From the New Zealand edition of Fleeing Vesuvius. John Mc Kay describes how freeing farmers from the stress of competing in a market place enables them to plan for ecological integrity: healthy soil, nutrient-rich crops and a satisfying diet for consumers.

Creating a sustainable world is about getting individuals, organisations and nations to shift their perspectives and practices. What can you do to influence this process? Nicki Harré describes three psychological principles to help sustainability advocates be more effective. From Fleeing Vesuvius.

In the New Zealand edition of Fleeing Vesuvius James Bellamy describes how crises are opportunities to change things at a deep level – to rethink our relationships with one another and the world.

Jack Santa Barbara writes in Fleeing Vesuvius that while New Zealand will inevitably make a transition to a steady-state economy, the onset of energy descent — having less and less energy to use with each passing decade — will push it to do so sooner rather than later. So the critical question is whether the transition to a steady-state economy will be by design or disaster.

In his chapter in Fleeing Vesuvius Phil Stevens describes challenges to resilience in New Zealand and provides suggestions to help the country sustain its rural sector and preserve its democracy. There are lessons here for elsewhere too.

This week we’re beginning to upload excerpts from the 100-page appendix to Fleeing Vesuvius which was published in New Zealand over the summer. It should be of interest to anyone who is preparing for the transition to a post-fossil-fuel economy. In his preface, Jonathan Boston of the School of Government at Victoria University of Wellington provides an overview of the many environmental challenges we face and suggests that the book, which he considers to be “unusual, critically important and refreshingly provocative”, will provide useful tools to help us meet them.