Welcome
This website promotes
the cause of ecological
sustainability. By that, we mean that the conservation of environmental
systems, biodiversity and bioregional human cultures must be
society’s overriding goal. We are committed to a politics for
life on earth, all life not just its human form. This politics is
founded on an ethos of ‘enoughness’, sharing the
Earth’s bounty, rather than the avaricious
‘moreness’
that dominates contemporary culture.
To put it another way, we oppose the
suicidal politics of unlimited
expectations and open-ended entitlements, be they under the guise of
the so-called ‘free’ market’,
‘mixed’
economies or centrally planned economic systems. We are therefore
against unrestrained population growth and the pursuit of open-ended
economic expansion. We similarly dissent from the modern cult of the
'technofix', salvation through technological miracles. Equally, we seek
to unmask
fraudulent goals and policies such as so-called sustainable
development.
Tragically, most organisations and indeed large sections of the general
public are living in a fantasy world. They behave as if it were
possible for society to continue on its present course without disaster.
They are living as if there were no tomorrow, thus ensuring that the
future will be bleak indeed. The overriding and all-embracing issue
today is that the foundations of life on Earth are crumbling. The only
truly realistic politics is one that address that reality.
The primary challenge of our times, then, is to cut down the scale of
human activity and live within natural limits, to ‘think
shrink’. All else is a matter, as Fritz Schumacher once put
it,
of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Overall, our culture,
our technologies, our political and economic systems, must be rooted in
the checks and balances of life on Earth .…and the sooner we
begin to make the transition, the easier and more satisfactory it is
likely to be.
The ecological alternative — a society sustainably in balance
with the Earth’s capacities, patterns and rhythms —
is also
one which most likely will deliver a way of life more satisfying and, indeed, more
convivial than the destructive rat race that is the hallmark of
contemporary lifestyles. Ecocentrism — Earth first
— not
egocentrism must be the watchword.
Publications
Plan
The Ecological
Sustainability website seeks
to publish material of genuine substance and relevance. But
we feel there is no value in the mealy-mouthed fudging, not least about
overpopulation. We aim to be forthright and indeed
blunt. We firmly believe that the multiple and interacting crises it
seeks to address are not some tragedy but the product of identifiable
and usually deliberate actions for which those responsible should be
held to account. That said, we also seek to be fair and reasonable. The Ecological Sustainability
website
is, then, about sharp-edged polemic, backed by solid evidence and
robust argument. We believe that there is now an even more urgent need
for such material given
the disappearance or makeover of magazines like The Ecologist that
once
performed that role. The costs of printing and difficulties with
traditional means of distribution make it necessary to rely on
electronic media, despite our deep reservations about
computerisation.
There will be different types of material:
1. Bibliographic
studies
guiding readers to the best literature on various
topics.
2. Essays
on
currently topical issues and debates. They will include critiques of
particular organisations and individuals.
3. Reviews
of books, films, music and so forth.
4. Cartoons
& photographs.
5. Adworlds, looking at the use
and abuse of words and images in advertisements.
Copyright
All our material can be freely copied but we would appreciate due
acknowledgement as well as any publicity you can give to our project.
Contact
us:
This site has been created by the Ecological
Publishing Project. We can be contacted at:
epp@blueyonder.co.uk
For details of the origins of the EPP and our view of the world see:
About
Us