Book review: The World We Made – Jonathon Porritt (2013)

The World We Made: Alex McKay’s Story from 2050presents a credible, positive vision of our planet in the future. It sets out what needs to happen over the next few decades in order to make the world genuinely sustainable by 2050.

Jonathon Porritt, author of Capitalism as if the World Matters, tells the story through the eyes of a teacher living in 2050 as they look back at the political, cultural and technological breakthroughs that led to the creation of a more sustainable society. The vision is overwhelmingly optimistic and shows a society that has tackled the issues of climate change through adaption and action.

The text makes readers think of the big issues we are facing today and question what is being doing to combat them. Porritt gives readers a new perspective of these challenges and offers up potential solutions, for example, it is stated that multinationals lose their power when governments implement a stronger and more efficient tax regime.

Each chapter is short and easy to read, yet detailed and insightful. The book covers a huge array of topics from science and engineering to finance and education.

The future described is logical, and whilst readers may not agree with all of the predictions the rationale behind them is clearly explained. One section lists references and offers readers who want to learn more a valuable source of information.

The World We Made is inspiring because it focus on the positive, lays out a potential path to follow and makes readers think about the actions they, business and government needs to take in order to secure the future described. It is an excellent book for people who want to focus on the solution rather than the problems.