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This Civilisation is Finished: Conversations on the end of Empire - and what lies beyond
Industrial civilisation has no future. It requires limitless economic growth on a finite planet. The reckless combustion of fossil fuels means that Earth’s climate is changing disastrously, in ways that cannot be resolved by piecemeal reform or technological innovation. Sooner rather than later this global capitalist system will come to an end, destroyed by its own ecological contradictions. Unless humanity does something beautiful and unprecedented, the ending of industrial civilisation will take the form of collapse, which could mean a harrowing die-off of billions of people.
This book is for those ready to accept the full gravity of the human predicament – and to consider what in the world is to be done. How can humanity mindfully navigate the inevitable descent ahead? Two critical thinkers here remove the rose-tinted glasses of much social and environmental commentary. With unremitting realism and yet defiant positivity, they engage each other in uncomfortable conversations about the end of Empire and what lies beyond.
104 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 1, 2019
90 people are currently reading
345 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 24, 2019
Don't let the title deceive you, this is a well referenced analysis of our current situation and the short to mid-term path our growth/consumerist civilization is headed towards. I expect that people deep in the denial mind state will quickly dismiss this as overly dramatic and keep on driving themselves off the cliff.
Don't be lazy... it's a short read. If you're not convinced then check out the references. You might end up gaining some crucial new insights and ideas on how to move forward.
Don't be lazy... it's a short read. If you're not convinced then check out the references. You might end up gaining some crucial new insights and ideas on how to move forward.
June 20, 2024
This is a terrific book. Configured in the French style of a conversation between scholars, it is deeply disturbing and also profoundly liberating.
Civilisation is finished. The capacity to make the scale of changes required in the climate emergency is lacking. Governments have failed. Universities have failed. Citizens have failed. Capitalism has failed.
But has it?
What is surprising and powerful in this book is the exploration of how the greatest capitalist project was the making of consumers. That was the product. That was the outcome. And that process has constructed our ending.
A book of urgency without despair. Anger without humiliation. A fascinating project and way of constructing an argument. A great publishing initiative.
Civilisation is finished. The capacity to make the scale of changes required in the climate emergency is lacking. Governments have failed. Universities have failed. Citizens have failed. Capitalism has failed.
But has it?
What is surprising and powerful in this book is the exploration of how the greatest capitalist project was the making of consumers. That was the product. That was the outcome. And that process has constructed our ending.
A book of urgency without despair. Anger without humiliation. A fascinating project and way of constructing an argument. A great publishing initiative.
August 20, 2019
I would ask every reader who has made it this far (2nd to last chapter of book) to get serious about this---
"What are you going to do to manifest what is now called for? How can you pour your money, or your life (or both!), into shedding some light into the darkness of this time?"
"What are you going to do to manifest what is now called for? How can you pour your money, or your life (or both!), into shedding some light into the darkness of this time?"
May 6, 2020
Underwhelming
Bringings very little actionable content to people well versed in the topic and has the air of several well meaning, but out of touch professors, waveing there hands about what to do as they drink there trim latter's in there nice offices.
Bringings very little actionable content to people well versed in the topic and has the air of several well meaning, but out of touch professors, waveing there hands about what to do as they drink there trim latter's in there nice offices.
November 22, 2020
Essential reading for ongoing grounding around the climate and ecological crisis
August 10, 2020
If I was hanging out with someone one on one, and maybe I'm a couple of drinks in, I'd level with them: imho, this civilization is finished. I admit to reading this book purely for the kicks of agreeing with everything these authors say.
Of course, I totally disagree with another reviewer who found the book to be doom and gloom - it's entirely the opposite. I flew to the end of this book because I couldn't get enough. I felt elated and empowered by the truth-telling on display. We need to face the reality of the situation we are in before we can change it, and this book tells it like it is.
Truthfully, what makes me the most depressed are the delusions that people continue to live under in the face of inevitable, utter, and overwhelming civilization collapse. We cannot have an infinitely growing economy on a finite planet, it's a mathematical impossibility. For me, I'd much rather face this truth, and live my life passionately and honestly, than cower in darkness. Everyone of age not only can handle the truth, but deserves to be told it. The truth will set you free.
