This month’s Recommended Read is ‘A Blueprint for Survival’ published in The Ecologist, January 1972. Yes, you read that right, 1972…it’s old but gold!
‘A Blueprint for Survival’ is seminal piece in our quest for sustainability. It may be 50 years in circulation but it is very relevant today and has therefore been selected as this month’s Recommended Read. Its initial publication was in the ‘The Ecologist’, but due to its popularity and political interest it later was published in book format. Sadly, perhaps owing to its timing and how the publication proceeded through the decades it has not made it as far as Audible or Kindle yet.
Availability
Today, some ‘A Blueprint for Survival’ publications fetch between £100-200. I don’t want to break your bank, after all we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis! Fortunately, I have managed to source you an online version for free, which was floating discreetly around the worldwide web. The link to the version can be found in the comment section below, enjoy!
About the publication
‘A Blueprint for Survival’ is an influential environmentalist text that drew attention to the urgency and magnitude of environmental problems. It intersects between Ecology and Economics. The concept of localism and limits to growth feature strongly within the piece. Published prior to the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, in Stockholm, the ‘Blueprint’ issue was so popular it reportedly sold about 500,000 copies.
50 years and counting
When The Ecologist initially published this controversial call for change, people had only just begun to examine global warming and consider the perils of climate change. Critiques have argued the text and its content have largely been ignored…read it and decide for yourself. A clear narrative within the text is that radical change is both necessary and inevitable because the increase in human civilisation and per capita consumption are disrupting ecosystems and depleting resources, which is in-turn undermines the very foundations of our survival. At the time of publication, it was perceived as radical, an influential issue and became a catalyst for political change to some extent.
Yes, concepts have developed through decades, conversations have progressed but let’s face the facts…we as a generation are nowhere near where we need to be to save our planet. Some would suggest that nothing has changed, that we continue to fight a losing battle when it comes to sustainability and our planet’s future.
Hope over fear
With jaw dropping climate action headlines currently circulating, I sometimes feel there are a number of camps out there. I feel some of us have desensitised ourselves to what is happening around us, whilst others feel paralysed by the compelling situation, we are in. We need to find a balance internally to move forward with hope over fear.
As a generation we should feel a sense of pride considering some of the legislation, regulation and divisive policies nationally and internationally being implemented in terms of sustainability as well as carbon reporting and disclosure currently being ironed out. This is notwithstanding, the community grassroots actions you as individuals and groups are also taking, to bring the conversation into the forefront of our hearts and minds. We perhaps are not at the pace we should be, but we are starting to build momentum. It is a case of now switching from second gear to firth gear, here goes future for our planet…
