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An Instant New York Times Bestseller “This book will change your sense of how grand the sweep of human history could be, where you fit into it, and how much you could do to change it for the better. It's as simple, and as ambitious, as that.” —Ezra Klein An Oxford philosopher makes the case for “longtermism” — that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time. The fate of the world is in our hands. Humanity’s written history spans only five thousand years. Our yet-unwritten future could last for millions more — or it could end tomorrow. Astonishing numbers of people could lead lives of great happiness or unimaginable suffering, or never live at all, depending on what we choose to do today. In What We Owe The Future, philosopher William MacAskill argues for longtermism, that idea that positively influencing the distant future is a key moral priority of our time. From this perspective, it’s not enough to reverse climate change or avert the next pandemic. We must ensure that civilization would rebound if it collapsed; counter the end of moral progress; and prepare for a planet where the smartest beings are digital, not human. If we make wise choices today, our grandchildren’s grandchildren will thrive, knowing we did everything we could to give them a world full of justice, hope and beauty.
In the larger sense, perhaps, they were trying to make a future. Somehow, all around, they felt vaguely that things were collapsing. All they could do in the midst of that was create something. It's 1975. A time of protest and upheaval is ending. A few years earlier, the world was in disarray. While protesters filled the streets, the Soviets disseminated time machine images of 9/11. Plans for jet air travel were shelved and the Twin Towers were never built. When time travel was made illegal, it moved underground – into a world of time travel machines servicing a demimonde of addicts, spies, bankers and activists. And now? In the fragile peace that follows, a few people isolated at the bottom of the world are starting to make their own clandestine journeys into the future. Our Future is in the Air is a captivating work about the invisible forces that make us who we are: science, politics, power – and our hoped-for futures.
“A profound personal meditation on human existence . . . weaving together . . . historic and contemporary thought on the deepest question of all: why are we here?” —Gabor Maté M.D., author, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts As our civilization careens toward climate breakdown, ecological destruction, and gaping inequality, people are losing their existential moorings. The dominant worldview of disconnection, which tells us we are split between mind and body, separate from each other, and at odds with the natural world, has been invalidated by modern science. Award-winning author Jeremy Lent, investigates humanity’s age-old questions—Who am I? Why am I? How should I live?—from a fresh perspective, weaving together findings from modern systems thinking, evolutionary biology, and cognitive neuroscience with insights from Buddhism, Taoism, and Indigenous wisdom. The result is a breathtaking accomplishment: a rich, coherent worldview based on a deep recognition of connectedness within ourselves, between each other, and with the entire natural world. It offers a compelling foundation for a new philosophical framework that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on a flourishing Earth. The Web of Meaning is for everyone looking for deep and coherent answers to the crisis of civilization. “One of the most brilliant and insightful minds of our age, Jeremy Lent has written one of the most essential and compelling books of our time.” —David Korten, author, When Corporations Rule the World and The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community “We need, now more than ever, to figure out how to make all kinds of connections. This book can help—and therefore it can help with a lot of the urgent tasks we face.” —Bill McKibben, author, Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
Who has not felt a sense of awe, silence, stillness, and presence in an ancient woodland or forest or in front of a sacred tree? Humankind has held trees and woodlands in awe and reverence since the dawn of time. We depend on nature for the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the services nature provides. This book is about the importance of sacred trees and groves in our stress-filled and increasingly urban world. (Note that over 50 percent of the world is urban.) Sacred trees and sacred groves transcend race, color, and creed. They are found all over our fragile planet. Where there is a tree, there is a sacred tree. This book will appeal to religious and spiritual traditions as well as to conservation and environmental movements. It will offer its reader means to take better care of our only home—planet Earth. Often undervalued, unrecognized, or disrespected, sacred trees and groves are conserved against mind-boggling pressures. For example, there is a sacred fig tree between two shops in one of the main streets in Hanoi, Vietnam. There is also a one-hectare sacred grove in the center of Kumasi, a city of 2.5 million people in Ghana; the over 150,000 sacred groves in India; and the sacred hill forests of every village in Yunnan, South China. Sacred trees and groves often conserve unique biodiversity, which can help create or recreate connectivity in the landscape. As such, sacred trees and groves may be relic survivors of bygone ages and are an important resource for restoring degraded natural landscapes. This book offers ways for those involved with religion and spirituality and for those working with conservation and land use to jointly engage in repairing the damage we have done to Earth.
