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This is an informative and fun read. It gives me hope that the traditionally less-powerful people on this planet are on the brink of achieving goals that are based on integrity and compassion, instead of--as delivered by the industrial revolution's power structure--stupidity and greed.
I'm very happy with my recent purchase of Blessed Unrest. The book was in perfect condition.
Instead, Fritjof Capra's The Hidden Connections contains a much clearer and productive discussion of the science and philosophy underlying ecological thinking and he applies that to a critique of globalization, consumerism and other issues. Hawking brings in a lot of philosophical and scientific references that crowds out discussion of the social movement and organizations. A book on the subtitle "how the largest social movement in history is restoring grace, justice and beauty to the world" is needed. First the content of the book is not squarely focused on what the subtitle suggests. The philosophical and scientific references made were not well integrated into the narrative; overall the writing lacks good transition sentences among paragraphs and chapters. It was very frustrating because the theme has so much potential. Unfortunately, this book does not adequately fulfill this need. This is due to two reasons.
Second, teh writing is very disorganized and choppy. I would NOT recommend this book. The underlying motivation, premise and theme of this book is fantasti. After completing it, I can't say that I learned much about the ecological organizations or anything new about how the movements can better succeed. It was a hard to follow book and I found myself skimming major parts just because it was too unbearable to read it word by word.
Governments are corporate owned, and will never push for the real changes we need. At best, they will make some minor readjustments without real impact, while we should fully head for sustainable production and consumption. Those are all little things we can already do. One of the most important examples the author gives is of a dozen people meeting in a small print shop in London to abolish slave trade. The author didn't stop just thinking this.
It's the only way to guarantee a future for the next generations. Here he expects possibilities producing transformations in societies, which could have more power when acting in a coordinated way. We should buy organics. We should fly less, and we should eat less meat or no meat at all. Now, when a movement of committed NGO's and concerned citizens, people like you and me, who are aware of the consequences of our actions, act together, in coordination, then maybe, we could recuperate our governments, so that they will put the people and their future in the first place again, like it was supposed to be, instead of the profits of the big corporations. Therefore, we should change our individual consumption, so that the "market" - the only thing governments and corporations really believe in - will be obliged to adjust. At this moment in history, this is very important, since never before humanity faced a global threat so huge like global warming. Do it now.
We can heat our house through intelligent design, following the principles of the passive solar house. That's why the current big corporations - with Big Oil as their leader - will never accept those ideas, since they prefer making profits, even if this means we're all heading for collapse. We can boycott all gasoline-driven cars on the market today, including hybrid ones, and purchase only electric vehicles, which will be launched to the market next year (2010), with the best proposal so far Fiat's Phylla, which has solar panels incorporated in the car's roof. It was argued that their crackpot ideas would bring down the English economy, eliminate growth and jobs, cost too much money, and lower the standard of living." Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it.Paul Hawken goes on exploring the history of civil disobedience, and shows how NGOs have proliferated in our time. What it will obtain is transforming the economy, supporting the most creative manufacturers, and supporting local organic farmers, which will generate new jobs. Transforming your home into a solar house represents a somewhat bigger initial investment than a "normal" house, but you will benefit in the long run from lower (or no) operational costs for heating your house.
The same applies for electric vehicles, which don't need gasoline and are cheaper in maintenance. And let's be serious : this will not "bring down American economy, eliminate growth and jobs, cost too much money, and lower the standard of living". "They were reviled and dismissed by businessmen and politicians. He originated a new website, "wiserearth", which is a platform offered to all NGO's and concerned citizens, at a global scale, to debate and to coordinate their actions, following the principle : "Think globally and act locally". We can do a lot to reduce our individual dependence on fossil fuels in order to have some future left for our children. Don't wait till tomorrow.
There will be no lowering of the standard of living, just a structural change towards an economy without oil. All big transformations start with some crazy people having even crazier ideas. What makes things even worse is that in the world we're living in today we have very little left of democracy (read Bagdikian's "The New Media Monopoly" if you're in doubt). At home.
Thanks for the excellent service; I'm sure the book will be appreciated by the person who will receive it.
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