Stewart Brand is one of the great visionaries of our time. His latest book, 'Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto', argues that ‘Being Green’ is no longer enough. Three profound transformations are underway on Earth: climate change, urbanisation and biotechnology. Unless environmentalists keep up with new science, and embrace tools and disciplines that they have traditionally distrusted - such as science and engineering - in order to forestall the cataclysmic deterioration of the earth’s resources, they will become part of the problem.
Brand shatters a number of environmental myths and argues that cities are greener than the countryside, nuclear power is the future of energy, and genetic engineering is the key to crop and land management. Through scientific rigor and blazing advocacy, Brand offers a bold and creative set of policies and solutions for producing a more sustainable society.
He is in discussion with Brian Eno, musician and composer, cultural critic and writer who has a long-standing interest and involvement in new thinking about politics and the future.