Abstract
The past several decades have yielded a proliferation of literature on sustainability, identifying definitions, challenges, and potential solutions. In The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crisis, editors Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch enlist an array of experts to assist in tackling this vast topic anew. In the preface, Lerch describes both “post carbon” and sustainability as processes, rather than goals. In chapter 1 (Beyond the Limits to Growth), Heinberg explains the concept of a postcarbon transition as a means of responding to converging sustainability crises in the sectors covered in the book and beyond. In chapter 2 (“What Is Sustainability?”), he elucidates five “axioms of sustainability,” characterized as a distillation of the definitions coined by the United Nations’ Brundtland Report (United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), Swedish scientist Karl-Hendrik Robert (Robert, n.d.), and William Rees (one of The Post Carbon Reader’s contributing authors) and Mathis Wackernagel (Rees and Wackernagel, 1995). Rather than tying these definitions to one sector, the book emphasizes the ubiquitous nature of fossil fuel applications and sustainability, revealing linkages across and within a wide range of sectors. A box chart (2.1: Defining Social Sustainability) also highlights the role of social sustainability in facilitating environmental and economic sustainability.
The editors’ objectives of inclusiveness, interconnectedness, and individual action distinguish this book from others. Framing sustainability as a form of resilience, The Post Carbon Reader offers a positive message on adaptation and transformation, rather than merely explaining the direness of the current global situation. The broad thesis guiding the book centers on the present as a turning point, and the need for society to proactively manage the direction of the turn. The editors assert that the key to empowering members of society to accept this challenge lies in promoting understanding the path of fossil-fueled economic growth that has led to the current convergence of sustainability crises.
The three introductory chapters in Part One: Foundation Concepts (chapters 1 and 2 by Heinberg and chapter 3, “Thinking ‘Resilience’”) highlight three broad objectives. First, the authors aim to raise awareness of the interdependence of the economic crisis and energy and climate crises. Second, Parts Two through Fourteen on climate, water, biodiversity, food, population, culture and behavior, energy, economy, cities and towns, transportation, waste, health, and education strive to provide a “systems-oriented, interdisciplinary, collaborative approach to life after growth” (p. xvi). Finally, the conclusions of each of these chapters and the final Parts Fifteen and Sixteen, “Building Resilience” and “A Call to Action,” endeavor to offer ways for individuals to take actions that work toward a postcarbon society. The book accomplishes these goals effectively, but doing so requires significant space. Thus, the book weighs in at 458 pages and thirty-four chapters, the length of a textbook, although with a more personal tone. Each chapter is written by an expert in the field he or she covers, and their credentials and affiliations appear above their text.
Skimming the lengthy table of contents, one might be tempted to read only the introduction and conclusion to get the flavor of the book. While informative, these sections do not satisfy the goals the authors have established for the book, nor the mission with which they task its readers. Rather, the opening foundation concepts and concluding call to action encourage the reader to delve into the various chapters in order to understand the complex links between the various segments of the current and postcarbon world, and to find the detailed, actionable steps in each field toward the postcarbon world the editors and authors envision.
Unsurprisingly, the book dedicates significant space to issues traditionally associated with sustainability, also identified in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals established in 2000: climate, water, biodiversity, food, population, energy, health, and economic growth. Of the sixteen parts comprising the book, these sectors constitute Parts Two through Six, Eight, Nine, and Thirteen. The novelty of The Post Carbon Reader lies in the relationships examined between each of these sectors and fossil fuels, as well as within related categories such as urban development, transportation and household waste (Parts Ten through Twelve). The book takes a step further in exploring linkages across sectors and the roles of education, culture, and behavior in fossil fuel use and its proposed divestiture from these sectors (Parts Seven and Fourteen). For example, chapter 12, “Population: The Multiplier of Everything Else,” considers the connections between population trends and climate, energy, water, food, biodiversity, economic development, and health. Part Fourteen on reforming education to promote sustainability culture provides a nice counterbalance to the dismal picture painted by Part Seven, which depicts the role of behavior and culture in the carbon-based modern society.
In the foreword, Asher Miller candidly reveals the assumptions underlying the main premise and supporting details, enabling the reader to understand from the beginning the lens through which the book’s messages are filtered. First, Miller asserts the book’s view that we have indeed reached the limits of growth. Industrialization has caused today’s challenges, and the fossil fuels that support it are a limited resource. The editors and authors propose the need to build a new economy based on new foundations.
