We all know the bad news. Every day, along with all the bulletins on social upheavals and terrorist attacks, we read reports of the damage that industrial development is wreaking on our soil, air and water. We seem intent on continuing to live this way, even though many scientific experts tell us our actions are suicidal. The good news is that thousands of individuals, groups and businesses are already changing their ways. A growing number of companies are still making money while benefiting their local communities. The authors have also uncovered hundreds of working solutions that can help all of us to imagine and achieve a new and happier future. There is a spontaneous, global quest for ways to survive sustainably that is opening up a very different planetary future from the one based on endless economic and industrial demands. And, say Suzuki and Dressel, many of the technologies we need to realize our goals—to save species, to conserve soil, to right social wrongs—are already within our grasp.

Co-published with the David Suzuki Foundation