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Synopsis
The planetary phase of history has begun, but its ultimate shape is profoundly uncertain. Will global development veer toward a world of impoverished people, cultures and nature? Or will there be a Great Transition toward a future of enriched lives, human solidarity and environmental sustainability? These questions are addressed in the path-breaking essay Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead. Paul Raskin, Tellus President, is lead author of this examination of the possibilities for a sustainable and desirable world. The essay describes the historic roots, current dynamics, future perils, and alternative pathways for world development. It advances one of these paths, Great Transition, as the preferred route, identifying strategies, agents of change, and values for a new global agenda. The essay s appraisal of the current global crossroads is disquieting. Conventional development is perilous, while the reform path to a sustainable future is problematic and uncertain. Yet, it shows that a fundamental change of direction is still possible. Progressive elements of civil society, government, international organizations, and business can forge a new sustainability paradigm, an alternative vision of globalization centered on the quality of life, human solidarity, environmental resilience, and an informed and engaged citizenry.
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About the Author
Dr. Raskin is President of the Tellus Institute. He founded Tellus in 1976, Stockholm Environment Institute - U.S. in 1989, the Global Scenario Group (GSG) in 1995, and the Great Transition Initiative (GTI) in 2003.The overarching theme of his work has been envisioning and analyzing alternative scenarios of development, and identifying the strategies, policies and values for a transition toward a future of environmental sustainability and human justice. Toward this larger aim, his work has ranged across themes (energy, water, climate change, ecosystems, development) and spatial scales (regional, national, river basin, global). He has pioneered integrated methods for long-range social and environmental assessment. This has led to a suite of computer-based tools that are now used in scores of countries, building the capacity of a new group of sustainability professionals. His path-breaking work with the GSG culminated in the influential essay Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead, which offers a rigorously grounded case for an alternative paradigm for global development in the 21st century. Dr. Raskin brought these insights to his work as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Science's Board on Sustainability, as a lead author for the IPCC and Millennium Ecosystem Assessments, as a key adviser to the UNEP Global Environment Outlook series, to drafting the Earth Charter, and numerous other efforts. He taught at the university level until founding the Tellus Institute in 1976.
Dr. Raskin received a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Columbia University in 1970.
From the Back Cover
The planetary phase of history has begun, its ultimate shape profoundly uncertain. Will global development veer toward a world of impoverished people, cultures and nature? Or will there be a Great Transition toward a future of enriched lives, human solidarity and environmental sustainability? Though perhaps improbable, such a shift is still possible.
The book examines the historic roots of this fateful crossroads for world development, and scans different scenarios that can emerge from contemporary forces and contradictions. This work of engagement as well as analysis points to strategies, values and choices for advancing a Great Transition. in an exploration of the requirements for a sustainable world. Many global and regional assessments have relied upon the Group's research.
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