Quotes:
"I'm not an alarmist. I'm raising the alarm." - mentally bookmarking this quote for the next time someone tells me I'm over-reacting
"Techno-optimism sends us to sleep, as it de-politicizes and de-moralizes crisis. It encourages us to believe that everything comes to us in the forms of problems (rather than tragedies or mysteries); that there are no insoluble problems..." - re-storying the world? Count me in.
"...the rapid reductions in overall ecological footprint that we need in order to live as if we only had one planet are not compatible, according to our best models, with any net-economic-growth-paths at all."
"It (XR) requires us to be willing to become 'poorer' - i.e., in material terms; we'll be richer in terms of community, of the life of the spirit, of access to nature and wilderness. And, of course, ultimately we'll be richer materially, too, than we would be on our present path - because that is a path toward collapse. There are no jobs in a civilization that has vanished."
"I think we ought to be thinking about how to dismantle the system, much more than about how to 'share the wealth'."
"Lack of technology is not our problem - what we are doing with the technology we have is our problem, and that poses an ethical challenge far more than a technocratic or engineering challenge."
"We lie to our children every time we pretend that they can expect an ordinary career of their choice in an endlessly growing economy." - YES!
"The etymology of the world 'apocalypse' is uncover/reveal." - love this.
"We're turning the planet - and the future - to junk, and not even making ourselves happy in the process."
"...there will be no macro-economics or politics beyond growth until there is a culture of sufficiency that demands it. We - ordinary people - need to prefigure one-planet living as far as we can, in our own lives and communities, seeking to establish highly localized economies based on sufficiency, solidarity, and moderation. This is not to say that the state or government has no role to play in the transition that is needed; it is only to say that a post-growth or post-capitalist state will not be the prime 'driver' of the new society, but instead be the outcome of social movements building new structures and cultures within the shell of the existing system, and eventually replacing that system."
"What are you going to do to manifest what is now called for? How can you pour your money, or your life (or both!), into shedding some light into the darkness of this time?"
"We are thoroughly liberated from domesticated hopes: of a normal career, of a secure old age, of ever-rising house prices. We are liberated from much peer pressure, from expectations of 'normalcy.' "
"Once we accept that this civilization is finished, we are free to seek a new beginning."
"...the end of civilization as we know it gives us an opportunity to create the conditions for both human and ecological well-being."
Of course, I totally disagree with another reviewer who found the book to be doom and gloom - it's entirely the opposite. I flew to the end of this book because I couldn't get enough. I felt elated and empowered by the truth-telling on display. We need to face the reality of the situation we are in before we can change it, and this book tells it like it is.
Truthfully, what makes me the most depressed are the delusions that people continue to live under in the face of inevitable, utter, and overwhelming civilization collapse. We cannot have an infinitely growing economy on a finite planet, it's a mathematical impossibility. For me, I'd much rather face this truth, and live my life passionately and honestly, than cower in darkness. Everyone of age not only can handle the truth, but deserves to be told it. The truth will set you free.
Quotes:
"I'm not an alarmist. I'm raising the alarm." - mentally bookmarking this quote for the next time someone tells me I'm over-reacting
"Techno-optimism sends us to sleep, as it de-politicizes and de-moralizes crisis. It encourages us to believe that everything comes to us in the forms of problems (rather than tragedies or mysteries); that there are no insoluble problems..." - re-storying the world? Count me in.
"...the rapid reductions in overall ecological footprint that we need in order to live as if we only had one planet are not compatible, according to our best models, with any net-economic-growth-paths at all."
"It (XR) requires us to be willing to become 'poorer' - i.e., in material terms; we'll be richer in terms of community, of the life of the spirit, of access to nature and wilderness. And, of course, ultimately we'll be richer materially, too, than we would be on our present path - because that is a path toward collapse. There are no jobs in a civilization that has vanished."
"I think we ought to be thinking about how to dismantle the system, much more than about how to 'share the wealth'."
