 2008
I found the book rather parochial, limited in scope, and a bit too middle-class or Sunday supplement resembling in its content. One for rapid recycling to the shelves of Oxfam I'm afraid.

a plea for downshifting, in our and in the planet's interest, 30 Jul 2008
This book argues that what doesn't work for human happiness and wellbeing doesn't work well for the planet. Good lives should not, indeed ought not to be allowed to cost the earth. The argument, delivered trough a fractured prism of more than 20 (British) voices, unfolds at two levels.

First there is the growing body of science that shows how increasing levels of affluence do not translate automatically into a greater sense of wellbeing. Above a certain, fairly modest level of material and financial security, intangibles such as family relationships, meaningful work and health become much more important predictors of happiness than income. However, our selfishly capitalist society works hard to keep us onto the "hedonic treadmill" and make us forget these essentials.

The environmental agenda puts the discussion on a moral plane. Climate change is forcefully telling us something that we've known for a couple of decades: we have been overconsuming our natural resource base and as a result we have burdened ourselves with a potentially disastrous ecological debt. This is a moral issue as the downside consequences of our gluttony not only affect us but also the billions in less developed countries and those unhappy generations inheriting the planet.

This book argues that this crisis can only be successfully tackled by taking the sting out of the consumerist virus. We have to jump of the threadmill, get thriftier and do more with less. That much is clear. But a set of questions emerges upon which authors in this book formulate different answers.

One question has to do with the level - personal or policy - from which this transformation needs to be driven. Quite a few authors think it is really up to us, individual citizen-consumers: by changing the way we live, we influence the larger world around us. We shouldn't wait for a post-Kyoto climate pact to come about (if it ever does), we just need to take the first step by honestly asking ourselves: "what is a good life for me and what does it have to cost?" Deep down we know the answer to that question. We know we don't need all the "stuff". We know we should be courageous enough to wrest control over our own lives from the advertisement industry, the car industry, big retail, financial services. These contributors try to convince us of the fact that this isn't as hard as it seems: first focus on slight changes, then gradually start to rediscover the sophistication in simplicity and the joy of intangibles.

This book sheds little light on the role of macro-level policies in this transformation. Yes, we need new indicators to measure our progress towards realistic, sustainable goals. The intellectual monoculture of GDP needs to be enriched with other, more nuanced parameters that reflect how we manage our environmental resources and how happy we are. But the discussion is very thin and patchy on the complex governance issues surrounding these macro-societal transformations: what novel institutions and risk and burden sharing mechanisms do we need? How do micro-scale processes link into changes involving more expansive socio-technical systems? The book doesn't deal with these issues. It is a missed opportunity as it seems to me that there is an emerging body of knowledge (labelled as transition management, transdisciplinarity and action learning) that could provide significant impetus to this discussion.

A second question that emerges from these pages has to do with the spirit with which this whole process of downshifting is going to be imbued. Designer Kevin McCloud (his contribution is one of the highlights of this book) tackles the issue head-on when he says: "For me the great danger is that we pursue the quick fix. If we're not careful we'll go down this terrible, utilitarian, shaker route where we all end up being dour ethically-shrunken miserabilists." Indeed, there is a grave risk is that this whole undertaking - necessary as it may be - turns into some nightmarish, eco-fascistoid fantasy. The stakes are indeed high. Irreversible climate change is upon us. According to some of the authors, we have only a decade to steer the juggernaut on a fundamentally different course. Although several authors stress the enabling, joyful nature of the necessary adjustment to new realities, there are sterner and more alarmist voices in this book. They unwittingly send shivers down our spine: what will happen if peer pressure, what if the slow and compromising policy machinery and feedback signals from nature are unable to generate enough momentum in downshifting the populations of industrial nations? That's another question that is not answered, only hinted at in this book.

Hmmmm???, 24 Jun 2008
This book had some good and worthwhile points but was also painfully middle-class in regards to the scope of its outlook and addressing the full scale of our environmental problems. What do I mean by this? Well, while it's all well and good to consider sustainable forms of energy, hybrid forms of non-Co2 producing vehicles and cutting ones carbon footprint by not holidaying abroad, the contributors to this book tend to forget that all of this takes money!!! (Something which few themselves appear to lack). While this is fine for the sort of individual or family who formally did the weekly shop at M&S... Tunisian grapes individually placed in a plastic box on top of bubble wrap, how nice... there is little consideration for the significant percentage of the populous for whom such things as a holiday abroad or 'organically reared' chicken are a luxury.
Don't get me wrong, any form of encouragement to be more conscientious in regards to how we collectively, and as individuals, effect the environment is undoubtedly a good thing but to affect any real change the solutions would have to be far more dramatic than any offered here... a significant change in industrial legislation and a government environmental policy that offers realistic alternatives might be an idea, as opposed to making us all feel bad for our "carbon footprints".
'Good Lives...' is a nice book to put on your bespoke Danish wall units or to read on your fortnights sojourn in Tuscany, but apart from that it's just more middle-class guilt tripping to worry you into buying more things you'll probably never need.

Enlightens and entertains - what more could you want?!, 05 May 2008
Blimey. A book that enlightens entertains and most importantly, enthuses. For anyone who's ever felt weighed down by doom and gloom-mongering environmentalism, it's the perfect read - an honest look at the state of the planet with a positive approach to how we can tackle the challenges and live happier lives in the process. It's a real `want to buy it for everyone you know' one. Brilliant.




time for an environmental, social and economic renaissance, 04 Mar 2008
The concept behind this book is simple, but very important - good lives do not need to cost the earth. Where many environmentalists have called for sacrifice, abstinence, and the wearing of hair-shirts, the contributing writers to this collection call for more parties, tighter communities, healthier work patterns, better architecture, and better food.

As you may have guessed, this is a very varied set of contributions. Philip Pullman warns environmentalists that they need to tell better stories. David Goldblatt discusses the future of sport and worries that golf's days may be numbered. Anne Pettifor explores how credit is created and demands free money, and Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler calls for us all to do less. There is plenty of food for thought here, all delivered with a lightness of touch. It brings together the environment, economics, psychology and politics to explore a holistic sustainability agenda, and the emphasis is on inspiring, not berating.
Perhaps Colin Tudge says it best in describing the movement as a renaissance - something that is grass roots, but not a revolution - just people seeing things differently and changing their lives.

Very informative book, 08 Aug 2007
This book is used as a study material at the Open University in Energy for a sustainable future course (T206).

The boook won't tell you how to fit a solar panel or a wind turbine on your roof nor how to connect your panels to the battery but it will tell you about various renewable energy sources and its pros and cons. The book looks at the energy needs on local, national and international scale, not on individuals scale. Each chapter also has a large list of references for further information.

There is a lot of calculations present so, you'll be able for example to calculate the area of solar panels required for your needs or prove that off shore wind turbines generate more electricity than on shore ones.

I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in renewable energy.

Disappointing, 10 Oct 2008
I found the book rather parochial, limited in scope, and a bit too middle-class or Sunday supplement resembling in its content. One for rapid recycling to the shelves of Oxfam I'm afraid.

a plea for downshifting, in our and in the planet's interest, 30 Jul 2008
This book argues that what doesn't work for human happiness and wellbeing doesn't work well for the planet. Good lives should not, indeed ought not to be allowed to cost the earth. The argument, delivered trough a fractured prism of more than 20 (British) voices, unfolds at two levels.

First there is the growing body of science that shows how increasing levels of affluence do not translate automatically into a greater sense of wellbeing. Above a certain, fairly modest level of material and financial security, intangibles such as family relationships, meaningful work and health become much more important predictors of happiness than income. However, our selfishly capitalist society works hard to keep us onto the "hedonic treadmill" and make us forget these essentials.

The environmental agenda puts the discussion on a moral plane. Climate change is forcefully telling us something that we've known for a couple of decades: we have been overconsuming our natural resource base and as a result we have burdened ourselves with a potentially disastrous ecological debt. This is a moral issue as the downside consequences of our gluttony not only affect us but also the billions in less developed countries and those unhappy generations inheriting the planet.

This book argues that this crisis can only be successfully tackled by taking the sting out of the consumerist virus. We have to jump of the threadmill, get thriftier and do more with less. That much is clear. But a set of questions emerges upon which authors in this book formulate different answers.

