A book of rhythmic verse, prose and satirical song. Every age can be said to be unique - but ours is truly unique, because for the first time in human history we are being faced with the reality that there are 'limits to growth', and that our human impact on the natural world upon which we are entirely dependent, is unsustainable. If you don't agree, then consider the following - Take a physical map of the planet printed circa 1850 and compare it to one printed circa 2000. Compare the areas of forest and jungle, desert, and the land area now covered by towns and cities. Compare the global populations. In 1850 there were about 1.2 billion people living on the planet compared to over 7.2 billion today. Then consider the biocide of flora and fauna - birds, fish, bees and other pollinators, as well as the widespread slaughter of elephant and rhino etc. Hold in mind the plastic-laden seas and other deadly wastes we are still dumping in them, and the deadly particulates filling the air of urban centres - not to mention the inexorable increase in the amount of carbon dioxide we are pumping into the atmosphere, as well as methane from the melting tundra. It was nearly 30 years ago that the front cover of The Times Weekend Magazine showed a picture of a felled forest with the caption - 'THE PLANET IS DYING - WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?' Very little it seems, as the drive for ever increasing production and consumption continues apace at the expense of the planet, and politicians of both left and right still believe that economic growth is not only possible, but absolutely essential. We are cutting off the branch on which we are all sitting, and every year the Spring is becoming ever more silent. We might also ask ourselves why, as the richest most prosperous generation that has ever existed so widely on the globe, we are not happier than our grandparents' generation? Why, with the World Wide Web of the global communications industry, is loneliness now so prevalent, and a principle cause of mental illness, and religious fundamentalism and fascism is now attracting so many 'rational' and 'educated' people to their banners? Yet never have we had such opportunities to open our minds and hearts to the amazing revelations of science that are shedding so much light upon the nature of reality and how our universe operates.
