by By Tom Wessels
University Press of New England, 2006
Through his books and his work as an educator, Tom Wessels teaches people how to observe and interpret ecological landscapes. His latest book, The Myth of Progress, reflects something of a new direction from that of his previous books, Reading the Forested Landscape and The Granite Landscape. Its goal is to explain what he refers to as the three laws of sustainability: the law of limits to growth, the second law of thermodynamics, and the law of self-organization in complex systems. In essence, his thesis is that the global political economy is predicated on a series of false assumptions and gross misunderstandings of basic ecological principles.
He shows that these myths are legitimated through narratives, belief systems, and values that generate entire world views. Hence there are chapters devoted to the myth of control (complex versus linear systems), the myth of growth (limits and sustainability), the myth of energy (the second law of thermodynamics), the myth of the free market (the loss of diversity, democracy and the demise of self-organization), and, finally, the myth of progress (a need for cultural change).
Wessels readily admits that he is covering hefty intellectual ground, that he is relying on the literature of many of the pioneers in this field, and that he is presenting his work as a synthesist and an educator. His work is clearly directed toward a general audience, and he want them to understand exactly why many political and economic decisions are rooted in false assumptions, how they fly in the face of fundamental ecological and physical principles, and why they are not in the self interest of people, communities, and the planet.
Amazingly, Wessels covers all of this ground in a reasonably succinct way. This is a short, often pithy book, and you can easily read it in an evening. In this way, it serves multiple purposes. It is a fine refresher or overview for people who are either new to this material or who haven’t thought about it in a long time. It’s perfect for folks who lack a science background and wish to better understand the relationship between ecological and economic systems. It is a valuable teaching tool that covers these basic principles in a simple, no-nonsense way. Most importantly, it retains all of Wessels’s charm as a writer and educator. Indeed, the book’s most riveting passages are his anecdotes and examples.
Inevitably, there are some compromises. There is no way that Wessels can cover these “laws of sustainability” in great depth. But he’s well aware that there are other works that do so. Perhaps the biggest risk is the application of ecological principles to political and economic phenomena. The virtue of making these connections is that he reaches multiple audiences and demonstrates how the prevailing “laws of sustainability” must be honored; in the end, they will have their due. Sometimes the complexity of the social issues is simplified so that the laws of sustainability are made more clear, a simplification that will no doubt create controversy among social scientists.
Still, this is an impassioned, critical, and bold book. Wessels is guided by his overwhelming sense that the laws of sustainability demand respect, understanding, and interpretation, and unless we educate ourselves about their full complexity and truth, we will do irreparable damage to the landscapes we love.