Dark Age America: Climate Change, Cultural Collapse, and the Hard Future Ahead - Paperback

by John Michael Greer (Author)

The climate futurist presents a sobering analysis of America's future in the face of climate change--and how we can prepare to make the most of it.

After decades of missed opportunities, the door to a sustainable future has closed, and the future we face now is one in which today's industrial civilization unravels in the face of uncontrolled climate change and resource depletion. What is the world going to look like when all these changes have run their course?

John Michael Greer seeks to answer this question, using a clear-eyed analysis of ecology, economics, and history to discern what the next 500 years or so might look like. As globalization ends, the United States--and Western civilization--will enter the stages of decline and fall.

Though Dark Age America offers an uncompromising assessment of our collective future, it is by no means without hope. Knowing where we're headed is a crucial step in responding to the challenges of the future and doing what we can now to help our descendants make the most of the world we're leaving them.

Front Jacket

Confronting the Inevitable Collapse
...courageous, thoughtful, timely and well-researched ... this intelligently reasoned, thought-provoking and important work will challenge your ways of thinking and prod you to take useful preparatory actions.
-- Dave Pollard, author, How to Save the World

Greer demonstrates that ecologically, politically, economically, and technologically, decline is not only inevitable but well underway. How the demise unfolds and whether any members of our species prevail may well be determined by the choices we make now.
-- Carolyn Baker, Ph.D., author, Love in the Age of Ecological Apocalypse and Collapsing Consciously

After decades of missed opportunities, John Michael Greer eloquently argues, the door to a sustainable future has closed, and the future we face now is one in which today's industrial civilization unravels in the face of uncontrolled climate change and resource depletion.

Back Jacket

Confronting the Inevitable Collapse

...courageous, thoughtful, timely and well-researched this intelligently reasoned, thought-provoking and important work will challenge your ways of thinking and prod you to take useful preparatory actions.
-- Dave Pollard, author, How to Save the World

Greer demonstrates that ecologically, politically, economically, and technologically, decline is not only inevitable but well underway. How the demise unfolds and whether any members of our species prevail may well be determined by the choices we make now.
-- Carolyn Baker, Ph.D., author, Love in the Age of Ecological Apocalypse and Collapsing Consciously

After decades of missed opportunities, John Michael Greer eloquently argues, the door to a sustainable future has closed, and the future we face now is one in which today's industrial civilization unravels in the face of uncontrolled climate change and resource depletion.

What is the world going to look like when all these changes have run their course? Greer seeks to answer this question, and with some degree of accuracy, since civilizations tend to collapse in remarkably similar ways.

Dark Age America , then, seeks to map out in advance the history of collapse, giving us an idea of what the next 500 years or so might look like as globalization ends and North American civilization reaches the end of its lifecycle and enters the stages of decline and fall.In many ways, this is John Michael Greer's most uncompromising work, though by no means without hope to offer. Knowing where we're headed collectively is a crucial step in responding constructively to the challenges of the future and doing what we can now to help our descendants make the most of the world we're leaving them.

...even if you disagree with [Greer] about the future, you will learn a great deal from his survey of the relevant human past.
-- Richard Heinberg, author, The End of Growth

John Michael Greer , historian of ideas and one of the most influential authors exploring the future of industrial society, writes the widely cited weekly blog "The Archdruid Report," and has published more than thirty books including The Long Descent, The Ecotechnic Future, The Wealth of Nature and After Progress . He lives in Cumberland, MD, an old mill town in the Appalachians, with his wife Sara.

Author Biography

John Michael Greer , historian of ideas and one of the most influential authors exploring the future of industrial society, writes the widely cited weekly blog "The Archdruid Report" and has published more than thirty books on ecology, history, and nature spirituality. His involvement in sustainability issues dates back to the early 1980s, when he was active in the Appropriate Technology movement and became certified as a Master Conserver. He is the author of numerous titles, including The Long Descent, The Ecotechnic Future, The Wealth of Nature, and After Progress. He lives in Cumberland, MD, an old mill town in the Appalachians, with his wife Sara.