One question has to do with the level - personal or policy - from which this transformation needs to be driven. Quite a few authors think it is really up to us, individual citizen-consumers: by changing the way we live, we influence the larger world around us. We shouldn't wait for a post-Kyoto climate pact to come about (if it ever does), we just need to take the first step by honestly asking ourselves: "what is a good life for me and what does it have to cost?" Deep down we know the answer to that question. We know we don't need all the "stuff". We know we should be courageous enough to wrest control over our own lives from the advertisement industry, the car industry, big retail, financial services. These contributors try to convince us of the fact that this isn't as hard as it seems: first focus on slight changes, then gradually start to rediscover the sophistication in simplicity and the joy of intangibles.

This book sheds little light on the role of macro-level policies in this transformation. Yes, we need new indicators to measure our progress towards realistic, sustainable goals. The intellectual monoculture of GDP needs to be enriched with other, more nuanced parameters that reflect how we manage our environmental resources and how happy we are. But the discussion is very thin and patchy on the complex governance issues surrounding these macro-societal transformations: what novel institutions and risk and burden sharing mechanisms do we need? How do micro-scale processes link into changes involving more expansive socio-technical systems? The book doesn't deal with these issues. It is a missed opportunity as it seems to me that there is an emerging body of knowledge (labelled as transition management, transdisciplinarity and action learning) that could provide significant impetus to this discussion.

A second question that emerges from these pages has to do with the spirit with which this whole process of downshifting is going to be imbued. Designer Kevin McCloud (his contribution is one of the highlights of this book) tackles the issue head-on when he says: "For me the great danger is that we pursue the quick fix. If we're not careful we'll go down this terrible, utilitarian, shaker route where we all end up being dour ethically-shrunken miserabilists." Indeed, there is a grave risk is that this whole undertaking - necessary as it may be - turns into some nightmarish, eco-fascistoid fantasy. The stakes are indeed high. Irreversible climate change is upon us. According to some of the authors, we have only a decade to steer the juggernaut on a fundamentally different course. Although several authors stress the enabling, joyful nature of the necessary adjustment to new realities, there are sterner and more alarmist voices in this book. They unwittingly send shivers down our spine: what will happen if peer pressure, what if the slow and compromising policy machinery and feedback signals from nature are unable to generate enough momentum in downshifting the populations of industrial nations? That's another question that is not answered, only hinted at in this book.

Hmmmm???, 24 Jun 2008
This book had some good and worthwhile points but was also painfully middle-class in regards to the scope of its outlook and addressing the full scale of our environmental problems. What do I mean by this? Well, while it's all well and good to consider sustainable forms of energy, hybrid forms of non-Co2 producing vehicles and cutting ones carbon footprint by not holidaying abroad, the contributors to this book tend to forget that all of this takes money!!! (Something which few themselves appear to lack). While this is fine for the sort of individual or family who formally did the weekly shop at M&S... Tunisian grapes individually placed in a plastic box on top of bubble wrap, how nice... there is little consideration for the significant percentage of the populous for whom such things as a holiday abroad or 'organically reared' chicken are a luxury.
Don't get me wrong, any form of encouragement to be more conscientious in regards to how we collectively, and as individuals, effect the environment is undoubtedly a good thing but to affect any real change the solutions would have to be far more dramatic than any offered here... a significant change in industrial legislation and a government environmental policy that offers realistic alternatives might be an idea, as opposed to making us all feel bad for our "carbon footprints".
'Good Lives...' is a nice book to put on your bespoke Danish wall units or to read on your fortnights sojourn in Tuscany, but apart from that it's just more middle-class guilt tripping to worry you into buying more things you'll probably never need.

Enlightens and entertains - what more could you want?!, 05 May 2008
Blimey. A book that enlightens entertains and most importantly, enthuses. For anyone who's ever felt weighed down by doom and gloom-mongering environmentalism, it's the perfect read - an honest look at the state of the planet with a positive approach to how we can tackle the challenges and live happier lives in the process. It's a real `want to buy it for everyone you know' one. Brilliant.




time for an environmental, social and economic renaissance, 04 Mar 2008
The concept behind this book is simple, but very important - good lives do not need to cost the earth. Where many environmentalists have called for sacrifice, abstinence, and the wearing of hair-shirts, the contributing writers to this collection call for more parties, tighter communities, healthier work patterns, better architecture, and better food.

As you may have guessed, this is a very varied set of contributions. Philip Pullman warns environmentalists that they need to tell better stories. David Goldblatt discusses the future of sport and worries that golf's days may be numbered. Anne Pettifor explores how credit is created and demands free money, and Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler calls for us all to do less. There is plenty of food for thought here, all delivered with a lightness of touch. It brings together the environment, economics, psychology and politics to explore a holistic sustainability agenda, and the emphasis is on inspiring, not berating.
Perhaps Colin Tudge says it best in describing the movement as a renaissance - something that is grass roots, but not a revolution - just people seeing things differently and changing their lives.

When demand outstrips supply, 26 Sep 2005
Overshoot: when demand overtakes supply.

I recall buying the original edition of this book back in 1972, and also recall the rubbishing it got from those who believed it was all scare mongering.

The events of the 1970's should have acted as wake-up call, but they now seem like a distant memory: the three-day-week, the power cuts, the petrol rationing coupons (never implemented).

Since 1972, growth has been given a huge boost by globalisation, and the take-offs in China and India.

When this book was published in its 1992 edition - 'Beyond the Limits' - the authors warned that unsustainability was already evident: deforestation, climate change, the ozone hole.

They point to the failure of various international summits to get a grip on the problem.

It seems that our elites are vaguely aware that there is a problem here, and mention it in passing to give the impression that they on the case. It is usually on the list of the many things the Prime Minister is going to sort out before dinner.

The Kyoto protocols were some sort of triumph. But the developing nations, like China and India were not included and George W Bush doesn't seem to be persuaded that there's a problem.

The lack of urgency is widespread: as the victims of Katrina and Rita now know better than the rest of us.

Yet it's all something we know. We all know, for example, that the oil is going to dry up some day, but what the heck? It won't be next week, will it?

But someday it is going to be someone else's next week.

When that time comes, all the lost local skills will suddenly be missed. For that is what it will be: a return to the local economy. Your food, your shelter, your clothing, will all have be sourced locally. In the UK's case it's drop-back over two hundred years, minus the skills that were around in those days.

So, for the third time since 1972, the authors lay it all before us: what needs to be done.

First, and most painfully, there is no time to be lost:

"The longer the world economy takes to reduce its ecological footprint and move towards sustainability, the lower the population and material standard of living that will be ultimately supportable. At some point delay means collapse."

In the chapter "Transitions to a Sustainable System" the authors show us just how dramatic the changes need to be.

They offer our elites the chance to start the changes now, while there is time to manage the changeover.

They all make sense, but they require something more than political action, they require an end to individualism as we have known it. This is the leap many people will not be able to make

Out must go the competition for individual power, status, and wealth which are the engines of the current society. Reflect on that: and you see the enormity of the task.

Very informative book, 08 Aug 2007
This book is used as a study material at the Open University in Energy for a sustainable future course (T206).

The boook won't tell you how to fit a solar panel or a wind turbine on your roof nor how to connect your panels to the battery but it will tell you about various renewable energy sources and its pros and cons. The book looks at the energy needs on local, national and international scale, not on individuals scale. Each chapter also has a large list of references for further information.

There is a lot of calculations present so, you'll be able for example to calculate the area of solar panels required for your needs or prove that off shore wind turbines generate more electricity than on shore ones.

I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in renewable energy.

Disappointing, 10 Oct 2008
I found the book rather parochial, limited in scope, and a bit too middle-class or Sunday supplement resembling in its content. One for rapid recycling to the shelves of Oxfam I'm afraid.

a plea for downshifting, in our and in the planet's interest, 30 Jul 2008
This book argues that what doesn't work for human happiness and wellbeing doesn't work well for the planet. Good lives should not, indeed ought not to be allowed to cost the earth. The argument, delivered trough a fractured prism of more than 20 (British) voices, unfolds at two levels.

First there is the growing body of science that shows how increasing levels of affluence do not translate automatically into a greater sense of wellbeing. Above a certain, fairly modest level of material and financial security, intangibles such as family relationships, meaningful work and health become much more important predictors of happiness than income. However, our selfishly capitalist society works hard to keep us onto the "hedonic treadmill" and make us forget these essentials.

