Whole Earth Discipline [Hardcover]

A rich, compelling guide to how old wisdom can combine with new technologies. --New Statesman

Thoroughly exhilarating... It's one of those books that you want to press on people and insist they read... Whole Earth Discipline doesn't present itself as the only road map, but I doubt you'll encounter a more entertaining or thought-provoking one. --Independent

Environmentalism has a worthy prophet, Stewart Brand, and a bible, Whole Earth Discipline... Entertaining and thought-provoking... I can see it being quoted thirty years from now. --Financial Times

A landmark book...Illuminating. --Scotsman

Brand offers his own vision of caring for ecosystems even as we transform them - adopting lessons from everyone from Native Americans to modern, scientifically informed restoration projects... [A] wise book. --Guardian

'Being Green' is no longer enough. "Whole Earth Discipline" is Stewart Brand's wake up call for the environmental movement, and his message is hard-hitting: unless environmentalists keep up with new science, they will become part of the problem. It is an exhilarating piece of writing and bang-on zeitgeist. Three profound transformations are underway on Earth: climate change, urbanization and biotechnology. In response to these seismic changes - and challenges - Steward Brand argues that the environmental movement must reverse some long-held opinions, and embrace tools and disciplines that it has traditionally distrusted - such as science and engineering - in order to forestall the cataclysmic deterioration of the earth's resources. "Whole Earth Discipline" shatters a number of environmental myths, and presents radical, counterintuitive observations - cities are actually greener than the countryside, nuclear power is the future of energy, and genetic engineering is the key to crop and land management. With a combination of scientific rigor and blazing advocacy, Brand shows us exactly where the sources of our dilemmas lie and offers a bold and creative set of policies and solutions for producing a more sustainable society.

Stewart Brand is the founder of and original editor of The Whole Earth Catalogue. He is the author of The Clock of the Long Now and How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built, and is the Director of the Global Business Network in Emeryville, California. He lives on a tugboat in San Francisco Bay.