The Myth of Progress (Buch von 2006)

Angaben

Tom Wessels: The Myth of Progress. Toward a Sustainable Future. University of Vermont Press, 2006.

Klappentext

A provocative critique of Western progress from a scientific perspective

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 counter to three fundamental 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 what he terms the 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 such as the human body and complex ecosystems. Beginning in the eighteenth century, these laws, scientifically proven to sustain life in its myriad forms, increasingly have been cast aside, 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 the use of materials and energy.

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 us how systems such as forests can be templates for developing sustainable economic practices that will allow true progress. Demonstrating that the use of the Myth of Progress to discount the Laws of Sustainability is at the source of all environmental problems, he concludes with an impassioned argument for cultural change.