Whole Earth Discipline
Environmentalist case for nuclear power, dense cities and genetic engineering
Summary
Brand founded the Whole Earth Catalog and was a central figure in the environmental movement, and this book argues that the movement is wrong on several of its defining positions and must reverse them to address climate change. He identifies as an ecopragmatist and states the argument as a set of reversals of his own earlier views.
His four main positions are that cities are environmentally beneficial because urban density reduces per-person resource consumption and because urbanisation reduces birth rates, so slum growth should be supported rather than resisted; that nuclear power is necessary because it produces large quantities of baseload electricity without carbon emissions and because its waste problem is small and tractable compared to the alternative; that genetically engineered crops are beneficial and that opposition to them has caused measurable harm, particularly in agricultural yields and in reduced pesticide use; and that geoengineering research must proceed because the emissions trajectory makes some form of intervention likely to be needed.
His general argument is that the environmental movement's positions were formed as a romantic reaction and have not been updated against evidence, and that treating nature as something to be left alone is not available given the scale of human effect.
The book was published in 2009 and the debates have moved. Nuclear costs have risen and renewable costs have fallen far more than Brand anticipated, which weakens the nuclear argument on economic rather than environmental grounds. The genetic engineering position has become closer to mainstream scientific consensus. Environmentalists dispute several claims, particularly on slums and on geoengineering risk.
Key takeaways 8
- Urban density reduces per-person resource consumption, which makes cities environmentally beneficial rather than harmful.
- Urbanisation reduces birth rates faster than any policy intervention, which addresses population growth as a side effect.
- Nuclear power produces large quantities of baseload electricity without carbon emissions, and its waste problem is small compared to the alternative.
- Genetically engineered crops raise yields and reduce pesticide use, and opposition to them has produced measurable harm.
- Geoengineering research should proceed because the emissions trajectory makes some form of intervention likely to be required.
- Environmental positions formed as a romantic reaction have not been updated against evidence, which is Brand's criticism of his own movement.
- Treating nature as something to be left alone is not available given the scale of existing human effect on every system.
- Nuclear economics have deteriorated and renewable costs have fallen far more than the book anticipated, which weakens its central energy argument.
Who should read it
Readers and investors in energy and agriculture who want a challenge to standard environmental positions from inside the movement, published in 2009.
Who recommended it 4 · 1 direct
“on why even environmentalists should be pro building, pro cities, pro nuclear, and pro genetic engineering”
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