“One of those who has been warning me of a coming crisis for a long time is Paul Gilding, the Australian environmental business expert. He has a name for this moment - when both Mother Nature and Father Greed have hit the wall at once - The Great Disruption”
“Ignore Gilding at your peril”.
Thomas Friedman - New York Times
The Great Disruption
The Great Disruption was born from a letter I wrote to friends and colleagues back in 2008, announcing my departure from Ecos Corporation, the ground breaking company I built and ran for 13 years. The letter outlined my views on why the crisis I had forecast in my earlier letter, Scream Crash Boom, was now underway and would inevitably accelerate from here. I argued we needed to recognise this reality and profoundly shift our approach. The argument was picked up by my long time friend Tom Friedman in his New York Times Column in March 2009. That column then triggered an invitation from Bloomsbury for me to write this book, allowing me to expand and provide evidence for my views and share them with hundreds of thousands of people across the globe.
Publisher’s Description
Paul Gilding’s book The Great Disruption was released around the world over 2011 to wide acclaim. A bracing assessment of the planetary crisis that we can no longer avoid-and the once-in-an-epoch chance it offers to build a better world.
It's time to stop just worrying about climate change, says Paul Gilding. We need instead to brace for impact because global crisis is no longer avoidable. This Great Disruption started in 2008, with spiking food and oil prices and dramatic ecological changes, such as the melting ice caps. It is not simply about fossil fuels and carbon footprints. We have come to the end of Economic Growth, Version 1.0, a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our planet's ecosystems and resources.
The Great Disruption offers a stark and unflinching look at the challenge humanity faces-yet also a deeply optimistic message. The coming decades will see loss, suffering, and conflict as our planetary overdraft is paid; however, they will also bring out the best humanity can offer: compassion, innovation, resilience, and adaptability. Gilding tells us how to fight-and win-what he calls The One Degree War to prevent catastrophic warming of the earth, and how to start today.
The crisis represents a rare chance to replace our addiction to growth with an ethic of sustainability, and it's already happening. It's also an unmatched business opportunity: Old industries will collapse while new companies will literally reshape our economy. In the aftermath of the Great Disruption, we will measure "growth" in a new way. It will mean not quantity of stuff but quality and happiness of life. Yes, there is life after shopping.
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Reviews and Commentary
“One of those who has been warning me [about a climate crisis] for a long time is Paul Gilding, the Australian environmental business expert. He has a name for this moment—when both Mother Nature and Father Greed have hit the wall at once—‘The Great Disruption.’”
“Ignore Gilding your peril”
- Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times
“We’re in the rapids now, heading for the falls, too late to swim for shore. But Paul Gilding offers some excellent insights into how we might weather that which we can no longer completely prevent—and how we can still prevent that which we won’t be able to weather. If you’re planning to stick around for the twenty-first century, this might be a useful book to consult.”
- Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth, founder of 350.org
“All investors searching for long-term opportunities in today’s world of uncertainty and extreme volatility should read Gilding’s The Great Dis- ruption. Whether liberal or conservative, right- or left-brainer, agree or not, this book will engage you, get you thinking very differently about how to protect the future for you and your family. And fortunately, Gilding’s such an upbeat optimist about global challenges you’ll enjoy being drawn into his new mindset.”
- Paul B. Farrell, Wall Street Journal MarketWatch
“Gilding offers a clear-eyed and moving assessment of our predicament but more importantly, he offers a plausible way forward and good rea- sons to think we will rise to the occasion. His message is that our situa- tion is dire, but we will act because we must. Essential reading.”
- David W. Orr, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College, and author of Hope Is an Imperative and Down to the Wire
“This is the most important ‘environmental’ book to have been published for many years. It’s one of those rare books, which come along every so often, that can really change the paradigm of the political debate.”
- Chris Rose, CampaignStrategy.org and former Campaign Director for Greenpeace UK
“An Australian former director of Greenpeace International, Gilding says that our current economic model is driving the system over a cliff. We are already living beyond the planet’s capacity to support us and a crisis is no longer avoidable. But this is actually a good thing. It will force us to learn that there is more to life than shopping.
- The Times (UK)
“Gilding proposes a plan of action we can put in place once the crisis comes to such a head that humanity will have no choice but to take ac- tion. His argument is methodical, scientific and, above all, realistic in the expectations he has of our coming together to tackle the issue head-on. Every responsible human being should read his book, take to heart its conclusions and recommendations, and discuss them with others.”
- Arab News
“A refreshing, provocative alternative to the recent spate of gloom-and-doom climate-change studies.”
- Publishers Weekly
“A remarkably optimistic view of the brave new world in our future.”
- Kirkus Reviews
“Gilding maintains that the real solution is changing world economies from spiralling growth to a steady state. The goal is to upgrade goods and services to meet needs, not to pump up a gross national product that takes no account of quality of life . . . He backs up his arguments with plenty of facts and avenues for readers to pursue.”
- Library Journal
“Until the moment we crash, there may still be a chance to reinvent our wings in mid-air and Gilding’s accessible, important and challenging book offers us the chance to think about doing so before it is far too late.”
- The Age (Australia)