Green

David Fleming
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The colour of hope, and of the desire, in response to the grey and brutal surfaces of the industrial city, to recover, protect, affirm, or just be reminded of, the natural world. Political parties which made this their main purpose adopted the name in the 1980s, but the idea, latent since mankind began to live in cities, has been intense since the early days of steam power. Here it is, extravagantly but sharply stated by John Ruskin, reflecting on the question, “What have we done?”

Gentlemen of England, if ever you would have your country breathe the pure breath of heaven again, and receive again a soul into her body, instead of rotting into a carcase, blown up in the belly with carbonic acid, you must think, and feel, for your England, as well as fight for her: you must teach her that all the true greatness she ever had, or can have, she won while her fields were green and her faces ruddy; and that greatness is still possible for Englishmen, even though the ground be not hollow under their feet, nor the sky black over their heads.

The Crown of Wild Olive, 1873.G54

 

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David Fleming
Dr David Fleming (2 January 1940 – 29 November 2010) was a cultural historian and economist, based in London, England. He was among the first to reveal the possibility of peak oil's approach and invented the influential TEQs scheme, designed to address this and climate change. He was also a pioneer of post-growth economics, and a significant figure in the development of the UK Green Party, the Transition Towns movement and the New Economics Foundation, as well as a Chairman of the Soil Association. His wide-ranging independent analysis culminated in two critically acclaimed books, 'Lean Logic' and 'Surviving the Future', published posthumously in 2016. These in turn inspired the 2020 launches of both BAFTA-winning director Peter Armstrong's feature film about Fleming's perspective and legacy - 'The Sequel: What Will Follow Our Troubled Civilisation?' - and Sterling College's unique 'Surviving the Future: Conversations for Our Time' online courses. For more information on all of the above, including Lean Logic, click the little globe below!

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