Without our Boat

A friend and contributor to earthfamilyalpha recently read God's Last Offer by Ed Ayres, an editor at Worldwatch.

Here is part of a review from Daykeeper Journal:

What is "God’s last offer"?

It is to trade our closely guarded personal security for the larger security of the world we stand on:

"It is only through the acceptance of this offer—to defend our world instead of ourselves—that we have any real chance of saving ourselves and of regaining the sense of personal and family security we care about so deeply."

Mr. Ayres discusses the damage, to date, to our fragile web of life. He identifies four "megaphenomena," all of which work together, and each of which has very rapidly risen to dangerous levels.

They are the rise of carbon gas emissions, the rate of biological extinctions, unsustainable consumption, and the exploding human population.

His discussion is basic, lucid, and sprinkled with lively examples. He shows that as we move along our present course, an increase in any one of these parameters could take us over the edge at any time, and it would have a domino effect on the others.

The author shows how all of these phenomena are human-created, and he shows, as well, what humans can do to alleviate each of these conditions. On the one hand it is a doom and gloom book, not unwarranted in the face of our suicidal rush to destroy our nest.

But it is also a book full of hope, as he points out, in comprehensive and practical ways, how we can change our course.

Mr. Ayres talks at length about the two basic problems, ignorance and denial. He shows how a continual barrage of corporate misinformation sows confusion and doubt, and obscures those seeds of truth within us.

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Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day, says, "God’s Last Offer says it all, with eloquence and economy. By the time readers get near the end, they will understand that we are not just toying with nature, we are compromising the capacity of natural systems to preserve a livable world."

Meanwhile Earth in the Balance, the 1992 book by Al Gore has been republished.

"When Earth in the Balance first came out, it caused quite a stir - and for good reason. It convincingly makes the case that a crisis of epidemic proportions is nearly upon us and that if the world doesn't get its act together soon and agree to some kind of "Global Marshall Plan" to protect the environment, we're all up a polluted creek without a paddle. "

We are closer to being up that creek, not only without a paddle,

but without our boat, for indeed,

" a crisis of epidemic proportions is nearly upon us". Al Gore

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