"The politics of the Industrial Age, left, right and center, is like a three-lane motor way, with
different vehicles in different lanes, but all heading in the same direction. Greens feel it is the
very direction that is wrong, rather than the choice of any one lane in preference to the others.
It is our perception that the motor way of industrialism inevitably leads to the abyss - hence our
decision to get off it, and seek an entirely different direction." - Jonathon Porritt

There is one thing we know - and one thing we believe.

The one thing we know is that the highway of industrialism does lead to the abyss - for our species, and perhaps for most life on Earth. The one thing we believe is - another world is possible.

I invite you to join me as we leave the wide and busy highway of Industrialism and strike off across largely unknown territory on the "Green Path!" to this new world. I've scouted on ahead, set up markers, and cleared some debris from the trail. When we get to the end, we should be able to see the new world - at least it's outlines. How we proceed from there will depend on coming to consensus as to which trails to explore. In the end, we should be ready to step off into the new world and leave all we know - or think we know, behind.

As explorers, we'll need to cultivate certain qualities: Discipline, intelligence, critical thinking, cooperation, a willingness to abandon certainty, and above all, respect and love for fellow travelers who are making the journey.

First things first: The "Turn Around"

The first thing we must realize is this: our minds have been colonized by Industrial consumerism. Everything we see on TV, in magazines and newspapers, everything we hear on radio, all outdoor advertising, and in fact all media messages train our minds in the culture and values of consumption. If we are to break free from this ubiquitous conditioning, if we are to liberate ourselves from the Industrial consumer paradigm, we must liberate our minds. If we are unable to do this, we can't even think about a new world, let alone recognize or become a part of it.

The death culture of consumption is spoon-fed to us, pre-chewed and pre-digested in portions small enough to fit between two commercials. We have become unaccustomed to exerting ourselves intellectually or stretching ourselves spiritually. The oppressive transformation from citizen to consumer is a never ending process of social conditioning that engages every facet of our awareness. It will take an extraordinary effort to counter and break free from the deadening effects of Industrialism and its steady slide toward economic and ecological collapse.

This web site is demanding - and I hope engaging. It will require some effort to read, absorb, intellectually process and make the information you will find here your own. Doing so however can be the beginning of liberation from the hypnotic effects of public propaganda that manufactures consent. As we progress down the Green Path!, more techniques for freeing ourselves from consumer colonization will be explored. Like any "path" into wilderness, exertion is what produces results - and so it here on our exploration into Green fundamentalism. We must make a radical "turn around" in our way of thinking: we have a new world to build!

How the Green Path! is organized:


This "Green Path Marker" serves to introduce each section.


The "Green Path" is the main article to be read. Each article is selected to
highlight a particular main topic. It is highly recommended that, at some point on
your own personal journey, you read the book from which each extract was taken.



Here you will find references to books that are recommended for further
study of the topic discussed on that page.



What follows is an index of the Green Path! webpage - articles by various authors, arranged
in a particularorder: the purpose of which is to expand, in a logical manner, a conversation
rooted in Green political and social thinking from a "Green fundamental" perspective.

It is highly recommended that the articles be read in order.

One : What is Green Fundamentalism?
"Industrialism" Excerpt from Jonathon Porritt, "Seeing Green: The Politics of Ecology Explained"

Two : The Five Limits
"Society as Megamachine: What Is The Industrial System?"
Excerpt from Rudolf Bahro "Avoiding Social & Ecological Disaster: The Politics of World Transformation"

Three : Resources
"Overview"
Excerpt from Kenneth S. Deffeyes "Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage"

Four : "Age of Oil Has Entered Its Last Days"
Charles Mauch: Green Party Candidate for Railroad Commissioner - 2000

Five : Industrial Expansion
"The Problem of Production"
Excerpt from E. F. Schumacher "Small is Beautiful"

Six : Consumption
"Introduction"
Excerpt from Juliet B. Schor "The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need"

Seven : Population
"Our Need for a New Perspective"
Excerpt from William R. Catton, Jr. "Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change"

Eight : "The Story fo Easter Island"
Excerpt from Rudolf Bahro "Avoiding Social & Ecological Disaster"

Nine : Pollution
"At War With The Planet"
Excerpt from Barry Commoner "Making Peace With The Planet"

Ten : "Beyond Humanism, Modernity, and Patriachy"
Excerpt from Charlene Spretnak "The Spiritual Dimention of Green Politics"
and
"Problems with the Enlightenment"
Excerpt from Vandana Shiva "Staying Alive"

Eleven : "Religion and the Market"
by David Loy, Faculty of International Studies, Bunkyo, Japan

Twelve : "Unlearning Consumerism: Liberating the Greedy Mind"
by Stephanie Kaza

Thirteen : "The Religion of Consumption: A Buddhist Rebuttle"
David Loy & Jonathan Watts

Fourteen : "The Crisis of Consumerism"
by Judith Simmer Brown

Fifteen : "Reform or... What?"
by Carl Manz

Sixteen : "Social Transformation in the Post-Carbon Age"
Introduction by Carl Manz

Seventeen : "Sustainable Societies: Introduction"
Excerpt from Andrew Dobson "Green Political Thought"

Eighteen : "The Sustainable Society: Futher Exploration"
A Synopsis and Review of Chapter 3 of:
Andrew Dobson "Green Political Thought"

Nineteen : "The Steady-State Economy"
Excerpt from Herman Daly "The Sustainable Society: Implications for Limited Growth"

Twenty : "Availability, Entropy, and the Laws of Thermodynamics"
Excerpt from Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Erlich, and John P. Holdren
"Ecoscience"

Twenty One : "The Sustainable Society: Further Exploration"
- Continued -

Twenty Two : "Communes"
Excerpt from Rudolf Bahro "Building the Green Movement"

Twenty Three : "The Sustainable Society: Further Exploration"
- Conclusion -

Twenty Four : "Self-Transformation: The Final Project"
by Carl Manz


If you're ready, let's get started!



"The Establishment parties in Bonn behave as if an infinite increase in industrial
production were possible on the finite planet Earth. According to their own statements,
they are leading us to hopeless choice between the nuclear state or nuclear war, between
Harrisburg or Hiroshima. The worldwide ecological crisis worsens from day to day:
natural resources become more scarce; chemical waste dumps are subjects of
scandal after scandal; whole species of animals are exterminated;
entire varieties of plants become extinct; rivers and oceans change slowly
into sewers; and humans verge on spiritual and intellectual decay in the midst of a
mature, industrial, consumer society.

It is a dismal inheritance we are imposing on future generations...
We represent a total concept, as opposed to the one-dimensional, still-more-production
brand of politics. Our policies are guided by long-term visions for the future and
are founded on four basic principles: ecology, social responsibility,
grassroots democracy, and nonviolence."
- From the German Greens' founding document: The Federal Program

What is Green Fundamentalism?