Becoming an Environmentalist: A 21st Century Update

T h e first edition of this book was published 45 years ago, soon after a combination of Middle East politics and early-stage peaking of conventional oil production led to long lines and high prices at gas stations, a serious recession, and the first use I remember of the phrase “energy crisis.”At that time, a lot of people and organizations knew that dependence on monumental engineering and major consumption of the natural world by Earth’s rapidly-growing human population was changing our life support system. But what most of us probably didn’t recognize was how fast that change was happening, and now we find that rather than passing various critical thresholds toward the end of this century as we then thought likely, we’re already facing them only two decades in.As we sit with fingers crossed that these are the waning days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a serious recession, and continuing attacks on democracy by fellow Americans, here is a review and update of a story that still offers hope for the health, safety, and well-being of all who live with the Earth.