Too Late: The End of One World and the Beginning of a New One

It's too late to preserve life as we know it. Too late, too, for sustainable development. This is the stark observation made by Harvey L. Mead, a veteran of the environmental scene. Since the publication in 1972 of the Club of Rome's report on the limits to growth, a true compass for the environmental movement, the situation, far from improving, has only worsened. The glory days of economic development are behind us, greenhouse gas emissions and pollution continue to increase, climate change is accelerating, resources are becoming scarce...

Refusing to sink into sterile pessimism, Harvey L. Mead takes the side of operational optimism to combat the ambient ideological inertia, convinced that we have no other choice: either we change our system through a massive community effort, or this system will collapse under the weight of its excesses, whether economic, social or ecological.

The idea of a "soft" transition to change the deleterious trajectory we have taken is impossible, as is maintaining the growth paradigm. Environmental defenders and activists for social change must urgently integrate this state of affairs. Should we sink into despair? On the contrary! It is imperative to define the foundations of new socioeconomic systems that will survive the series of collapses to come. For it is indeed the end of one world and the beginning of a new one that we must build. Let's roll up our sleeves; it is too late to despair!