Summary

“I'm not a pessimist, even though I do think awful things are going to happen” - James Lovelock Humanity is currently experiencing an unprecedented golden age, largely based on tremendous growth in the use of fossil fuels. However, we face a multifaceted energy and food crises that threatens to end this golden era...or does it? Do we really need ever increasing amounts of energy to improve our well-being? Or have previous generations got it wrong? Instead of entering into a double bind in our futile pursuit of GDP, we should focus on what really matters – well-being itself.