“Adapt and Thrive”
By Peter McManners
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RATING:

At first, Peter McManners may seem to be something of a trite “eco-business” guru. A photo on the cover of “Adapt and Thrive: The Sustainable Revolution” shows McManners in a suit with his briefcase standing atop a small boulder, ocean waves crashing behind him. “Whilst writing these paragraphs,” he says in the book’s preface, “I am sitting on a rock in the Arctic wilderness of northern Finland. [But] the feeling of oneness with nature which, for me, flows from these experience is an illusion.”

But McManners offers a unique combination of expertise. Trained as a military engineer and geographer, he is also a longtime expert on business information systems and environmental management. The combination gives McManners a comprehensive, multifaceted take on the science of climate change and on the policies needed to empower people to chart a new course.

Many authors call for sweeping change without enumerating how we’ll get there, but McManners walks a deft balance between macro-level policy shifts and individual everyday actions. Naturally, the discussion largely surrounds the world’s addiction to fossil fuels and the array of energy sources available. The author calls for a host of taxes and other mechanisms to begin the shift, but also delves into the relationships between different international and environmental trade agreements, including how globalization and free-trade zones have made environmental regulation a moving target.

Ultimately, “Adapt and Thrive” reads like a breezy textbook, with both well-researched historical and topical details; yet it also is driven by one man’s passion to bring about change. Published by Susta Press