The environmental agenda puts the discussion on a moral plane. Climate change is forcefully telling us something that we've known for a couple of decades: we have been overconsuming our natural resource base and as a result we have burdened ourselves with a potentially disastrous ecological debt. This is a moral issue as the downside consequences of our gluttony not only affect us but also the billions in less developed countries and those unhappy generations inheriting the planet.

This book argues that this crisis can only be successfully tackled by taking the sting out of the consumerist virus. We have to jump of the threadmill, get thriftier and do more with less. That much is clear. But a set of questions emerges upon which authors in this book formulate different answers.

One question has to do with the level - personal or policy - from which this transformation needs to be driven. Quite a few authors think it is really up to us, individual citizen-consumers: by changing the way we live, we influence the larger world around us. We shouldn't wait for a post-Kyoto climate pact to come about (if it ever does), we just need to take the first step by honestly asking ourselves: "what is a good life for me and what does it have to cost?" Deep down we know the answer to that question. We know we don't need all the "stuff". We know we should be courageous enough to wrest control over our own lives from the advertisement industry, the car industry, big retail, financial services. These contributors try to convince us of the fact that this isn't as hard as it seems: first focus on slight changes, then gradually start to rediscover the sophistication in simplicity and the joy of intangibles.

This book sheds little light on the role of macro-level policies in this transformation. Yes, we need new indicators to measure our progress towards realistic, sustainable goals. The intellectual monoculture of GDP needs to be enriched with other, more nuanced parameters that reflect how we manage our environmental resources and how happy we are. But the discussion is very thin and patchy on the complex governance issues surrounding these macro-societal transformations: what novel institutions and risk and burden sharing mechanisms do we need? How do micro-scale processes link into changes involving more expansive socio-technical systems? The book doesn't deal with these issues. It is a missed opportunity as it seems to me that there is an emerging body of knowledge (labelled as transition management, transdisciplinarity and action learning) that could provide significant impetus to this discussion.

A second question that emerges from these pages has to do with the spirit with which this whole process of downshifting is going to be imbued. Designer Kevin McCloud (his contribution is one of the highlights of this book) tackles the issue head-on when he says: "For me the great danger is that we pursue the quick fix. If we're not careful we'll go down this terrible, utilitarian, shaker route where we all end up being dour ethically-shrunken miserabilists." Indeed, there is a grave risk is that this whole undertaking - necessary as it may be - turns into some nightmarish, eco-fascistoid fantasy. The stakes are indeed high. Irreversible climate change is upon us. According to some of the authors, we have only a decade to steer the juggernaut on a fundamentally different course. Although several authors stress the enabling, joyful nature of the necessary adjustment to new realities, there are sterner and more alarmist voices in this book. They unwittingly send shivers down our spine: what will happen if peer pressure, what if the slow and compromising policy machinery and feedback signals from nature are unable to generate enough momentum in downshifting the populations of industrial nations? That's another question that is not answered, only hinted at in this book.

Hmmmm???, 24 Jun 2008
This book had some good and worthwhile points but was also painfully middle-class in regards to the scope of its outlook and addressing the full scale of our environmental problems. What do I mean by this? Well, while it's all well and good to consider sustainable forms of energy, hybrid forms of non-Co2 producing vehicles and cutting ones carbon footprint by not holidaying abroad, the contributors to this book tend to forget that all of this takes money!!! (Something which few themselves appear to lack). While this is fine for the sort of individual or family who formally did the weekly shop at M&S... Tunisian grapes individually placed in a plastic box on top of bubble wrap, how nice... there is little consideration for the significant percentage of the populous for whom such things as a holiday abroad or 'organically reared' chicken are a luxury.
Don't get me wrong, any form of encouragement to be more conscientious in regards to how we collectively, and as individuals, effect the environment is undoubtedly a good thing but to affect any real change the solutions would have to be far more dramatic than any offered here... a significant change in industrial legislation and a government environmental policy that offers realistic alternatives might be an idea, as opposed to making us all feel bad for our "carbon footprints".
'Good Lives...' is a nice book to put on your bespoke Danish wall units or to read on your fortnights sojourn in Tuscany, but apart from that it's just more middle-class guilt tripping to worry you into buying more things you'll probably never need.

Enlightens and entertains - what more could you want?!, 05 May 2008
Blimey. A book that enlightens entertains and most importantly, enthuses. For anyone who's ever felt weighed down by doom and gloom-mongering environmentalism, it's the perfect read - an honest look at the state of the planet with a positive approach to how we can tackle the challenges and live happier lives in the process. It's a real `want to buy it for everyone you know' one. Brilliant.




time for an environmental, social and economic renaissance, 04 Mar 2008
The concept behind this book is simple, but very important - good lives do not need to cost the earth. Where many environmentalists have called for sacrifice, abstinence, and the wearing of hair-shirts, the contributing writers to this collection call for more parties, tighter communities, healthier work patterns, better architecture, and better food.

As you may have guessed, this is a very varied set of contributions. Philip Pullman warns environmentalists that they need to tell better stories. David Goldblatt discusses the future of sport and worries that golf's days may be numbered. Anne Pettifor explores how credit is created and demands free money, and Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler calls for us all to do less. There is plenty of food for thought here, all delivered with a lightness of touch. It brings together the environment, economics, psychology and politics to explore a holistic sustainability agenda, and the emphasis is on inspiring, not berating.
Perhaps Colin Tudge says it best in describing the movement as a renaissance - something that is grass roots, but not a revolution - just people seeing things differently and changing their lives.

When demand outstrips supply, 26 Sep 2005
Overshoot: when demand overtakes supply.

I recall buying the original edition of this book back in 1972, and also recall the rubbishing it got from those who believed it was all scare mongering.

The events of the 1970's should have acted as wake-up call, but they now seem like a distant memory: the three-day-week, the power cuts, the petrol rationing coupons (never implemented).

Since 1972, growth has been given a huge boost by globalisation, and the take-offs in China and India.

When this book was published in its 1992 edition - 'Beyond the Limits' - the authors warned that unsustainability was already evident: deforestation, climate change, the ozone hole.

They point to the failure of various international summits to get a grip on the problem.

It seems that our elites are vaguely aware that there is a problem here, and mention it in passing to give the impression that they on the case. It is usually on the list of the many things the Prime Minister is going to sort out before dinner.

The Kyoto protocols were some sort of triumph. But the developing nations, like China and India were not included and George W Bush doesn't seem to be persuaded that there's a problem.

The lack of urgency is widespread: as the victims of Katrina and Rita now know better than the rest of us.

Yet it's all something we know. We all know, for example, that the oil is going to dry up some day, but what the heck? It won't be next week, will it?

But someday it is going to be someone else's next week.

When that time comes, all the lost local skills will suddenly be missed. For that is what it will be: a return to the local economy. Your food, your shelter, your clothing, will all have be sourced locally. In the UK's case it's drop-back over two hundred years, minus the skills that were around in those days.

So, for the third time since 1972, the authors lay it all before us: what needs to be done.

First, and most painfully, there is no time to be lost:

"The longer the world economy takes to reduce its ecological footprint and move towards sustainability, the lower the population and material standard of living that will be ultimately supportable. At some point delay means collapse."

In the chapter "Transitions to a Sustainable System" the authors show us just how dramatic the changes need to be.

They offer our elites the chance to start the changes now, while there is time to manage the changeover.

They all make sense, but they require something more than political action, they require an end to individualism as we have known it. This is the leap many people will not be able to make

Out must go the competition for individual power, status, and wealth which are the engines of the current society. Reflect on that: and you see the enormity of the task.

Can capitalism ever be truly sustainable?, 03 Oct 2008
In a consumer society slowly eating itself, there's no more pressing question than whether or not capitalism and sustainability can ever go together. Johnathon Porritt sets out here to prove that they can. On the one hand, "global capitalism as we know it today would appear to be inherently incompatible with the pursuit of either ecological sustainability or social justice." On the other hand, "capitalism is now the only economic game in town."

Capitalism has been effective in providing goods and services, in creating wealth and raising standards of living. It has also created gross inequality and laid waste to the planet. Business as usual will lead to ecological suicide, quite simply.

In its place, Porritt argues for better regulation, costings for externalities, better metrics than GNP alone. He questions our fixation with growth, and tests the limits of corporate responsibility.