A New Idea. This book contains the theories behind a new idea - a Natural Constitution. We must change our way of life away from selfish materialism and instead root it in nature, in the same place everything else comes from. In so doing we will improve life on Earth for the vast majority and create a more sustainable future. These are RADICAL ideas and are linked to ACTION that each of us can take to improve life for ourselves and for others. Lists of actions are included. We are not waiting for politicians, governments, business or anyone else to take a lead. We will do it ourselves. This way we will have a bright, wide, open future that can be enjoyed by as many as possible. A Universe of possibilities!
Why technology is not an end in itself, and how cities can be “smart enough,” using technology to promote democracy and equity. Smart cities, where technology is used to solve every problem, are hailed as futuristic urban utopias. We are promised that apps, algorithms, and artificial intelligence will relieve congestion, restore democracy, prevent crime, and improve public services. In The Smart Enough City, Ben Green warns against seeing the city only through the lens of technology; taking an exclusively technical view of urban life will lead to cities that appear smart but under the surface are rife with injustice and inequality. He proposes instead that cities strive to be “smart enough”: to embrace technology as a powerful tool when used in conjunction with other forms of social change—but not to value technology as an end in itself. In a technology-centric smart city, self-driving cars have the run of downtown and force out pedestrians, civic engagement is limited to requesting services through an app, police use algorithms to justify and perpetuate racist practices, and governments and private companies surveil public space to control behavior. Green describes smart city efforts gone wrong but also smart enough alternatives, attainable with the help of technology but not reducible to technology: a livable city, a democratic city, a just city, a responsible city, and an innovative city. By recognizing the complexity of urban life rather than merely seeing the city as something to optimize, these Smart Enough Cities successfully incorporate technology into a holistic vision of justice and equity.
A new philosophy of religion for a secular world How can we live in such a way that we die only once? How can we organize a society that gives us a better chance to be fully alive? How can we reinvent religion so that it liberates us instead of consoling us? These questions stand at the center of Roberto Mangabeira Unger’s The Religion of the Future: an argument for both spiritual and political revolution. It proposes the content of a religion that can survive without faith in a transcendent God or in life after death. According to this religion—the religion of the future—human beings can be more human by becoming more godlike, not just later, in another life or another time, but right now, on Earth and in their own lives. They can become more godlike without denying the irreparable flaws in the human condition: our mortality, groundlessness, and insatiability.
This book draws on preeminent planning theorist Patsy Healey’s personal experiences as a resident of a small rural town in England, to explore what place and community mean in a particular context, and how different initiatives struggle to get a stake in the wider governance relations while maintaining their own focus and ways of working. Throughout the book, Healey assesses the public value generated by community initiatives and the impact of such activity on wider governance dynamics. Healey explores the power which small communities are able to mobilise through self-organisation and grassroots activism. Through the lens of Wooler and Glendale as a micro-society, the book centres on a community experiencing an economic and demographic transition. It focuses on three initiatives developed and led by local people – a small community development trust, an informal attentionmobilising network, and a Neighbourhood Plan project which uses an opportunity provided within the formal planning system. It examines how, in such civil society activism, people came together to promote local development in a place and community neglected by the dominant political economy. The book details the power and force of community initiative and its potential for transforming both the future possibilities for the place and community itself, as well as wider governance relations. Overall, it seeks to enrich academic and policy discussion about how the relations between formal government and civil society energy could evolve in more productive and progressive directions.
Our Place Under the Stars By: Anthony John DeMaria Our Place Under the Stars is a personal journey through time and space with stories and commentary meant to delight, surprise, shock, and uplift the reader. With the author's autobiography serving as the backbone of the story, Our Place Under the Stars guides the reader through an exploration of the internet, academia, music, relationships, cosmic influence on Earthly phenomena, and the imperatives of sustainability. It contains information necessary for the evolution of the individual and will help the reader access their inner sensitivity, compassionate consciousness, and desire to act for the betterment of all mankind.