SERI Book

The new book “Was verträgt unsere Erde noch? Wege in die Nachhaltigkeit“ illustrates the complexities of global change, the implications of overuse of natural resources, visions of a more sustainable future and some of the ways forward.

In April 2005, Klaus Wiegandt from the German Foundation “Forum für Verantwortung“ (Forum for Responsibility) visited Vienna to discuss his ambitious project to produce a series of books about the future of our planet. His vision was to explain to the educated lay public the problems of global change and the urgent need to take action, as well as provide guidance on the way forward.

He was looking for someone to write the first volume of the book series, in which the complexities of global change would presented together with an introduction to the topic of sustainability. Jill Jäger agreed to write the book as part of her work at SERI. Very quickly the book became a joint project to which Lisa Bohunovsky, Stefan Giljum, Fritz Hinterberger, Ines Omann and Doris Schnepf contributed. There were many discussions within the team about the content of the five chapters of the book, drafts were shared, debated and the final product took shape. The result shows the depth and breadth of knowledge within the SERI team on issues such as global change, resource use, the economy, and sustainable development visions and pathways.

The book begins by presenting 10 questions and answers as a guide to the content of the book – “What kind of a future do we want?”, “Is the situation really so dramatic, or do we have time to deal with it?”, “Why do the industrialized countries need to reduce their resource use?”, “What can we do?”. These are some of the questions that are asked and answered. The other four chapters then go into detail on these issues, explaining the complexities of global change, the urgency of the problems, the need for a more equitable distribution of resource use, the roles that improved efficiency of resource and energy use could play, the important role that lifestyle changes will play in reaching sustainable pathways, and the steps that a wide range of decision-makers as well as individuals could take to avoid an unsustainable future.

The book was released at major public events in Berlin (January 12th, 2007), Frankfurt (January 19th, 2007) and Munich (January 25th, 2007).

Jill Jaeger’s book “Our Planet: How Much More Can Earth Take?” is available in English and Japanese, too. We are hopeful that it will reach many committed people.