New Book 'Brighter' Explores the Future of Environmentalism Amidst the Greatest Technological Transformation in Over a Century

ANN ARBOR Michi., Dec. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Clean technology is rapidly expanding in unexpected ways that renowned entrepreneur and technology theorist Tony Seba and his independent think tank RethinkX has repeatedly forecast over the last decade. Now RethinkX's Director of Research, Dr. Adam Dorr, has a new book, Brighter: Optimism, Progress, and the Future of Environmentalism, explaining how these technologies will help solve our greatest environment challenges, including climate change.

Across the globe, clean energy is booming. China aims to have the world's largest wind turbine complex. Egypt is racing to build the world's largest solar farm. Australia had the world's largest grid batteries, but California will soon take the crown. India is phasing out coal as solar and wind grow by leaps and bounds, and Germany is racing toward clean energy independence.

Solar and wind are two of the fastest-growing job categories according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even the Amish have adopted solar generation to power the computers they use to sell their hand-built furniture and to power their electric bicycles. It is a lot more efficient to ride an e-bike into town than catch the horse and harness the buggy.

The latest EVs can power your home for several days during a power outage, or take you camping on a beach or in the mountains with light, heat, and cooking power. Cars, buses, trucks, and even aircraft are going electric. 

Affordable high-quality, animal-free meat and dairy is becoming available through dozens of start-ups in the U.S. and worldwide. Precision fermentation and cellular agriculture technology that produce good-tasting beef, poultry, and seafood will mean vast amounts of grazing land can be freed to plant carbon-capture forests, and fish in the oceans will no longer be harvested to extinction.

"These new clean technologies are the key to saving the planet and ourselves," Adam explains.

"My fellow environmentalists did not expect any of this to happen so fast," continues Dr. Dorr. According to his new book, "There has never been greater cause for optimism about the future of the environment.

"Or about the future of humanity," Adam adds. 

Yet pessimism is everywhere. Pew Research has found that about  four-in-ten U.S. adults believe humanity is 'living in the end times', and that "One-in-four U.S. parents say they have struggled to afford food or housing in the past year."

"I fully grasp and sympathize with their anxiety and struggles," Dr. Dorr continues. "Things feel bad right now. I wrote Brighter to let them know that this is all about to profoundly change and change for the better. Now is not the time to give in to gloom-and-doom."

Looking at other dire headlines from Pew Research, Dr. Dorr warns that we must be realistic about the crisis of confidence in our culture and take action to remedy it.

"The sad fact is that a majority of young adults live with their parents for the first time since the Great Depression," observes Adam, who himself is a parent. "In many ways, I wrote Brighter for my daughters."

"I have written this book because everywhere I look, I see my family and friends and fellow environmentalists despairing about our prospects for meeting the formidable environmental challenges we face and healing our wounded world. Even my fellow scientists are unaware of how bright the future truly is," Dr. Dorr continues. "We have the clean technology we need," he says, "it's now a matter deploying and scaling it.

"This book is for everyone, but most especially for those who are pessimistic about the future. It is for the public, to give a clearer view of the road ahead and provide a rational basis for optimism. 

"It is for environmental activists and advocates, to help them better understand technology and the outsized role it will play in enabling us to meet our goals. It is for decisionmakers, to help them focus on the right policies and investments, and avoid wasting resources on the wrong ones. And it is for my fellow scholars and scientists, to help reframe the substantive content and future research of our disciplines within the context of disruptive technological change," Dr. Dorr says.

Brighter's chapters include:

• Understanding Technological Progress
• Solving Climate Change
• Solving Terrestrial Ecosystem Degradation
• Solving Marine Ecosystem Degradation
• Solving Waste and Pollution
• The Future of Environmentalism

Adam Dorr's Glasgow, Scotland TEDx Talk on these themes may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cAvQEYeLHg.

RethinkX was founded by Tony Seba and James Arbib to further their research into technology disruptions and the implications and choices for society. "RethinkX is funded philanthropically and has no agenda but finding real solutions to our greatest challenges," Dr. Dorr says. "We do not need to conform to a government or corporate agenda to apply for grants. We do not need to publish papers to earn tenure. We are free to do pure research and report the truth exactly as we discover it."

"We all want a brighter future," Adam says. "For ourselves. For our children. For our family and friends and communities. For our planet. The question is, how do we get there? Many believe the only way is by going retreating from the present, returning to the past. By decreasing, declining, degrowing. By regress.

"This is wrong. The way forward is with progress.

"Our current situation is not hopeless. We are not helpless. Although the present moment is a critical juncture in many respects, what lies ahead is not a brick wall we must retreat from but rather a chasm we must build a bridge across.

"We already have the tools and knowhow we need. We can solve climate change and other environmental problems the same way humanity has always met its greatest challenges – with innovation and prosperity."

Brighter is now available in hardback, paperback, eBook, and audiobook formats on Amazon.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Tatiana Bilcich at RethinkX, [email protected]

SOURCE RethinkX