I just finished reading my colleague Gus Speth’s book The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. I look forward to discussing the book with him. On the one hand, I think one can levy an easy criticism on the book: that it’s long on “gloom and doom” and short on hope. That said, I think this book better illustrates the environmental costs of modern day consumption and consumerism better than any other that I have read, and levies a harsh critique upon modern economics and capitalism. Perhaps the most interesting quote is as follows:

“[M]ost mainstream environmentalists have not wanted to suggest that the positions they advocate would require serious lifestyle changes.”

So this raises a key query: How can we fundamentally change the way we live?

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