Thursday, April 22, 2010

The New Greens

Peter W. Huber on the rise of an ecopragmatist:

Consider Stewart Brand’s meaty, well-informed, and mostly sensible new book, Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto. The man who used to be so California Hip that in 1968 he made a cameo appearance in Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test now presents himself as a “hacker (lazy engineer) at heart,” ready to promote realistic responses to the great eco-existential crisis of our time—climate change. How can Greens fulfill their new mission, which is to save not only birds and trees but all humanity? The man who founded and then edited the Whole Earth Catalog for 16 years—a magazine guided by “biological understanding” and enamored with the planet-saving power of organic farming, solar, wind, insulation, bicycles, and handmade houses—now concludes: “Cities are Green. Nuclear energy is Green. Genetic engineering is Green.”

2 comments:

James Aach said...

If you'd like a relatively painless look at the real world of nuclear power, Steward Brand was kind enough to say about my novel: "I'd like to see Rad Decision widely read." "Rad Decision" is a thriller written by a longtime nuclear industry worker. It is free at RadDecision.blogspot.com or there's a paperback at Amazon.

Michael Wade said...

James,

That sounds very interesting and it certainly is timely. I'll check it out.

Michael