The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future

by Wessels, Tom

• ISBN13: 9781584654957
• ISBN10: 1584654953
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-29
• Publisher: Univ Pr of New England

Summary

In this compelling and cogently argued book, Tom Wessels demonstrates how our current path toward progress, based on continual economic expansion and inefficient use of resources, runs absolutely contrary to three foundational scientific laws that govern all complex natural systems. It is a myth, he contends, that progress depends on a growing economy. Wessels explains his theory with his three Laws of Sustainability: (1) the law of limits to growth, (2) the second law of thermodynamics, which exposes the dangers of increased energy consumption, and (3) the law of self-organization, which results in the marvelous diversity of such highly evolved systems as the human body and complex ecosystems. These laws, scientifically proven to sustain life in its myriad forms, have been cast aside since the eighteenth century, first by western economists, political pragmatists, and governments attracted by the idea of unlimited growth, and more recently by a global economy dominated by large corporations, in which consolidation and oversimplification create large-scale inefficiencies in material and energy usage. Wessels makes scientific theory readily accessible by offering examples of how the Laws of Sustainability function in the complex systems we can observe in the natural world around us. He shows how systems such as forests can be templates for developing sustainable economic practices that will allow true progress. Demonstrating that all environmental problems have their source in the Myth of Progress's disregard for the Laws of Sustainability, he concludes with an impassioned argument for cultural change.

Author Biography

TOM WESSELS is a professor of ecology and the founding director of the Master's degree program in Conservation Biology at Antioch New England Graduate School. His books include Untamed Vermont (Thistle Hill Publications, distributed by UPNE, 2003), The Granite Landscape: A Natural History of America's Mountain Domes from Acadia to Yosemite (2001), and Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England (1997).

Table of Contents

Prologue	xi
Introduction	xv
The Myth of Control: Complex versus Linear Systems	1	(21)
The Myth of Growth: Limits and Sustainability	22	(18)
The Myth of Energy: The Second Law of Thermodynamics	40	(24)
The Myth of the Free Market: The Loss of Diversity and Democracy	64	(27)
The Myth of Progress: A Need for Cultural Change	91	(21)
Epilogue: From Consumption to Connection	112	(7)
Glossary of Scientific Terms	119	(4)
Index	123