Porritt has got in trouble with some environmentalists for working a little too closely with big business, and he explores some of these initiatives in some detail here - business excellence, business aimed at the poor, experimental corporate reporting. It's easy to see why he's been accused of selling out as he sings the praises of Dow Chemicals, but the corporation aren't going anywhere any time soon, so I applaud him for working alongside them to develop better business models.

For all its problems, capitalism is what we have to work with right now. Although it could do with an extra chapter after the events of summer 2008, this book is still a useful guidebook to the changes already underway, and a roadmap for more responsible capitalism.

A revelation, 03 Jun 2007
A revelation. Really an excellent book. It should be read by all political and business leaders. It really should be read by everyone who is literate. Whether you think he's soft on capitalism or not, he recognises that the only solution is to work with it. And how.

A bold new vision for capitalism, 04 Apr 2007
Activist Jonathon Porritt offers the startling proposal that capitalism may provide the best solution to poverty and global environmental degradation, though his solution requires reshaping capitalism. Porritt is aware that conventional environmental activists, greens and political academics favor socialism more than capitalism. However, he takes them to task for ignoring the power and potential of such capitalist mechanisms as markets and property rights and for their naïveté in expecting voters or political leaders to embrace their dismal vision of environmental responsibility as asceticism. We find his book more suggestive than programmatic. It meanders like a river and is sometimes directionless. The author makes his passions apparent, including anti-Americanism and scathing criticism of certain forms of Christianity. Though Porritt does not offer a detailed description of his vision or the practical steps needed to realize it, he does suggest a path toward a utopian ideal; for that hope, he deserves appropriate attention.

Important and Impressive, 23 Feb 2007
A hugely important and passionate book written by someone who has real gravitas in this field. The messages are profound and they are pragmatic.The weight of Porritts intellect, based on 40 years of engagement in the environmental cause, is staggering and stretches into economics, business, psychology and ecology.
Read it. Then read it again. And then get engaged in the debates that it raises. It matters.

The Definitive Message for the Future, 24 Aug 2006
Porritt is THE leading environmental crusader in the UK and now vitally close to both governments and large corporations. Here is a man who has been working every minute god gives him for the last 40 years to promote social and environmental change. His knowledge of this subject is unequalled, all the major environmental analyses over the past 20 years are distilled within this elegant summary. His message is clear; -- Sure we could do with total social change but this isn't going to happen in the next 10 years and watching climate change in action we don't have longer - so we have to adapt our current system (capitalism) and use it to deliver the better world that we all long for. If you buy one book this year make sure this is it!

Very informative book, 08 Aug 2007
This book is used as a study material at the Open University in Energy for a sustainable future course (T206).

The boook won't tell you how to fit a solar panel or a wind turbine on your roof nor how to connect your panels to the battery but it will tell you about various renewable energy sources and its pros and cons. The book looks at the energy needs on local, national and international scale, not on individuals scale. Each chapter also has a large list of references for further information.

There is a lot of calculations present so, you'll be able for example to calculate the area of solar panels required for your needs or prove that off shore wind turbines generate more electricity than on shore ones.

I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in renewable energy.

Disappointing, 10 Oct 2008
I found the book rather parochial, limited in scope, and a bit too middle-class or Sunday supplement resembling in its content. One for rapid recycling to the shelves of Oxfam I'm afraid.

a plea for downshifting, in our and in the planet's interest, 30 Jul 2008
This book argues that what doesn't work for human happiness and wellbeing doesn't work well for the planet. Good lives should not, indeed ought not to be allowed to cost the earth. The argument, delivered trough a fractured prism of more than 20 (British) voices, unfolds at two levels.

First there is the growing body of science that shows how increasing levels of affluence do not translate automatically into a greater sense of wellbeing. Above a certain, fairly modest level of material and financial security, intangibles such as family relationships, meaningful work and health become much more important predictors of happiness than income. However, our selfishly capitalist society works hard to keep us onto the "hedonic treadmill" and make us forget these essentials.

The environmental agenda puts the discussion on a moral plane. Climate change is forcefully telling us something that we've known for a couple of decades: we have been overconsuming our natural resource base and as a result we have burdened ourselves with a potentially disastrous ecological debt. This is a moral issue as the downside consequences of our gluttony not only affect us but also the billions in less developed countries and those unhappy generations inheriting the planet.

This book argues that this crisis can only be successfully tackled by taking the sting out of the consumerist virus. We have to jump of the threadmill, get thriftier and do more with less. That much is clear. But a set of questions emerges upon which authors in this book formulate different answers.

One question has to do with the level - personal or policy - from which this transformation needs to be driven. Quite a few authors think it is really up to us, individual citizen-consumers: by changing the way we live, we influence the larger world around us. We shouldn't wait for a post-Kyoto climate pact to come about (if it ever does), we just need to take the first step by honestly asking ourselves: "what is a good life for me and what does it have to cost?" Deep down we know the answer to that question. We know we don't need all the "stuff". We know we should be courageous enough to wrest control over our own lives from the advertisement industry, the car industry, big retail, financial services. These contributors try to convince us of the fact that this isn't as hard as it seems: first focus on slight changes, then gradually start to rediscover the sophistication in simplicity and the joy of intangibles.

This book sheds little light on the role of macro-level policies in this transformation. Yes, we need new indicators to measure our progress towards realistic, sustainable goals. The intellectual monoculture of GDP needs to be enriched with other, more nuanced parameters that reflect how we manage our environmental resources and how happy we are. But the discussion is very thin and patchy on the complex governance issues surrounding these macro-societal transformations: what novel institutions and risk and burden sharing mechanisms do we need? How do micro-scale processes link into changes involving more expansive socio-technical systems? The book doesn't deal with these issues. It is a missed opportunity as it seems to me that there is an emerging body of knowledge (labelled as transition management, transdisciplinarity and action learning) that could provide significant impetus to this discussion.

A second question that emerges from these pages has to do with the spirit with which this whole process of downshifting is going to be imbued. Designer Kevin McCloud (his contribution is one of the highlights of this book) tackles the issue head-on when he says: "For me the great danger is that we pursue the quick fix. If we're not careful we'll go down this terrible, utilitarian, shaker route where we all end up being dour ethically-shrunken miserabilists." Indeed, there is a grave risk is that this whole undertaking - necessary as it may be - turns into some nightmarish, eco-fascistoid fantasy. The stakes are indeed high. Irreversible climate change is upon us. According to some of the authors, we have only a decade to steer the juggernaut on a fundamentally different course. Although several authors stress the enabling, joyful nature of the necessary adjustment to new realities, there are sterner and more alarmist voices in this book. They unwittingly send shivers down our spine: what will happen if peer pressure, what if the slow and compromising policy machinery and feedback signals from nature are unable to generate enough momentum in downshifting the populations of industrial nations? That's another question that is not answered, only hinted at in this book.

Hmmmm???, 24 Jun 2008
This book had some good and worthwhile points but was also painfully middle-class in regards to the scope of its outlook and addressing the full scale of our environmental problems. What do I mean by this? Well, while it's all well and good to consider sustainable forms of energy, hybrid forms of non-Co2 producing vehicles and cutting ones carbon footprint by not holidaying abroad, the contributors to this book tend to forget that all of this takes money!!! (Something which few themselves appear to lack). While this is fine for the sort of individual or family who formally did the weekly shop at M&S... Tunisian grapes individually placed in a plastic box on top of bubble wrap, how nice... there is little consideration for the significant percentage of the populous for whom such things as a holiday abroad or 'organically reared' chicken are a luxury.
Don't get me wrong, any form of encouragement to be more conscientious in regards to how we collectively, and as individuals, effect the environment is undoubtedly a good thing but to affect any real change the solutions would have to be far more dramatic than any offered here... a significant change in industrial legislation and a government environmental policy that offers realistic alternatives might be an idea, as opposed to making us all feel bad for our "carbon footprints".
'Good Lives...' is a nice book to put on your bespoke Danish wall units or to read on your fortnights sojourn in Tuscany, but apart from that it's just more middle-class guilt tripping to worry you into buying more things you'll probably never need.

Enlightens and entertains - what more could you want?!, 05 May 2008
Blimey. A book that enlightens entertains and most importantly, enthuses. For anyone who's ever felt weighed down by doom and gloom-mongering environmentalism, it's the perfect read - an honest look at the state of the planet with a positive approach to how we can tackle the challenges and live happier lives in the process. It's a real `want to buy it for everyone you know' one. Brilliant.




time for an environmental, social and economic renaissance, 04 Mar 2008
The concept behind this book is simple, but very important - good lives do not need to cost the earth. Where many environmentalists have called for sacrifice, abstinence, and the wearing of hair-shirts, the contributing writers to this collection call for more parties, tighter communities, healthier work patterns, better architecture, and better food.

