Tyler Volk's Review, 6/2/2019

The senior co-author of this marvelous book, David Schwartzman, is a friend and colleague. Several of our joint papers have been among my most cited (on the biotic enhancement of weathering over Earth history). We have also both been involved in the study of human energy systems and in general concerned about the planetary future. David has published important calculations, for example, on how much oil will be needed to be burned to build renewables fast enough, before they can bootstrap themselves into the future after that. David has also published on social systems, and much more. He has run for political office in Washington D.C. He is one of the most far-ranging, precise thinkers I know.

In this book, David and his professor son Peter (who I have not met), provide an inspiring vision and analysis of the future. They call it the "other world that is still possible" (OWSP). They use his term to highlight the fact that the current world trajectory has many problematic trends in it (unsustainable land use, CO2 emissions, water problems, social inequities, and more). Much needs to be done, and what that entails makes the authors set the pointer of the OWSP.

So much work went into this visionary monograph. The result is no mere obvious statement that we need renewables, need to preserve biodiversity, need to improve agriculture─but an in-depth analysis of the situation (often bringing in relevant historical developments, as well). What we can do? What path should the world take? They deploy, in their engaging, fast-paced discussion, logic, figures, lots of numbers, and a full suite of references (by my count, over 800 citations). The book is worth it just for these references alone. I often found myself marking up a reference to look into. For their citations in the text the authors use a standard academic style of name and date. Don't be put off by this. Hats off to the authors. They do not hold back. This is a major academic statement relevant to everyone who thinks about the future of humanity and the biosphere.

The final sentence captures the intent of the book as well as any conclusion could. Therefore, I quote it: "Use our book as a resource and act!" Perfect: the book is a resource to be read and then returned to (How did the authors justify their calculation of how much energy will be needed for modest global prosperity? Or, what was their analysis of industrial versus organic agriculture? Or, what did they gain from their travels to Cuba?) And then they urge us to act. This book is a call to participation in making the OWST actually happen. It is intellectual fuel to fire up a reader's motivation.

The authors set out an overall goal for humanity for the 21st century: "To provide he highest quality of life for all humans while preserving biodiversity." (page 12). I agree with them that this statement is "simple but effective." What is quality of life? They take the reader into data on life expectancy versus per capita GDP and show that "excessive affluence is not a prerequisite for reaching our ultimate goal."

To use this goal to get their analysis ever downwards into ever further detail, they argue that "there are two major areas that hold priority." These are "sufficient energy and highly nutritious food." I agree these can be given priority. As they say, other issues such as water can be folded into these two major areas. After cogently noting the centrality of the science of thermodynamics, the bulk of the middle of the book deals in detail with world energy and the solar revolution, and with agroecology. After laying out their vision and groundwork for these issues, they take on "false solutions and misdirections" (chapter 6).

In chapter 7, called "Grow or Die: A Strategy Forward," the authors give a marvelous critique of the "degrowth" movement. (Again and again in this book they name names of authors and their works that might be called competitive visions, when they find these others deficient; regarding degrowth, David and I have talked about this issue a lot over the years). For example, one degrowth argument is found to be "shallow and frankly incapable of providing a viable political agenda for confronting the converging economic and ecological crisis of real existing fossil fuel/nuclear capitalism in the face of the growing threat of catastrophic climate change." (page 173). Earlier, in chapter 4, the authors show that the world needs more energy, not less (to overcome "energy poverty"). It is worthwhile for a reader to carefully go through the Schwartzmans' numbers and logic of chapter 4, which are then used in further discussion in this important chapter 7.

Will current trends take us to the OWSP? This question has been woven into the logic throughout the book, but in the final chapters 8 or 9 it's faced specifically (chapters: "the revolution has begun" and "the path to the other world this still possible"). The authors leave open the timing and magnitude of the shift. But they do see trends in the direction of the OWST (they call these positive trends "prefigurations"), such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And, obviously, a prefiguration is the rapid growth rates of renewables ongoing now. And they do envision the political result from a framework of "ecosocialism."

This book has a wealth of information and synthesis, only a few points of which I can highlight here. It was a labor of love, a gift to the world, to all of us. Use the book "as a resource and act!"