The Great Disruption: How the Climate Crisis Will Bring on the Sustainable Revolution

A global climate crisis---and with it, the end of economic growth---is no longer avoidable. The Great Disruption began in 2008, with spiking food and oil prices alongside the starkest evidence yet of dramatic ecological change. The mess we're in, however, is not as simple as fossil fuels and carbon footprints. We have come to the end of Economic Growth Version 1.0, a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our planet's resources.

The Great Disruption is a bracing, honest look at the challenge humanity faces, but it also offers a deeply optimistic message. The coming decades will see loss, suffering, and conflict as our planetary overdraft is paid. Yet they will also bring out the best humanity can offer: compassion, innovation, resilience, and adaptability. The crisis will, inevitably, change our economic model and the way we live our lives.

Paul Gilding, an international thought leader in the field of sustainability, goes beyond the hand-wringing prophecies of doom that we have heard countless times. His tough-minded, truly big-picture view reminds us that our greatest triumphs have always come during our darkest times. He outlines how to win what he calls "the one-degree war" against catastrophic climate change---starting today.

The Great Disruption, Gilding writes, is an unprecedented chance to replace our addiction to growth with an ethic of sustainability. It's also a business opportunity like no other. Old industries will collapse while new companies will literally reshape our economy. In the aftermath of the Great Disruption, we'll measure "growth" in a new way: not in quantity of stuff, but in quality of life.

There is life after shopping. This eye-opening and inspiring book points the way.

Paul Gilding is an international thought leader and advocate for sustainability. He has served as head of Greenpeace International, built and led two companies, and advised both Fortune 500 corporations and community-based NGOs. A member of the core faculty for Cambridge University's Programme for Sustainability Leadership, he blogs at www.paulgilding.com.