As you may have guessed, this is a very varied set of contributions. Philip Pullman warns environmentalists that they need to tell better stories. David Goldblatt discusses the future of sport and worries that golf's days may be numbered. Anne Pettifor explores how credit is created and demands free money, and Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler calls for us all to do less. There is plenty of food for thought here, all delivered with a lightness of touch. It brings together the environment, economics, psychology and politics to explore a holistic sustainability agenda, and the emphasis is on inspiring, not berating.
Perhaps Colin Tudge says it best in describing the movement as a renaissance - something that is grass roots, but not a revolution - just people seeing things differently and changing their lives.

When demand outstrips supply, 26 Sep 2005
Overshoot: when demand overtakes supply.

I recall buying the original edition of this book back in 1972, and also recall the rubbishing it got from those who believed it was all scare mongering.

The events of the 1970's should have acted as wake-up call, but they now seem like a distant memory: the three-day-week, the power cuts, the petrol rationing coupons (never implemented).

Since 1972, growth has been given a huge boost by globalisation, and the take-offs in China and India.

When this book was published in its 1992 edition - 'Beyond the Limits' - the authors warned that unsustainability was already evident: deforestation, climate change, the ozone hole.

They point to the failure of various international summits to get a grip on the problem.

It seems that our elites are vaguely aware that there is a problem here, and mention it in passing to give the impression that they on the case. It is usually on the list of the many things the Prime Minister is going to sort out before dinner.

The Kyoto protocols were some sort of triumph. But the developing nations, like China and India were not included and George W Bush doesn't seem to be persuaded that there's a problem.

The lack of urgency is widespread: as the victims of Katrina and Rita now know better than the rest of us.

Yet it's all something we know. We all know, for example, that the oil is going to dry up some day, but what the heck? It won't be next week, will it?

But someday it is going to be someone else's next week.

When that time comes, all the lost local skills will suddenly be missed. For that is what it will be: a return to the local economy. Your food, your shelter, your clothing, will all have be sourced locally. In the UK's case it's drop-back over two hundred years, minus the skills that were around in those days.

So, for the third time since 1972, the authors lay it all before us: what needs to be done.

First, and most painfully, there is no time to be lost:

"The longer the world economy takes to reduce its ecological footprint and move towards sustainability, the lower the population and material standard of living that will be ultimately supportable. At some point delay means collapse."

In the chapter "Transitions to a Sustainable System" the authors show us just how dramatic the changes need to be.

They offer our elites the chance to start the changes now, while there is time to manage the changeover.

They all make sense, but they require something more than political action, they require an end to individualism as we have known it. This is the leap many people will not be able to make

Out must go the competition for individual power, status, and wealth which are the engines of the current society. Reflect on that: and you see the enormity of the task.

Can capitalism ever be truly sustainable?, 03 Oct 2008
In a consumer society slowly eating itself, there's no more pressing question than whether or not capitalism and sustainability can ever go together. Johnathon Porritt sets out here to prove that they can. On the one hand, "global capitalism as we know it today would appear to be inherently incompatible with the pursuit of either ecological sustainability or social justice." On the other hand, "capitalism is now the only economic game in town."

Capitalism has been effective in providing goods and services, in creating wealth and raising standards of living. It has also created gross inequality and laid waste to the planet. Business as usual will lead to ecological suicide, quite simply.

In its place, Porritt argues for better regulation, costings for externalities, better metrics than GNP alone. He questions our fixation with growth, and tests the limits of corporate responsibility.

Porritt has got in trouble with some environmentalists for working a little too closely with big business, and he explores some of these initiatives in some detail here - business excellence, business aimed at the poor, experimental corporate reporting. It's easy to see why he's been accused of selling out as he sings the praises of Dow Chemicals, but the corporation aren't going anywhere any time soon, so I applaud him for working alongside them to develop better business models.

For all its problems, capitalism is what we have to work with right now. Although it could do with an extra chapter after the events of summer 2008, this book is still a useful guidebook to the changes already underway, and a roadmap for more responsible capitalism.

A revelation, 03 Jun 2007
A revelation. Really an excellent book. It should be read by all political and business leaders. It really should be read by everyone who is literate. Whether you think he's soft on capitalism or not, he recognises that the only solution is to work with it. And how.

A bold new vision for capitalism, 04 Apr 2007
Activist Jonathon Porritt offers the startling proposal that capitalism may provide the best solution to poverty and global environmental degradation, though his solution requires reshaping capitalism. Porritt is aware that conventional environmental activists, greens and political academics favor socialism more than capitalism. However, he takes them to task for ignoring the power and potential of such capitalist mechanisms as markets and property rights and for their naïveté in expecting voters or political leaders to embrace their dismal vision of environmental responsibility as asceticism. We find his book more suggestive than programmatic. It meanders like a river and is sometimes directionless. The author makes his passions apparent, including anti-Americanism and scathing criticism of certain forms of Christianity. Though Porritt does not offer a detailed description of his vision or the practical steps needed to realize it, he does suggest a path toward a utopian ideal; for that hope, he deserves appropriate attention.

Important and Impressive, 23 Feb 2007
A hugely important and passionate book written by someone who has real gravitas in this field. The messages are profound and they are pragmatic.The weight of Porritts intellect, based on 40 years of engagement in the environmental cause, is staggering and stretches into economics, business, psychology and ecology.
Read it. Then read it again. And then get engaged in the debates that it raises. It matters.

The Definitive Message for the Future, 24 Aug 2006
Porritt is THE leading environmental crusader in the UK and now vitally close to both governments and large corporations. Here is a man who has been working every minute god gives him for the last 40 years to promote social and environmental change. His knowledge of this subject is unequalled, all the major environmental analyses over the past 20 years are distilled within this elegant summary. His message is clear; -- Sure we could do with total social change but this isn't going to happen in the next 10 years and watching climate change in action we don't have longer - so we have to adapt our current system (capitalism) and use it to deliver the better world that we all long for. If you buy one book this year make sure this is it!

excellent, 03 Sep 2008
excellent as always Kate Fletcher surpasses herself in this brillaint and useful book. Not for people uniterested in the ethics of clothing and fabric but a real must have for textile designers

Fashion can and is being done differently!, 19 May 2008
I found this to be a truly inspiring book. It's an invaluable font of ideas that you can dip into regularly for reference. The initiatives it describes are an antidote to institutionalised ways of both producing and consuming fashion. It clearly sets out a variety of ways of thinking about sustainability in fashion and textiles but its real gift is how it enables us to think about loosening the stranglehold consumption has over fashion.

Outstanding book jam packed with eye-opening ideas, 07 May 2008
Wow! This book is brimming with industry-led knowledge and facts on sustainability fashion design and I urge anyone who is interested in fashion or textiles to read it. It will alter your perception of the way that we produce and consume fashion and helps build the foundations for a radical new perspective.

This book gives us an eye opening look into the world of fashion and textiles and presents great new sustainable options with potential influence far beyond the fashion and textiles industries. Every aspect of the industry, use and lifecycle of textiles is considered. It delivers exactly what you want from a book - it opens your mind and changes your perspective for evermore. It is written and presented in an accessible way that is easy to use and a pleasure to read. If you are (or want to be) in the fields of textiles, fashion or sustainability, you definitely need to get with the programme and read this book!

If you only buy one fashion book this year, make sure its this one, 04 May 2008
Hi we are Jenny and Ruthy and We are currently studying fashion design at University College Falmouth, we've been reading your "Sustainable fashion and textiles" book to eachother everyday, before and after college! Its absolutely AMASING, we've been waiting forever for a book like this-this is a book that every fashion designer MUST read.

Very informative book, 08 Aug 2007
This book is used as a study material at the Open University in Energy for a sustainable future course (T206).

The boook won't tell you how to fit a solar panel or a wind turbine on your roof nor how to connect your panels to the battery but it will tell you about various renewable energy sources and its pros and cons. The book looks at the energy needs on local, national and international scale, not on individuals scale. Each chapter also has a large list of references for further information.

