FUTURE SCENARIOS. How Communities can Adapt to Peak Oil and Climate Change

In "Future Scenarios," permaculture co-originator and leading sustainability innovator David Holmgren outlines four scenarios that bring to life the likely cultural, political, agricultural, and economic implications of peak oil and climate change, and the generations-long era of aenergy descenta that faces us.aScenario planning, a Holmgren explains, aallows us to use stories about the future as a reference point for imagining how particular strategies and structures might thrive, fail, or be transformed.a"Future Scenarios" depicts four very different futures. Each is a permutation of mild or destructive climate change, combined with either slow or severe energy declines. Probable futures, explains Holmgren, range from the relatively benign Green Tech scenario to the near catastrophic Lifeboats scenario.As Adam Grubb, founder of the influential Energy Bulletin Web site, says, aThese arenat two-dimensional nightmarish scenarios designed to scare people into environmental action. They are compellingly fleshed-out visions of quite plausible alternative futures, which delve into energy, politics, agriculture, social, and even spiritual trends. What they do help make clear are the best strategies for preparing for and adapting to these possible futures.a"Future Scenarios" provides brilliant and balanced consideration of the worldas options and will prove to be one of the most important books of the year.

David Holmgren is the co-originator, with Bill Mollison, of the permaculture concept. He lives with his partner and their son at Melliodora, a permaculture demonstration site at Hepburn Springs, Victoria, Australia. David's website can be found at www.holmgren.com.au .