shopping cart
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Powell's Q&A, Q&A | June 21, 2009

All posts by Adam Schell Powell's Q&A: Adam Schell

"As a husband who often lies to his wife, or tries to (small stuff, nothing scandalous — believe me), I can tell you first-hand that no married man I know can lie effectively to his wife" Continue »


  1. $17.50 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

Ships free on qualified orders.
$20.95
HARDCOVER, NEW
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
8 Local Warehouse Environmental Studies- General


The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future

by Tom Wessels

The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:


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.

Synopsis:

A provocative critique of Western progress from a scientific perspective.

Product Details

ISBN:
9781584654957
Subtitle:
Toward a Sustainable Future
Author:
Wessels, Tom
Publisher:
University of Vermont Press
Subject:
Ecology
Subject:
Environmental policy
Subject:
Life Sciences - Ecology
Copyright:
Publication Date:
September 2006
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Pages:
131
Dimensions:
8.12x5.84x.63 in. .64 lbs.

Other books you might like

  1. $18.00 New Trade Paper add to wish list
  2. $9.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Into the Field: A Guide to Locally Focused Teaching

    Clare Walker Leslie and John Tallmadge and Tom Wessels
  3. $13.95 Used Hardcover add to wish list
  4. $28.25 New Trade Paper add to wish list
  5. $22.95 New Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Living Goddesses

    Marija Gimbutas
  6. $9.50 Used Hardcover add to wish list

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.