How the utopian tradition offers answers to today’s environmental
crises In the face of Earth’s environmental breakdown, it is clear
that technological innovation alone won’t save our planet. A more
radical approach is required, one that involves profound changes in
individual and collective behavior. Utopianism for a Dying Planet
examines the ways the expansive history of utopian thought, from its
origins in ancient Sparta and ideas of the Golden Age through to
today's thinkers, can offer moral and imaginative guidance in the face
of catastrophe. The utopian tradition, which has been critical of
conspicuous consumption and luxurious indulgence, might light a path
to a society that emphasizes equality, sociability, and
sustainability. Gregory Claeys unfolds his argument through a
wide-ranging consideration of utopian literature, social theory, and
intentional communities. He defends a realist definition of utopia,
focusing on ideas of sociability and belonging as central to utopian
narratives. He surveys the development of these themes during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries before examining twentieth- and
twenty-first-century debates about alternatives to consumerism. Claeys
contends that the current global warming limit of 1.5C (2.7F) will
result in cataclysm if there is no further reduction in the cap. In
response, he offers a radical Green New Deal program, which combines
ideas from the theory of sociability with proposals to withdraw from
fossil fuels and cease reliance on unsustainable commodities. An
urgent and comprehensive search for antidotes to our planet’s
destruction, Utopianism for a Dying Planet asks for a revival of
utopian ideas, not as an escape from reality, but as a powerful means
of changing it.
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Life after Consumerism
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780691236698
Publisert
2022
Utgiver
Vendor
Princeton University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter