Author Description

Godless Environmentalism: The Failure of Environmental Protection and Our Hidden Power to Save the Planet describes a system of environmental protection that is broken beyond repair yet somehow self-perpetuating. National and international energy and treasure have been poured into our effort to save the planet. But the open secret is that the effort has failed: Environmental protection is hopelessly confused and woefully ineffective. What went wrong? And why do we continue to pursue this failed effort as if nothing had gone wrong? Godless Environmentalism discusses the pitfalls of environmental protection one-by-one, from disagreements about ethics - defining "environment" and "protection" - to scientific uncertainty, irrational risk management, and the vagaries of international law, adding up to failure. Nuclear energy, global climate change, and oil spills, are examples of the failure of environmental protection. The root of this policy failure is surprising. It goes back to an ancient conflict between two worldviews about the relationship between humankind and the divine. The currently dominant worldview posits that human beings alone can technocratically "fix" complex problems. If one technocratic "fix" fails, according to this view, then we simply need a new and better technocratic "fix." Because this worldview is dogma among most policy-makers, environmentalism generally fails to consider the spiritual element of environmental protection. God has been removed from policy debates. Godless Environmentalism advocates the opposing worldview: To restore our genuine spiritual connection to the power creating and maintaining the world and to heal our planet. In so doing, this book takes seriously Shellenberger and Nordhaus's call in Breakthrough Institute's "The Death of Environmentalism" to connect environmental protection to deep and powerful spiritual roots. About the Author: David Page is an American-Israeli lawyer who after his undergraduate years at Harvard del