Utopia or else

by René Dumont

English, French (translation)

180 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1975

About the author

René Dumont was a French engineer in agronomy, a sociologist, and an environmental politician.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could have met René Dumont. He's my environmentalist soulmate.

[Chris Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rene Dumont had an interesting work pattern. A Third World country’s government would ask him to write a report on the state of their agricultural economy. He would go there, write a report, impressive always in its range and depth, and submit it to the commissioning government. The government would do nothing with it, and Dumont would go home to France and publish it as a book. Of all the several dozen governments he did this for, only Tanzania published and promulgated their report.
But L’Utopie ou la Mort was different. This was Dumont’s response to the Club of Rome’s report The Limits to Growth. It was a great Scientist’s highly creative contribution to the question which is so very rarely addressed of exactly what can we do to save the planet? To give just one example, he advocated building wooden sailing ships to carry cargo, and contribute to solving three problems at once: reducing carbon emissions, locking up fixed carbon, and giving young people adventurous work to do.