"Lack of technology is not our problem - what we are doing with the technology we have is our problem, and that poses an ethical challenge far more than a technocratic or engineering challenge."
"We lie to our children every time we pretend that they can expect an ordinary career of their choice in an endlessly growing economy." - YES!
"The etymology of the world 'apocalypse' is uncover/reveal." - love this.
"We're turning the planet - and the future - to junk, and not even making ourselves happy in the process."
"...there will be no macro-economics or politics beyond growth until there is a culture of sufficiency that demands it. We - ordinary people - need to prefigure one-planet living as far as we can, in our own lives and communities, seeking to establish highly localized economies based on sufficiency, solidarity, and moderation. This is not to say that the state or government has no role to play in the transition that is needed; it is only to say that a post-growth or post-capitalist state will not be the prime 'driver' of the new society, but instead be the outcome of social movements building new structures and cultures within the shell of the existing system, and eventually replacing that system."
"What are you going to do to manifest what is now called for? How can you pour your money, or your life (or both!), into shedding some light into the darkness of this time?"
"We are thoroughly liberated from domesticated hopes: of a normal career, of a secure old age, of ever-rising house prices. We are liberated from much peer pressure, from expectations of 'normalcy.' "
"Once we accept that this civilization is finished, we are free to seek a new beginning."
"...the end of civilization as we know it gives us an opportunity to create the conditions for both human and ecological well-being."
August 2, 2019
Promising uncompromised honesty this piece of intellectual masturbation then fails to confront the consequences of the authors' prescription. This cannot be from an ignorance of their effects but from an unwillingness to confront the mega deaths attendent upon the XR prescription. The death from cold and starvation of hundreds of millions of people should never be skipped over lightly.
The political violence needed to force the British public back to medieval subsistence farming isn't addressed. The authors think that people will willingly embrace destitution and immiseration. They are deluded.
Clearly Read and Alexander think they will be in the vanguard of their totalitarian paradise. I suspect they'd be on the first train to the Gulag.
The political violence needed to force the British public back to medieval subsistence farming isn't addressed. The authors think that people will willingly embrace destitution and immiseration. They are deluded.
Clearly Read and Alexander think they will be in the vanguard of their totalitarian paradise. I suspect they'd be on the first train to the Gulag.
November 5, 2021
Reminiscent of the decade’s old Al Gore documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”, and the even older George R. Stewart book, “Earth Abides”, this 2019 book had no idea that it was also foretelling the future Covid-19 pandemic.
Pandemic was one of a handful of scenarios mentioned in this book as the tipping point for humanity. And it happened, right in front of our unbelieving eyes.
The silver lining of the pandemic is an opportunity for massive social change. It’s our chance. Let’s not waste it.
“The stakes become clear. We are thoroughly liberated from domesticated hopes: of a normal career, of a secure old age, of ever-rising house prices. We are liberated from much peer pressure, from expectations of ‘normalcy’.”
Pandemic was one of a handful of scenarios mentioned in this book as the tipping point for humanity. And it happened, right in front of our unbelieving eyes.
The silver lining of the pandemic is an opportunity for massive social change. It’s our chance. Let’s not waste it.
“The stakes become clear. We are thoroughly liberated from domesticated hopes: of a normal career, of a secure old age, of ever-rising house prices. We are liberated from much peer pressure, from expectations of ‘normalcy’.”
September 15, 2022
This is a quick read that will allow you to begin to understand the predicaments our current, global, industrial civilization is facing. It's a great starting point for people who are have discovered the collapse community and are starting to recognize that we are in serious trouble. The frank conversation in the book is refreshing. My only complaint is that some of the subject matter doesn't go deep enough. There are plenty of books that do that already. After reading this I'd recommend anyone that like it also read "Bright Green Lies" and "The End of the World is Just the Beginning". Both of those books go deeper on the specifics of why this civilization will end in the not too distant future.