Second, Miller posits that no issue can be addressed in isolation. This assumption reflects the reality that societies tend to address challenges in each segment separately, if at all. In recognition of the need to both correct and adjust for this tendency toward incrementalism and compartmentalism, while the book artfully weaves the issues together into one narrative, conveying the message that society needs to take steps in each of these areas, recommendations for action generally remain tied to each field. These concrete suggestions within the sector-specific chapters supplement the comprehensive ones appearing in the concluding pages of the book.
Third, Miller stresses the need to focus on responses rather than solutions. While this delineation may seem semantic, he defines the difference as finiteness. Solutions suggest an end to a problem, while responses suggest ongoing efforts. Fourth, Miller emphasizes the need to prepare for uncertainty, defined as a need to build resilience to absorb shocks while maintaining our identity. Finally, Miller avers that action is possible, that individuals can make changes in their lives and the lives of their communities.
If readers disagree with any of the first four assumptions, the book may not convince them otherwise. Disbelief in the finiteness of global resources could result in disagreement with the data offered in the book, as well as disbelief in the editors’ notion of sustainability crises. Those who believe that the issues raised can or should be addressed in isolation may find their perspective changed, but only if they do not choose to skip to the chapters on sectors of interest—a risk with a book of this length—thus missing the point on interrelatedness. Readers who see no difference between responses and solutions may view the suggested actions as insufficient to resolve the challenges raised. Finally, those who would argue that uncertainty prevents preparation for the unknown or unexpected will fundamentally disagree with the concept of resilience that represents a core tenet of the book. In short, The Post Carbon Reader likely will not cure skeptics, but the editors do not appear to include this task among the book’s goals.
Readers who disagree with the final assumption—that action is possible—will find evidence throughout the book that may change their minds. Thus, the audiences best served by the book likely are readers who already share the editors’ first four assumptions—or are open to persuasion—and are interested in educating themselves further on the role of fossil fuels in the economy, those interested in climate change, and those who seek ways to individually and communally contribute to movement toward a postcarbon society.
Recognizing upfront the need to limit their selection of issues and geographical scope, the editors list in the preface examples of areas omitted from the book, including the roles of media and politics in the fossil fuel economy and postcarbon society, as well as missing details within covered sectors, such as local postcarbon society transportation options. While some readers may believe some of these should substitute for areas chosen for inclusion, the editors have done their best to include as many sectors as possible to make their case for interlinked challenges. Heinberg and Lerch state that they intentionally selected the United States as the focus of the book, and they offer good reasons for their choice, including the scope of impact. Thus, the guidance offered throughout the book, while potentially applicable in other nations, is aimed at an American audience and emerges from the U.S. fossil fuel use and industrialization trajectory.
The chapters, however, do include many international examples, placing the U.S. situation in a global context and establishing a foundation for future audiences beyond U.S. borders. For example, Heinberg cites China as an example of potential resource depletion in describing limits to growth. Chapter 5 (“The International Response to Climate Change”) includes scenarios for South Africa and India in the discussion of the cap and share concept as a possible means of addressing inequities in climate change mitigation. The same chapter also mentions New Zealand’s carbon measurement techniques. Chapter 6 (“The Ecological Deficit”) references communities in India, Brazil, and Spain as examples of locally based economies. Chapter 7 (“Water: Adapting to a New Normal”) examines the problems associated with large-scale water projects in India and China as context for discussion of similar U.S. projects. The same chapter presents innovative watershed protection models in Brazil and Ecuador. Chapter 9 (“Getting Fossil Fuels Off the Plate”) compares Dutch and Chinese greenhouse techniques. Chapter 12 (“Population”) raises several multicountry examples. Chapter 14 (“Remapping Relationships: Humans in Nature”) uses Mexico as a case of America’s bilateral resource exploitation. Chapter 17 (“Hydrocarbons in North America”) analyzes U.S. reliance on Canadian fossil fuel exports. Chapter 18 (“Nine Challenges of Alternative Energy”) references Canadian and Chinese alternative energy resources. Chapter 27 (“Transportation in the Post-Carbon World”) lists statistics on electric rail systems in Japan, Russia, Germany, and China. Chapter 33 (“What Can Communities Do?”) includes a table of cities around the world that have implemented formal transition initiatives to revive focus on local economies.
In sum, as a first effort at distilling multiple dimensions of an immense theme, The Post Carbon Reader encourages interdisciplinary thinking on global, national, community and individual scales regarding sustainability, growth foundations, and resilience. A future sequel could easily address the same issues for other nations, including lessons learned for developing nations to apply.