BLOOM OR BUST

The events of 2008 were not a financial blip. Modern civilisation has reached a climax. Unless humans lighten their demands on the Earth, the next 20 years will be filled with horror stories of energy, food and water shortages. If we do nothing, global civilisation will continue to collapse economically and socially to the point of no return. Bloom or Bust is an epic and exhilirating account of the human journey from the end of the last ice age into the 21st Century. It tells the story of how humans have repeatedly over-exploited their natural surroundings to build complex civilisations and empires, which time and time again have collapsed because of environmental ignorance, political egotism and religious delusion. In the next 10 to 20 years, fossil fuel demand will outstrip supplies significantly, there will be water shortages in the most populated places and crop yields will fail to meet the demands of modern eating habits. Then it will be a Mad Max scenario, where everyone is fighting over food and the last drop of oil. We can and must do better. This book looks at the serious challenges ahead and puts forward radical solutions.