There is a lot of calculations present so, you'll be able for example to calculate the area of solar panels required for your needs or prove that off shore wind turbines generate more electricity than on shore ones.

I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in renewable energy.

Disappointing, 10 Oct 2008
I found the book rather parochial, limited in scope, and a bit too middle-class or Sunday supplement resembling in its content. One for rapid recycling to the shelves of Oxfam I'm afraid.

a plea for downshifting, in our and in the planet's interest, 30 Jul 2008
This book argues that what doesn't work for human happiness and wellbeing doesn't work well for the planet. Good lives should not, indeed ought not to be allowed to cost the earth. The argument, delivered trough a fractured prism of more than 20 (British) voices, unfolds at two levels.

First there is the growing body of science that shows how increasing levels of affluence do not translate automatically into a greater sense of wellbeing. Above a certain, fairly modest level of material and financial security, intangibles such as family relationships, meaningful work and health become much more important predictors of happiness than income. However, our selfishly capitalist society works hard to keep us onto the "hedonic treadmill" and make us forget these essentials.

The environmental agenda puts the discussion on a moral plane. Climate change is forcefully telling us something that we've known for a couple of decades: we have been overconsuming our natural resource base and as a result we have burdened ourselves with a potentially disastrous ecological debt. This is a moral issue as the downside consequences of our gluttony not only affect us but also the billions in less developed countries and those unhappy generations inheriting the planet.

This book argues that this crisis can only be successfully tackled by taking the sting out of the consumerist virus. We have to jump of the threadmill, get thriftier and do more with less. That much is clear. But a set of questions emerges upon which authors in this book formulate different answers.

One question has to do with the level - personal or policy - from which this transformation needs to be driven. Quite a few authors think it is really up to us, individual citizen-consumers: by changing the way we live, we influence the larger world around us. We shouldn't wait for a post-Kyoto climate pact to come about (if it ever does), we just need to take the first step by honestly asking ourselves: "what is a good life for me and what does it have to cost?" Deep down we know the answer to that question. We know we don't need all the "stuff". We know we should be courageous enough to wrest control over our own lives from the advertisement industry, the car industry, big retail, financial services. These contributors try to convince us of the fact that this isn't as hard as it seems: first focus on slight changes, then gradually start to rediscover the sophistication in simplicity and the joy of intangibles.

This book sheds little light on the role of macro-level policies in this transformation. Yes, we need new indicators to measure our progress towards realistic, sustainable goals. The intellectual monoculture of GDP needs to be enriched with other, more nuanced parameters that reflect how we manage our environmental resources and how happy we are. But the discussion is very thin and patchy on the complex governance issues surrounding these macro-societal transformations: what novel institutions and risk and burden sharing mechanisms do we need? How do micro-scale processes link into changes involving more expansive socio-technical systems? The book doesn't deal with these issues. It is a missed opportunity as it seems to me that there is an emerging body of knowledge (labelled as transition management, transdisciplinarity and action learning) that could provide significant impetus to this discussion.

A second question that emerges from these pages has to do with the spirit with which this whole process of downshifting is going to be imbued. Designer Kevin McCloud (his contribution is one of the highlights of this book) tackles the issue head-on when he says: "For me the great danger is that we pursue the quick fix. If we're not careful we'll go down this terrible, utilitarian, shaker route where we all end up being dour ethically-shrunken miserabilists." Indeed, there is a grave risk is that this whole undertaking - necessary as it may be - turns into some nightmarish, eco-fascistoid fantasy. The stakes are indeed high. Irreversible climate change is upon us. According to some of the authors, we have only a decade to steer the juggernaut on a fundamentally different course. Although several authors stress the enabling, joyful nature of the necessary adjustment to new realities, there are sterner and more alarmist voices in this book. They unwittingly send shivers down our spine: what will happen if peer pressure, what if the slow and compromising policy machinery and feedback signals from nature are unable to generate enough momentum in downshifting the populations of industrial nations? That's another question that is not answered, only hinted at in this book.

Hmmmm???, 24 Jun 2008
This book had some good and worthwhile points but was also painfully middle-class in regards to the scope of its outlook and addressing the full scale of our environmental problems. What do I mean by this? Well, while it's all well and good to consider sustainable forms of energy, hybrid forms of non-Co2 producing vehicles and cutting ones carbon footprint by not holidaying abroad, the contributors to this book tend to forget that all of this takes money!!! (Something which few themselves appear to lack). While this is fine for the sort of individual or family who formally did the weekly shop at M&S... Tunisian grapes individually placed in a plastic box on top of bubble wrap, how nice... there is little consideration for the significant percentage of the populous for whom such things as a holiday abroad or 'organically reared' chicken are a luxury.
Don't get me wrong, any form of encouragement to be more conscientious in regards to how we collectively, and as individuals, effect the environment is undoubtedly a good thing but to affect any real change the solutions would have to be far more dramatic than any offered here... a significant change in industrial legislation and a government environmental policy that offers realistic alternatives might be an idea, as opposed to making us all feel bad for our "carbon footprints".
'Good Lives...' is a nice book to put on your bespoke Danish wall units or to read on your fortnights sojourn in Tuscany, but apart from that it's just more middle-class guilt tripping to worry you into buying more things you'll probably never need.

Enlightens and entertains - what more could you want?!, 05 May 2008
Blimey. A book that enlightens entertains and most importantly, enthuses. For anyone who's ever felt weighed down by doom and gloom-mongering environmentalism, it's the perfect read - an honest look at the state of the planet with a positive approach to how we can tackle the challenges and live happier lives in the process. It's a real `want to buy it for everyone you know' one. Brilliant.




time for an environmental, social and economic renaissance, 04 Mar 2008
The concept behind this book is simple, but very important - good lives do not need to cost the earth. Where many environmentalists have called for sacrifice, abstinence, and the wearing of hair-shirts, the contributing writers to this collection call for more parties, tighter communities, healthier work patterns, better architecture, and better food.

As you may have guessed, this is a very varied set of contributions. Philip Pullman warns environmentalists that they need to tell better stories. David Goldblatt discusses the future of sport and worries that golf's days may be numbered. Anne Pettifor explores how credit is created and demands free money, and Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler calls for us all to do less. There is plenty of food for thought here, all delivered with a lightness of touch. It brings together the environment, economics, psychology and politics to explore a holistic sustainability agenda, and the emphasis is on inspiring, not berating.
Perhaps Colin Tudge says it best in describing the movement as a renaissance - something that is grass roots, but not a revolution - just people seeing things differently and changing their lives.

When demand outstrips supply, 26 Sep 2005
Overshoot: when demand overtakes supply.

I recall buying the original edition of this book back in 1972, and also recall the rubbishing it got from those who believed it was all scare mongering.

The events of the 1970's should have acted as wake-up call, but they now seem like a distant memory: the three-day-week, the power cuts, the petrol rationing coupons (never implemented).

Since 1972, growth has been given a huge boost by globalisation, and the take-offs in China and India.

When this book was published in its 1992 edition - 'Beyond the Limits' - the authors warned that unsustainability was already evident: deforestation, climate change, the ozone hole.

They point to the failure of various international summits to get a grip on the problem.

It seems that our elites are vaguely aware that there is a problem here, and mention it in passing to give the impression that they on the case. It is usually on the list of the many things the Prime Minister is going to sort out before dinner.

The Kyoto protocols were some sort of triumph. But the developing nations, like China and India were not included and George W Bush doesn't seem to be persuaded that there's a problem.

The lack of urgency is widespread: as the victims of Katrina and Rita now know better than the rest of us.

Yet it's all something we know. We all know, for example, that the oil is going to dry up some day, but what the heck? It won't be next week, will it?

But someday it is going to be someone else's next week.

When that time comes, all the lost local skills will suddenly be missed. For that is what it will be: a return to the local economy. Your food, your shelter, your clothing, will all have be sourced locally. In the UK's case it's drop-back over two hundred years, minus the skills that were around in those days.

So, for the third time since 1972, the authors lay it all before us: what needs to be done.

First, and most painfully, there is no time to be lost:

"The longer the world economy takes to reduce its ecological footprint and move towards sustainability, the lower the population and material standard of living that will be ultimately supportable. At some point delay means collapse."

In the chapter "Transitions to a Sustainable System" the authors show us just how dramatic the changes need to be.

They offer our elites the chance to start the changes now, while there is time to manage the changeover.

