The science is clear: Homo sapiens teeters on the brink of extinction. Industrial civilization is an omnicidal heat engine, yet terminating civilization heats the planet even faster in an outcome termed the McPherson Paradox. Only Love Remains: Dancing on the Edge of Extinction describes a way forward in light of our terminal diagnosis. In this book, professor emeritus of conservation biology Guy McPherson describes how we can proceed with urgency in the face of habitat loss for our species. While describing the evidence underlying human extinction within a few years, McPherson also provides an urgent and reasoned response to this prognosis.

Only Love Remains: Dancing at the Edge of Extinction

Science & Math

McPherson, Guy R.

Earth Sciences

Woodthrush Productions

The science is clear: Homo sapiens teeters on the brink of extinction. Industrial civilization is an omnicidal heat engine, yet terminating civilization heats the planet even faster in an outcome termed the McPherson Paradox. In this book, professor emeritus of conservation biology Guy McPherson describes how we can proceed with urgency in the face of habitat loss for our species. While describing the evidence underlying human extinction within a few years, McPherson also provides an urgent and reasoned response to this prognosis. In other words, this book describes a way forward in light of our terminal diagnosis.Inspired by a 2016 speaking tour in New Zealand by the author, this book moves beyond the idea of attempting to preserve human life at all costs and into the idea of living in hospice. Our species has never faced a trial such as this one. How shall we live?McPherson convincingly argues that how we live matters. There is no better measure of our character than how we act in the face of impossible odds. Taking action when actions are futile, and dancing over and into the abyss are joyous acts of rebellion.Do we adhere to principle? Do we pursue excellence in our lives? Do we live fully, lovingly, even if we have no legacy? McPherson argues for a radical approach even if ―especially if ― no one remains to critique our last dance. Even if ―especially if ― no one remains to admire our fortitude in the face of our inevitable fate.

Only Love Remains: Dancing At the Edge of Extinction (1)

McPherson, Guy

Guy McPherson was a successful professor by every imperial measure: well-published in all the right places, he taught and mentored students who acquired the best jobs in the field, and performed abundant, exemplary professional service. He earned enough to live on a third of his income and still traveled as much as he desired throughout the industrialized world. In other words, McPherson was the perfect model of all that is wrong with the United States and, by extension, the nations looking to us for an example. Rather than questioning the system, he was raising minor questions within the system.During the decade of his forties, McPherson transformed his academic life from mainstream ecologist to friend of the earth. He became a conservation biologist and social critic, and his speaking and writing increasingly targeted the public beyond the classroom. McPherson began teaching poetry in facilities of incarceration, trying to give voice to wise people long marginalized or ignored by industrial society. Guest commentaries in local newspapers pointed out the absurdities of American life, as well as limits to growth for the world's industrial economy. Increasingly strident essays drew the attention of university administrators who tried to fire him, and, when that failed, tried to muzzle him. Shortly after administrators gave up trying to force McPherson's departure from a major research university, he left the institution on his own terms when, at the age of 49, McPherson finally awakened to the costs of the non-negotiable American way of life: obedience at home and oppression abroad. And then he walked away from all that privilege to pursue a life of principle and even more service while raising goats, gardens and working with his neighbors. It meant hours of physical labor, months of loneliness, and finally, betrayal from those closest to him.

Walking Away From Empire: A Personal Journey

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

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