Reviews for The last hours of ancient sunlight

The average rating for The last hours of ancient sunlight based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-03-23 00:00:00 Jean Claude Fortier Though updated with statistics and events through 2004, this reads like a prophetic treatise on the collapse of our industrialized culture which is entirely based on fossil fuels, a limited resource. No one seems to deny that oil is limited, but 2 narratives determine our actions today: Older and younger cultural beliefs. Older cultures valued generosity, leisure, and community. The younger cultures value productivity, accumulation and individualism. He gives many examples to illustrate his points making this an interesting read, not academic at all. The first part of the book describes the problems: higher concentrations of CO2; loss of diversity with increased plant and animal extinctions; exploitations of the poor and the increasing wealth gap between the rich and poor; deforestation; attempts to privatize a basic human need: water; and continuing human slavery. But the second part explores how we can look back at older ways of thinking and redefine our relationship with the world and with each other. As I was reading, I thought about the Massai I met in Kenya and the recent documentary I watched about the Amish. Both cultures seem backward to a society totally dependent on a diminishing resource, yet they are more prepared to survive the collapse of industrialism than I am. There are 2 documentaries on this topic of peak oil more recent than this book that I have seen: "Collapse", and "Blind Spot". But Thom Hartmann's book is the most hopeful and spiritual and in that sense, a more thoughtful and challenging read. Everyone needs to read this as there is much food for thought.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-06-19 00:00:00 Todd Wells Saw this author in the DVD "11th Hour." He discusses the difference between living on "current sunlight" and "ancient sunlight." Current sunlight is the energy we are currently receiving each day from the sun to our food source, etc. Most of our human history involved living with "current sunlight." Since the Industrial Revolution, we have used "ancient sunlight. Ancient sunlight is the energy stored in the earth from fossil fuels, etc. Ancient sunlight is not an unlimited resource and has supported a human population explosion. He states that by using "current sunlight," the earth could support maybe 1/2 to 1 billion people. And the increase in our bloated population is conributing to our environmental problems. Here's a Gore vidal quote used in the book: "Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. either the host dies, or the [parasite] dies, or both die." The author also discusses our view of nature. We can realize that we ARE nature, and that viewpoint will dictate how we treat our environment. When we see ourselves as "separate" from nature, we think of nature as a resource to be exploited.