Skip to content

SciTech

John Michael Greer Looks Forward to Our Ecotechnic Future

by Julian Jackson 18 Feb 2011
John Michael Greer Looks Forward to Our Ecotechnic Future

Book Review of an excellent road map to a possible future way of living. The American Archdruid - yes, he really is a druid - and ecological author John Michael Greer has written a book called The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World, a follow-on to his analysis of the short term predicament our society is in: The Long Descent.

He defines eco-technics as ''The Craft of the Home'' and by home he means the ''Ecological Transition Community'': the retaining and renewing of skills and practices to help us through an uncertain future so we end up with a civilised society with appropriate technology.

As we move further into the ecological crisis caused by the interactions of Peak Oil and Climate Change on our fragile economic system, we will be facing a bumpy descent - bad times punctuated by changes which seem to be recovery, followed by more bad times. This is the ''Long Descent'' into a new society which Greer estimates will take one to threel hundred years. Our present global society is based on ''a brief period of extravagance in which we squandered half a billion years of stored sunlight.'' [the energy held in fossil fuels].

Greer tells us that we have reached ecological limits, and must face up to the fact that ''deeply unsatisfactory conditions cannot be solved but must be lived with...'' He warns that we won't wake up one morning and find ourselves in a "Mad Max" situation, fighting over dog food or fuel with crazed survivors - this is apocalyptic fantasy. He foresees that the descent will cause a gradual transition to at first a ''scavenger society'', where high tech items are reused and recycled, and unsustainable buildings like skyscrapers are pulled down by hand to cannibalise the high quality steel encased therein.

He also says that the cities will be lifeboats, not isolated self-sustaining eco-communities which he regards as barely viable for many reasons, including that ''I have met far too many people who don't know enough about plant care to keep a potted petunia alive, and have never put in a full day of hard physical labour in their lives - most middle-class Americans haven't - but talk about the life of subsistence farming they expect to lead in a lifeboat ecovillage as industrial civilisation crashes around them.''

As Greer looks further into the future, he sees the ending of cultural trends which grew out of the revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries and which have guided the progress of the industrialising world ever since. He sees us discarding the cultural blinkers which have made us regard the natural world as a minor irrelevance to our energy consuming industrial infrastructure: ''our species is finally beginning to learn that treating the environment as though it exists solely for humanity is a self-defeating habit...once history is recognised as an ecological phenomenon, the next step is to search history for processes that appear across the range of ecosystems in the nonhuman world and look for their equivalents in human affairs.'' This is a sophisticated way of saying we need to move to a balance with nature, and find a way for humans to be what biologists call ''R-selected'': a steady, balanced climax community, rather than a ''K-selected'' fast-growing ecosystem, exemplified by weeds which spread fast, then die off as they destroy the very conditions that made their growth possible.

This is an extremely erudite book, filled with references to philosophies, and ancient works, which is also readable and an exciting addition to what might be called the ''libraries of the future'', which try to make sense of our predicament and offer not just hope, but a intellectual route map to a better way of living.

Links:

The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World

The Archdruid Report


Trending Eco-Friendly Clothing

Love My Planet Women's Relaxed Fit Hoodie
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Love My Planet Women's Relaxed Fit Hoodie
Love My Planet women's eco-friendly relaxed fit hoodieSize Guide Centimeters 8 10 12 14 16 18 Bust 84 88 92 97 103 108 Waist 66 70 75 80 85 91 Hips 91 95 99 104 109 116 Bust: Measure around the fullest part of...
£38.00
£38.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Penguins Hate Push-Ups Men's Pullover Hoodie
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Penguins Hate Push-Ups Men's Pullover Hoodie
Penguins Hate Push-Ups men's eco-friendly pullover HoodieSize Guide Centimeters XS S M L XL XXL Height 171 175 179 183 189 195 Chest 86 93 99 104 116 129 Waist 71 76 81 89 99 112 Chest: Measure all round your chest just below...
£38.00
£38.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Lightning Bolt Kids Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Notify me
Lightning Bolt Kids Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Lightning Bolt kids eco-friendly long sleeve t-shirtSize Guide Centimeters 3-4yrs 5-6yrs 7-8yrs 9-10yrs 11-12yrs Height 98 112 125 136 147 Chest 60 66 70 75 84 Chest: Measure all around your chest just below your armpits. Height: Your natural height If you fall between...
£18.00
£18.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Notify me
Union Jack Tote Bag
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Union Jack Tote Bag
Union Jack eco-friendly colour tote bagProduct Specification Organic Cotton Tote Bag. Twill Weave (170gsm). 37 x 42 cm (7cm gusset.) Made in India / Designed on the Isle of Wight. Wash Cool, Hang Dry.
£16.00
£16.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Prev Post
Next Post

Eco-Friendly Shop

Women's Clothing

Eco-Friendly Clothing for Women Our online shop offers a wide range of sustainable women’s clothing products, including t-shirts, hoodies, vests, sweaters, shorts, and...
Shop Now

Men's Clothing

Eco-Friendly Clothing for Men Our online shop offers a wide range of sustainable men’s clothing products, including t-shirts, hoodies, vests, sweaters, shorts, and...
Shop Now

Kids Clothing

Eco-Friendly Clothes for Kids Our online shop offers a wide range of sustainable kids clothing products, including t-shirts, hoodies and jumpers. Our garments...
Shop Now
Someone recently bought a
[time] ago, from [location]

Thanks for subscribing!

This email has been registered!

Shop the look

Choose Options

Earth Times
Sign up for exclusive updates, new arrivals & insider only discounts

Recently Viewed

Edit Option
Back In Stock Notification
this is just a warning
Login
Shopping Cart
0 items

Before you leave...

Take 20% off your first order

20% off

Enter the code below at checkout to get 20% off your first order

CODESALE20

Continue Shopping