Civilisations have come and gone over the past eight thousand years, some lasting longer, others more briefly. Modern Civilisation, launched through the European Enlightenment some three hundred years ago, has been driven increasingly by an obsession with Progress and Development. The harnessing of fossil hydrocarbons drove forward processes of industrialisation, urbanisation and latterly globalisation that are inherently unsustainable. Now that the easily accessible fossil energy resources are approaching a terminal decline, we find ourselves at a fatal juncture, poised to return to a...

Civilisations have come and gone over the past eight thousand years, some lasting longer, others more briefly. Modern Civilisation, launched through the European Enlightenment some three hundred years ago, has been driven increasingly by an obsession with Progress and Development. The harnessing of fossil hydrocarbons drove forward processes of industrialisation, urbanisation and latterly globalisation that are inherently unsustainable. Now that the easily accessible fossil energy resources are approaching a terminal decline, we find ourselves at a fatal juncture, poised to return to a...