December 28, 2021
A summary of an interesting conversation that promises much but leads nowhere. It does serve a valid purpose to highlight that there will soon be catastrophic events that will inevitably lead to the end of the current civilisation. However, it does not attempt to delve into the background research on climate change but rather makes reference to films such as Avatar. It makes the case for blaming most of the problems on to the obsession for economic growth and the takeover of global trade by the giant corporations. However, it really goes too far to propose that life in the pre-industrial era was the ideal way of life. No mention that the average lifespan then was only 30 years and not that enjoyable unless you happened to be part of the ruling elite. There is one reference to the global population of 8 billion humans being the main reason and potential source of the solution. So a vast subject tries to be addressed in a book of less than 100 pages and inevitably does not succeed.
I am currently reading "Earthshot. How to save our planet" which is far superior in terms of analysing the problem, prioritising what needs to be addressed and proposing practical next steps.
I am currently reading "Earthshot. How to save our planet" which is far superior in terms of analysing the problem, prioritising what needs to be addressed and proposing practical next steps.
November 13, 2023
Despite the gloomy title, I thought this was one of the most hopeful books I've read about the climate crisis that doesn't shy away from stark and painful truths. Our way of life will need to radically change over the next century, and it will, regardless of whether we start making those changes today or are forced to make them desperately and perhaps futility in the future. It's a very short read (only about 80 pages). I would recommend it to anyone, however having some background on degrowth, the multi-crisis of climate change, overshoot, and ecological breakdown, and economic theory might be helpful to provide context. Regardless, I would recommend anyone reading this review to take a chance on it and I bet you'll come to the end feeling energized not despondent.
December 9, 2020
Convincing, but for Rupert's championing of XR. Read Cory Morningstar on the wretchedness of that privileged organisation:
http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2019/...
http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2019/...
October 21, 2024
. Meh. We all know the problem by now, and this book, a discussion between two philosophers on the coming collapse, didn’t have much new for me.
September 13, 2025
An interesting read but in 2025 it does feel a bit dated 6 years on. Climate change really kicked in, wars and political instability - not sure any thinking person needs to be persuaded.
November 12, 2020
This book is best understood through the medium it was written: this is about being able to communicate the stakes, terror, possibility, and critical analysis necessary to sustain vital conversations about climate change and climate breakdown into our everyday conversations.
It's a welcome change from other books which attempt to grasp at the dangers of a natural system in decay but leave the message to be interpreted and relayed by the reader. Much of what is written here is accessible and while it may not deepen your understanding of climate change, perhaps there needs to be less emphasis on what it "is" and more about how do we name it in the bubble of our lives, how do we keep it conscious and how do we as a society deliberate over that.
It's a welcome change from other books which attempt to grasp at the dangers of a natural system in decay but leave the message to be interpreted and relayed by the reader. Much of what is written here is accessible and while it may not deepen your understanding of climate change, perhaps there needs to be less emphasis on what it "is" and more about how do we name it in the bubble of our lives, how do we keep it conscious and how do we as a society deliberate over that.
July 30, 2019
How to face the biggest crisis any culture has had to face? How to stop bickering with "denialist" morons and start thinking about saving at least something of the biosphere. What is sufficient at the moment? Or is this anymore merely a "moment" or a unprecedented cascade of hard to predict series of catastrophes escalating wildly. Read and Alexander try to make light reading of a difficult totality. Not a bad effort. Probably the best thing to take from these dialogues are suggestions for further reading. And the fact that deniers and the political-capitalist growth system is not going to change. Not before loads of more shit hits the fan we have created and keep happily churning.
August 7, 2022
The format of this book is set up as a conversation between two academics, both focused on the effects of climate change. There is a negative prognosis that the earth has passed it's salvageable deadlines accompanied by prescriptions for possible future outcomes. The two have fervour for the Extinction Rebellion and the Simplicity movements.
December 16, 2019
A five-star must-read book for anyone who cares at all about the future we are passing on to our children. A short, concise discussion about facing reality and getting beyond single-issue debates and arguments.
August 17, 2020
Ich fand nichts "falsches oder störendes" in diesem Buch, aber auch nichts "neues oder besonders interessantes" welches diese Gespräche besonders lesenswert machen würden.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews