Eric Holthaus

“The perpetual growth model is simply not built for an era of rapid planetary change. In a world where the richest 85 people in the world own as much wealth as the bottom 3.5 billion, and the wealthiest 10% produce 49% of all emissions, it’s not individual choices that are driving climate change. When we realize that rich people have stolen our planet’s habitability for themselves, we will demand revolutionary change.”
― Eric Holthaus, The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What's Possible in the Age of Warming

“Samantha Earle is a philosopher at the University of East Anglia who specializes in liminal spaces. She firmly believes that Western civilization is currently ripe for radical change. Talking with her was the most transformative conversation I had while putting together this book. Philosophers like to speak of an “imaginary,” or a guiding framework, for organizing society. Earle isn’t under any illusions that this process is going to be easy. But just as climate scientists are certain that our current path will lead to inevitable destruction of our planet’s fundamental life-support systems, Earle is certain that our prevailing guiding frameworks for civilization cannot last. “We’re at that time where the problems of the world just can’t be answered by the prevailing imaginary,” she told me. “We are in a time of breakdown.”
― Eric Holthaus, The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What's Possible in the Age of Warming