Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival

Product Description
Power ― why giving it up might just save humanity and the planet
This is the story of power ― humanity's power over nature and the power of some people over others.
How has Homo sapiens ― one species among millions ― become powerful enough to threaten a mass extinction and disrupt the Earth's climate? Why have we developed so many ways of oppressing one another? Can we change our relationship with power to avert ecological catastrophe, reduce social inequality, and stave off collapse?
These questions ― and their answers ― will determine our fate.
Weaving together findings from a wide range of disciplines, Power traces how four key elements developed to give humans extraordinary power: tool making ability, language, social complexity, and the ability to harness energy sources ― most significantly, fossil fuels. It asks whether we have, at this point, overpowered natural and social systems, and if we have, what we can do about it.
Most crucially, the book explores how self-limitation of power is rooted in evolution and human history, though our memory of it has been buried under a century of fossil-fuel driven economic growth. Now, at this vital moment, we must rapidly relearn the lessons of power if humanity is to have a thriving future.
Essential reading for everyone who calls planet Earth home.
Review
"Power is a must read and a call to action for those seeking a sustainable, balanced, human future in harmony with the Earth. No guarantees, of course, but harnessing the power of sentient action certainly beats the alternative; of continuing our blind stumble only soon to be swept aside, as have many creatures before us." — Peter C. Whybrow, author, The Well-Tuned Brain
"Heinberg goes to the very heart of the issue. Using his immense knowledge of biology, science, history, psychology, and the politics of energy, he shows that the environmental and social crises we face today have in their origin the insatiable human pursuit, and often abuse, of power, in all its forms. In showing us the path forward, Heinberg guides us to achieve power-limiting behavior so that we cannot just survive but thrive on a healthy planet and in healthy balance with one another." — Maude Barlow, author, activist, and co-founder, The Blue Planet Project
"Power is sweeping in scope and a powerful presentation. Richard Heinberg is willing to face the harsh reality of multiple, cascading social and ecological crises without flinching, and he has written a comprehensive book offering readers a framework for moving forward that isn't based on wishful thinking. Drawing on his decades of activism and research, Heinberg explains why power and energy are central concepts for understanding the human predicament and shaping our future. Equal parts science and philosophy, history and contemporary analysis, Power is more engaging than a scholarly tome and more thoughtful than journalism. Heinberg's book is a model of public scholarship about life-or-death challenges to human societies." —Robert Jensen, author, The Restless and Relentless Mind of Wes Jackson
"Richard Heinberg's panoramic review of known forms of power is both sobering and inspiring. Given our species' habitual methods for getting its way, be these methods physical, mental, or social, the outlook for our future is bleak indeed. Yet, Heinberg allows for the slim but real possibility of exercising restraint. If we are so persuaded, by wisdom or love for beauty, the future even now remains open. Indeed, such restraint returns us to ancient, almost forgotten appetites and capacities." — Joanna Macy, author, World As Lover, World As Self
"Power serves as a Rosetta Stone to decipher how our species went from one of many to apex predator in a very short time. A necessary book to fully understand the imperative that our species returns to "right relation" in this critical time." — Peter Buffett, composer and philanthropist
"For three decades, Richard Heinberg has b