They all make sense, but they require something more than political action, they require an end to individualism as we have known it. This is the leap many people will not be able to make

Out must go the competition for individual power, status, and wealth which are the engines of the current society. Reflect on that: and you see the enormity of the task.

Can capitalism ever be truly sustainable?, 03 Oct 2008
In a consumer society slowly eating itself, there's no more pressing question than whether or not capitalism and sustainability can ever go together. Johnathon Porritt sets out here to prove that they can. On the one hand, "global capitalism as we know it today would appear to be inherently incompatible with the pursuit of either ecological sustainability or social justice." On the other hand, "capitalism is now the only economic game in town."

Capitalism has been effective in providing goods and services, in creating wealth and raising standards of living. It has also created gross inequality and laid waste to the planet. Business as usual will lead to ecological suicide, quite simply.

In its place, Porritt argues for better regulation, costings for externalities, better metrics than GNP alone. He questions our fixation with growth, and tests the limits of corporate responsibility.

Porritt has got in trouble with some environmentalists for working a little too closely with big business, and he explores some of these initiatives in some detail here - business excellence, business aimed at the poor, experimental corporate reporting. It's easy to see why he's been accused of selling out as he sings the praises of Dow Chemicals, but the corporation aren't going anywhere any time soon, so I applaud him for working alongside them to develop better business models.

For all its problems, capitalism is what we have to work with right now. Although it could do with an extra chapter after the events of summer 2008, this book is still a useful guidebook to the changes already underway, and a roadmap for more responsible capitalism.

A revelation, 03 Jun 2007
A revelation. Really an excellent book. It should be read by all political and business leaders. It really should be read by everyone who is literate. Whether you think he's soft on capitalism or not, he recognises that the only solution is to work with it. And how.

A bold new vision for capitalism, 04 Apr 2007
Activist Jonathon Porritt offers the startling proposal that capitalism may provide the best solution to poverty and global environmental degradation, though his solution requires reshaping capitalism. Porritt is aware that conventional environmental activists, greens and political academics favor socialism more than capitalism. However, he takes them to task for ignoring the power and potential of such capitalist mechanisms as markets and property rights and for their naïveté in expecting voters or political leaders to embrace their dismal vision of environmental responsibility as asceticism. We find his book more suggestive than programmatic. It meanders like a river and is sometimes directionless. The author makes his passions apparent, including anti-Americanism and scathing criticism of certain forms of Christianity. Though Porritt does not offer a detailed description of his vision or the practical steps needed to realize it, he does suggest a path toward a utopian ideal; for that hope, he deserves appropriate attention.

Important and Impressive, 23 Feb 2007
A hugely important and passionate book written by someone who has real gravitas in this field. The messages are profound and they are pragmatic.The weight of Porritts intellect, based on 40 years of engagement in the environmental cause, is staggering and stretches into economics, business, psychology and ecology.
Read it. Then read it again. And then get engaged in the debates that it raises. It matters.

The Definitive Message for the Future, 24 Aug 2006
Porritt is THE leading environmental crusader in the UK and now vitally close to both governments and large corporations. Here is a man who has been working every minute god gives him for the last 40 years to promote social and environmental change. His knowledge of this subject is unequalled, all the major environmental analyses over the past 20 years are distilled within this elegant summary. His message is clear; -- Sure we could do with total social change but this isn't going to happen in the next 10 years and watching climate change in action we don't have longer - so we have to adapt our current system (capitalism) and use it to deliver the better world that we all long for. If you buy one book this year make sure this is it!

excellent, 03 Sep 2008
excellent as always Kate Fletcher surpasses herself in this brillaint and useful book. Not for people uniterested in the ethics of clothing and fabric but a real must have for textile designers

Fashion can and is being done differently!, 19 May 2008
I found this to be a truly inspiring book. It's an invaluable font of ideas that you can dip into regularly for reference. The initiatives it describes are an antidote to institutionalised ways of both producing and consuming fashion. It clearly sets out a variety of ways of thinking about sustainability in fashion and textiles but its real gift is how it enables us to think about loosening the stranglehold consumption has over fashion.

Outstanding book jam packed with eye-opening ideas, 07 May 2008
Wow! This book is brimming with industry-led knowledge and facts on sustainability fashion design and I urge anyone who is interested in fashion or textiles to read it. It will alter your perception of the way that we produce and consume fashion and helps build the foundations for a radical new perspective.

This book gives us an eye opening look into the world of fashion and textiles and presents great new sustainable options with potential influence far beyond the fashion and textiles industries. Every aspect of the industry, use and lifecycle of textiles is considered. It delivers exactly what you want from a book - it opens your mind and changes your perspective for evermore. It is written and presented in an accessible way that is easy to use and a pleasure to read. If you are (or want to be) in the fields of textiles, fashion or sustainability, you definitely need to get with the programme and read this book!

If you only buy one fashion book this year, make sure its this one, 04 May 2008
Hi we are Jenny and Ruthy and We are currently studying fashion design at University College Falmouth, we've been reading your "Sustainable fashion and textiles" book to eachother everyday, before and after college! Its absolutely AMASING, we've been waiting forever for a book like this-this is a book that every fashion designer MUST read.

A great primer, 09 Jun 2004
An ideal book for anyone wanting to understand the big issues in environmental policy and development, the green movement or indeed the developing world as a whole. The book is witty, clearly argued and gives a great overwiew of all the main issues and paradoxes (how can development be sustainable?), as well as their historical origins. Helpfully, it also clearly referenced and indexed.As someone who works in development i have found i keep returning to the book whenever i need material for a presentation or a seminar. Should be on the bookshelf of most of our policy-makers too....

A Witty Introduction to Sustainability, 11 Oct 2002
As a university student new to the economic theory behind sustainability I came across this book quite by chance.
I must say it is quite a witty primer and did set out the principles really well with more contemporary relevance than some of the dry text books I have recently been introduced to. There's a truly great quote from Joan Rivers in it too!

Very informative book, 08 Aug 2007
This book is used as a study material at the Open University in Energy for a sustainable future course (T206).

The boook won't tell you how to fit a solar panel or a wind turbine on your roof nor how to connect your panels to the battery but it will tell you about various renewable energy sources and its pros and cons. The book looks at the energy needs on local, national and international scale, not on individuals scale. Each chapter also has a large list of references for further information.

There is a lot of calculations present so, you'll be able for example to calculate the area of solar panels required for your needs or prove that off shore wind turbines generate more electricity than on shore ones.

I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in renewable energy.

Disappointing, 10 Oct 2008
I found the book rather parochial, limited in scope, and a bit too middle-class or Sunday supplement resembling in its content. One for rapid recycling to the shelves of Oxfam I'm afraid.

a plea for downshifting, in our and in the planet's interest, 30 Jul 2008
This book argues that what doesn't work for human happiness and wellbeing doesn't work well for the planet. Good lives should not, indeed ought not to be allowed to cost the earth. The argument, delivered trough a fractured prism of more than 20 (British) voices, unfolds at two levels.

First there is the growing body of science that shows how increasing levels of affluence do not translate automatically into a greater sense of wellbeing. Above a certain, fairly modest level of material and financial security, intangibles such as family relationships, meaningful work and health become much more important predictors of happiness than income. However, our selfishly capitalist society works hard to keep us onto the "hedonic treadmill" and make us forget these essentials.

The environmental agenda puts the discussion on a moral plane. Climate change is forcefully telling us something that we've known for a couple of decades: we have been overconsuming our natural resource base and as a result we have burdened ourselves with a potentially disastrous ecological debt. This is a moral issue as the downside consequences of our gluttony not only affect us but also the billions in less developed countries and those unhappy generations inheriting the planet.

This book argues that this crisis can only be successfully tackled by taking the sting out of the consumerist virus. We have to jump of the threadmill, get thriftier and do more with less. That much is clear. But a set of questions emerges upon which authors in this book formulate different answers.

One question has to do with the level - personal or policy - from which this transformation needs to be driven. Quite a few authors think it is really up to us, individual citizen-consumers: by changing the way we live, we influence the larger world around us. We shouldn't wait for a post-Kyoto climate pact to come about (if it ever does), we just need to take the first step by honestly asking ourselves: "what is a good life for me and what does it have to cost?" Deep down we know the answer to that question. We know we don't need all the "stuff". We know we should be courageous enough to wrest control over our own lives from the advertisement industry, the car industry, big retail, financial services. These contributors try to convince us of the fact that this isn't as hard as it seems: first focus on slight changes, then gradually start to rediscover the sophistication in simplicity and the joy of intangibles.

This book sheds little light on the role of macro-level policies in this transformation. Yes, we need new indicators to measure our progress towards realistic, sustainable goals. The intellectual monoculture of GDP needs to be enriched with other, more nuanced parameters that reflect how we manage our environmental resources and how happy we are. But the discussion is very thin and patchy on the complex governance issues surrounding these macro-societal transformations: what novel institutions and risk and burden sharing mechanisms do we need? How do micro-scale processes link into changes involving more expansive socio-technical systems? The book doesn't deal with these issues. It is a missed opportunity as it seems to me that there is an emerging body of knowledge (labelled as transition management, transdisciplinarity and action learning) that could provide significant impetus to this discussion.

A second question that emerges from these pages has to do with the spirit with which this whole process of downshifting is going to be imbued. Designer Kevin McCloud (his contribution is one of the highlights of this book) tackles the issue head-on when he says: "For me the great danger is that we pursue the quick fix. If we're not careful we'll go down this terrible, utilitarian, shaker route where we all end up being dour ethically-shrunken miserabilists." Indeed, there is a grave risk is that this whole undertaking - necessary as it may be - turns into some nightmarish, eco-fascistoid fantasy. The stakes are indeed high. Irreversible climate change is upon us. According to some of the authors, we have only a decade to steer the juggernaut on a fundamentally different course. Although several authors stress the enabling, joyful nature of the necessary adjustment to new realities, there are sterner and more alarmist voices in this book. They unwittingly send shivers down our spine: what will happen if peer pressure, what if the slow and compromising policy machinery and feedback signals from nature are unable to generate enough momentum in downshifting the populations of industrial nations? That's another question that is not answered, only hinted at in this book.

Hmmmm???, 24 Jun 2008
This book had some good and worthwhile points but was also painfully middle-class in regards to the scope of its outlook and addressing the full scale of our environmental problems. What do I mean by this? Well, while it's all well and good to consider sustainable forms of energy, hybrid forms of non-Co2 producing vehicles and cutting ones carbon footprint by not holidaying abroad, the contributors to this book tend to forget that all of this takes money!!! (Something which few themselves appear to lack). While this is fine for the sort of individual or family who formally did the weekly shop at M&S... Tunisian grapes individually placed in a plastic box on top of bubble wrap, how nice... there is little consideration for the significant percentage of the populous for whom such things as a holiday abroad or 'organically reared' chicken are a luxury.
Don't get me wrong, any form of encouragement to be more conscientious in regards to how we collectively, and as individuals, effect the environment is undoubtedly a good thing but to affect any real change the solutions would have to be far more dramatic than any offered here... a significant change in industrial legislation and a government environmental policy that offers realistic alternatives might be an idea, as opposed to making us all feel bad for our "carbon footprints".
'Good Lives...' is a nice book to put on your bespoke Danish wall units or to read on your fortnights sojourn in Tuscany, but apart from that it's just more middle-class guilt tripping to worry you into buying more things you'll probably never need.

Enlightens and entertains - what more could you want?!, 05 May 2008
Blimey. A book that enlightens entertains and most importantly, enthuses. For anyone who's ever felt weighed down by doom and gloom-mongering environmentalism, it's the perfect read - an honest look at the state of the planet with a positive approach to how we can tackle the challenges and live happier lives in the process. It's a real `want to buy it for everyone you know' one. Brilliant.




time for an environmental, social and economic renaissance, 04 Mar 2008
The concept behind this book is simple, but very important - good lives do not need to cost the earth. Where many environmentalists have called for sacrifice, abstinence, and the wearing of hair-shirts, the contributing writers to this collection call for more parties, tighter communities, healthier work patterns, better architecture, and better food.

As you may have guessed, this is a very varied set of contributions. Philip Pullman warns environmentalists that they need to tell better stories. David Goldblatt discusses the future of sport and worries that golf's days may be numbered. Anne Pettifor explores how credit is created and demands free money, and Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler calls for us all to do less. There is plenty of food for thought here, all delivered with a lightness of touch. It brings together the environment, economics, psychology and politics to explore a holistic sustainability agenda, and the emphasis is on inspiring, not berating.
Perhaps Colin Tudge says it best in describing the movement as a renaissance - something that is grass roots, but not a revolution - just people seeing things differently and changing their lives.

When demand outstrips supply, 26 Sep 2005
Overshoot: when demand overtakes supply.

I recall buying the original edition of this book back in 1972, and also recall the rubbishing it got from those who believed it was all scare mongering.

The events of the 1970's should have acted as wake-up call, but they now seem like a distant memory: the three-day-week, the power cuts, the petrol rationing coupons (never implemented).

Since 1972, growth has been given a huge boost by globalisation, and the take-offs in China and India.

When this book was published in its 1992 edition - 'Beyond the Limits' - the authors warned that unsustainability was already evident: deforestation, climate change, the ozone hole.

They point to the failure of various international summits to get a grip on the problem.

It seems that our elites are vaguely aware that there is a problem here, and mention it in passing to give the impression that they on the case. It is usually on the list of the many things the Prime Minister is going to sort out before dinner.

The Kyoto protocols were some sort of triumph. But the developing nations, like China and India were not included and George W Bush doesn't seem to be persuaded that there's a problem.

The lack of urgency is widespread: as the victims of Katrina and Rita now know better than the rest of us.

Yet it's all something we know. We all know, for example, that the oil is going to dry up some day, but what the heck? It won't be next week, will it?

But someday it is going to be someone else's next week.

When that time comes, all the lost local skills will suddenly be missed. For that is what it will be: a return to the local economy. Your food, your shelter, your clothing, will all have be sourced locally. In the UK's case it's drop-back over two hundred years, minus the skills that were around in those days.

So, for the third time since 1972, the authors lay it all before us: what needs to be done.

First, and most painfully, there is no time to be lost:

"The longer the world economy takes to reduce its ecological footprint and move towards sustainability, the lower the population and material standard of living that will be ultimately supportable. At some point delay means collapse."

In the chapter "Transitions to a Sustainable System" the authors show us just how dramatic the changes need to be.

They offer our elites the chance to start the changes now, while there is time to manage the changeover.

They all make sense, but they require something more than political action, they require an end to individualism as we have known it. This is the leap many people will not be able to make

Out must go the competition for individual power, status, and wealth which are the engines of the current society. Reflect on that: and you see the enormity of the task.

Can capitalism ever be truly sustainable?, 03 Oct 2008
In a consumer society slowly eating itself, there's no more pressing question than whether or not capitalism and sustainability can ever go together. Johnathon Porritt sets out here to prove that they can. On the one hand, "global capitalism as we know it today would appear to be inherently incompatible with the pursuit of either ecological sustainability or social justice." On the other hand, "capitalism is now the only economic game in town."

Capitalism has been effective in providing goods and services, in creating wealth and raising standards of living. It has also created gross inequality and laid waste to the planet. Business as usual will lead to ecological suicide, quite simply.

In its place, Porritt argues for better regulation, costings for externalities, better metrics than GNP alone. He questions our fixation with growth, and tests the limits of corporate responsibility.

Porritt has got in trouble with some environmentalists for working a little too closely with big business, and he explores some of these initiatives in some detail here - business excellence, business aimed at the poor, experimental corporate reporting. It's easy to see why he's been accused of selling out as he sings the praises of Dow Chemicals, but the corporation aren't going anywhere any time soon, so I applaud him for working alongside them to develop better business models.

For all its problems, capitalism is what we have to work with right now. Although it could do with an extra chapter after the events of summer 2008, this book is still a useful guidebook to the changes already underway, and a roadmap for more responsible capitalism.

A revelation, 03 Jun 2007
A revelation. Really an excellent book. It should be read by all political and business leaders. It really should be read by everyone who is literate. Whether you think he's soft on capitalism or not, he recognises that the only solution is to work with it. And how.

A bold new vision for capitalism, 04 Apr 2007
Activist Jonathon Porritt offers the startling proposal that capitalism may provide the best solution to poverty and global environmental degradation, though his solution requires reshaping capitalism. Porritt is aware that conventional environmental activists, greens and political academics favor socialism more than capitalism. However, he takes them to task for ignoring the power and potential of such capitalist