Break Through Lib/E: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility

Environmental insiders Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus triggered a firestorm of debate with their self-published essay, "The Death of Environmentalism." In this eagerly anticipated follow-up, the authors expand upon their argument that the paradigms driving the environmental movement and much of liberal politics are outdated and ineffective. A politics centered on restricting human growth and development does not resonate with the primary concerns of either the developing world or insecure modern Americans--nor can it solve a problem as large and complex as global warming. What is needed instead, they argue, is a new kind of development that integrates ecological, social, and economic change, motivated by an optimistic new vision of the future. By shifting from a politics of fear and limits to one of expansive possibility, we can galvanize American creativity and enterprise to tackle our most pressing challenges.

About the Author :
Ted Nordhaus has spent his entire career working with environmental organizations. He is a managing director of American Environics, a social values research and political strategy firm. Nordhaus is the coauthor, with Michael Shellenberger, of a number of books, including Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility and Break Through: Why We Can't Leave Saving the Planet to Environmentalists. Michael Shellenberger is the nationally bestselling author of Apocalypse Never, a Time magazine "Hero of the Environment," the winner of the 2008 Green Book Award from the Stevens Institute of Technology's Center for Science Writings, and an invited expert reviewer of the next Assessment Report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has written on energy and the environment for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Nature Energy, and other publications for two decades. He is the founder and president of Environmental Progress, an independent, nonpartisan research organization based in Berkeley, California. Jeff Cummings, a twenty year veteran of the stage, is an audiobook narrator who has won both an Earphones Award and the prestigious Audie Award in 2015 for Best Narration in Science and Technology.

Review :
"Break Through delivers on the authors' promise to articulate a new politics for a new century, one focused on aspirations, not complaints, human possibility, not limits...With its challenge to conventional environmentalist, conservative, and progressive thought, and its proposal for a politics of possibility, Break Through will influence the political debate for years to come." -- "Amazon.com, editorial review" "[Break Through] is unremittingly interesting, sharp, and wide-ranging, and it provides a great deal of thoughtful comment for anyone trying to figure out how to rally public support behind action on climate change, or indeed behind any progressive change." -- "New York Review of Books" "Could turn out to be the best thing to happen to environmentalism since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring." -- "Wired" "Their big-picture ideas are important and intensely argued, making this a convincing, resonant and hopeful primer on 'postenvironmentalism.'" -- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"