'Rupert Read and Samuel Alexander take us deep inside the debates, tactics, and passion that have bound Extinction Rebellion together from its founding days, bringing us radical reflections from the frontlines of rebellion. If you want to understand the movement that is finally waking us up, read this book.'- Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist 
'Invaluable reflections and next-step ideas right from the heart of arguably the most inspiring and important movement of the twenty first century'. - Mike Berners-Lee, author of There is no planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years 'Everyone should read this book. It is short, and impassioned, but full of important information: above all an honest and practical plea for us to seize the moment for change urgently. It is inspirational. Please, for all our sakes, read it, and take its timely words to heart.'- Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World 
'The ecological emergency is the greatest challenge that humanity has ever faced, and Extinction Rebellion may be our last best chance to address it. Read this inside story of the most important social movement of our time.'- David Loy, author of Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis 
'From the eruption of XR in our lives in late 2018, Rupert Read has been closely involved in the organisation as an advisor, influencer, spokesperson and occasional critic. These fascinating essays read like dispatches from the front line, crackling with urgency, tempered by timely reflections, and reminding us of the scale of the challenge ahead as we rebuild our shattered, post-coronavirus economies.'- Jonathon Porritt, former Director of the UK Sustainable Development Commission and of Friends of the Earth 
'Activist-philosopher Rupert Read, a key thinker of Extinction Rebellion, has collected a treasure trove of foundational essays, documenting the transformational XR UK experience, that will be immensely valuable for activists around the world trying to replicate that achievement. The book is incisive, pertinent, self-critical, well-written, and, in the XR way, occasionally cheeky. Anyone concerned with combating the broader wave of ecological collapse - that led to the pandemic and that is rising behind it - should read Read.'- Ken Ward, protagonist in the documentary The Reluctant Radical 
'Most of us like to watch movies about people saving the world but too rarely do we even try to do it ourselves. Despite the situation so obviously calling for it! This is a book about what might well turn out to be the most important social movement in history.'- David Graeber, author of The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement

Extinction Rebellion: Insights from the Inside

Science & Math

Read, Rupert

Earth Sciences

Simplicity Institute

Product Description 'Capitalist realism' implies that, ever since the fall of Soviet communism in 1989, capitalism has been the only realistic system of production and distribution. Everything else is generally dismissed as 'utopianism' or just naïve dreaming. This perspective points to a worrying failure of imagination, suggesting that it is now easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.But here is the paradox of capitalist realism: just as the dominant cultural imagination has contracted into a single vision of what is possible, the existing system shows itself to be in the process of self-destructing, serving neither people nor planet. Whether by design or disaster, the future will be post-capitalist.In his fourth book of collected essays, degrowth scholar and activist Samuel Alexander seeks to transcend capitalist realism. He shows that viable and desirable alternatives are being lived into existence today by diverse but connected social movements. Calling for a 'degrowth' transition of planned economic contraction, Alexander examines and develops this emerging paradigm from various political, energetic, and aesthetic perspectives. Readers will come away seeing plausible pathways to prosperity, sustainability, and resilience that do not rely on the capitalist growth model of progress. About the Author Samuel Alexander is a lecturer with the Office for Environmental Programs and researcher at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne. His interdisciplinary work focuses primarily on degrowth, voluntary simplicity, and the socio-economic implications of renewable energy transitions. He is author of seventeen books, including Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation (2013); Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits (2015), Sufficiency Economy: Enough, for Everyone, Forever (2015), Wild Democracy: Degrowth, Permaculture, and the Simpler Way (2017). More of his work is available at www.samuelalexander.info

Beyond Capitalist Realism: The Politics, Energetics, and Aesthetics of Degrowth

Business & Money

Alexander, Samuel

Economics

"In this humble, sincere and quick-witted book, Rupert Read invites us to find courage, stop being afraid of fear, and trust people without infantilizing them. It's time to get serious about mass mobilisation as Rupert does with compassion, love, rage and authenticity." 
- Pablo Servigne & Raphael Stevens, authors of How everything can collapse and Another end of the world is possible.\n"This is a book for everyone - a deeply invitational book, not offering certainty but glimmerings of what we can hope may be possible. Whoever you may be, I hope you will read it and find it speaks to you." 
- Prof. Cora Diamond, author, The realistic spirit.\nAs climate breakdown begins, the question each of us must ask is: Do I really want to know the truth? Am I willing to face it?\nIn this book Rupert Read argues compellingly that truthfulness on climate has surprising rewards: we get to live authentically, win or lose; to be with each other rather than stuck in individualised silos of anxiety; and, most important of all, to turn the difficult emotions which climate-honesty generates into energy. In a series of provocative and stimulating chapters, Read shows how truth is a mighty power that can mobilise untold millions.\nRead tackles in particular 'the 1.5 delusion' - the belief that it's still practically possible for humanity to remain in the 'safe' space below 1.5°C of global over-heat. He suggests abandoning this fantasy makes visible the terrible injustice being perpetrated upon the global South and on our children, and that radical truth-telling will liberate us to transformatively adapt to our future on a changed planet.\nThis book is for anyone and everyone who cares.\n"Don't read this book if you want to remain stuck in any kind of denial!" 
- Chris Packham, BBC broadcaster.

Do you want to know the truth? The surprising rewards of climate honesty

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Paradise Lost? The Climate Crisis and the Human Condition

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Hoggett, Paul

Mental Health

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.

This Civilisation is Finished: Conversations on the end of Empire - and what lies beyond

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Simplicity Institute publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Simplicity Institute