Two For The Road
“A Friend Of The Earth”
by T.C.Boyle
Futuristic funny, fantasy, realistic, amusing, and a little scary. Great writing. From the jacket:
“It is the year 2025. Global warming is a reality. The biosphere has collapsed and most mammals — not to mention fish, birds, and frogs — are extinct. Tyrone Tierwater is eking out a bleak living in southern California, managing a pop star’s private menagerie that “only a mother could love” — scruffy hyenas, jackals, warthogs, and three down-at-the-mouth lions.
It wasn’t always like this for Ty. Once he was a passionate environmentalist, so committed to saving the earth that he became an eco-terrorist and, ultimately, a convicted felon. As a member of the radical group Earth Forever!, he unwittingly endangered both his daughter Sierra and his wife Andrea. Now, just when he’s trying to survive in a world torn by obdurate storms and winnowing drought, Andrea comes back into his life.”
And. “Passion, entrepreneurship and the rebirth of local economics.”
“Ripples from the Zambezi” by Ernesto Sirolli.
“In the same way that you can’t lead a horse to water, you can’t force economic development on people who don’t want to be ‘developed’ according to someone else’s ideas. This realization was the genesis for Ernesto Sirolli’s unique approach to local economic development that he calls Enterprise Facilitation. Ripples from the Zambezi leads the reader through the fascinating story of development failures and successes that led eventually to this technique that has been successful in over 250 communities in four countries. Inspiring, amusing, and easy to read, Ripples from the Zambezi will appeal to a wide range of people interested in a new and successful approach to revitalizing our communities.” (from the back of the book)
Both books look at the future potential for social change – one based on global environmental changes, the other, though not necessarily intended for, addresses global economic change.
My personal view of these is as survival preparation, in terms of shifting my view of a non sustainable world.
