Just loving the Worldchanging book

I pre-ordered Worldchanging's User's Guide for the 21st Century some time back and promptly forgot about it (as you do). Then, last week, the Amazon fairy came and every spare minute since has seen my nose buried in it.

It's a book that emphasises the dire situation the world finds itself in but is then both inspirational and practical in charting a path forward. From the introduction:

If we face an unprecedented planetary crisis, we also find ourselves in a moment of innovation unlike any that has come before... Humanity's fate rests on the outcome of the race between problem solvers and the problems themselves. The world is getting better – we just have to make sure it gets better faster than it gets worse.

Technology, of course, is not the only solution (despite the head in the sand assertion by some that it is). But it is a part of the solution as is helping and cajoling people, organisations and governments to change their behaviours. Communications professionals have a key role to play, as I put in an earlier post, this is the kind of task we're well equipped to take on.

The book is 600 or so pages which, as I was reading through, made me think: that's a lot of dead tree. In the back, however, is a breakdown of how they've kept the damage to a minimum. Here's one of the labels:

They have also purchased wind power credits equivalent to the amount of electricity used to produce the book. I wonder what would happen if all printed material had to carry the same declaration.

As I say, it's a great book which should be on everyone's bookshelf. You can buy yours here.