time's up!

The author of this original book in diagnosis our situation as one where 'we have to choose between the short-term greed of Industrial Civilisation over long-term survival that humans are capable of.' Paradoxically, 'we seem prepared to die in order to live a life that is killing us.' The first part of the book explains our ecological situation on different scales, beginning with the virus and working up to trees. This gives a series of interesting perspectives, including the dangers to human health from the way in which viruses operate on large, densely packed populations of animals. This creates a link between our livestock systems and our own health, as we are discovering. Farnish postulates three selfviews about the relationship between humans and the earth: that we are a vital component, that we are part of life, and that we are of little relevance to the rest of life.

He then discusses these in terms of three tests, ecological, cultural and personal. How we relate in these three ways is critical; clearly, the value of humans to other humans is hugely significant. The major theme of the rest of the book is connection, and reasons why we have become disconnected. He lists 10 tools of disconnection characteristic of our current industrial system, which he thinks will eventually fail in a catastrophic manner. Making the necessary changes involves different ways of living and actively engaging in transformative activities and even creating what he calls an eco-meme explaining why we are in our current situation and how we can emerge from it by cultivating certain skills and going beyond Industrial Civilisation.