The planet is sick. Human beings are guilty of damaging it. We have to pay. Today, that is the orthodoxy throughout the Western world. Distrust of progress and science, calls for individual and collective self-sacrifice to save the planet and cultivation of fear: behind the carbon commissars, a dangerous and counterproductive ecological catastrophism is gaining ground. Modern society s susceptibility to this kind of thinking derives from what Bruckner calls the seductive attraction of disaster, as exemplified by the popular appeal of disaster movies. But ecological catastrophism is harmful in that it draws attention away from other, more solvable problems and injustices in the world in order to focus on something that is portrayed as an Apocalypse. Rather than preaching catastrophe and pessimism, we need to develop a democratic and generous ecology that addresses specific problems in a practical way.

The planet is sick. Human beings are guilty of damaging it. Wehave to pay. Today, that is the orthodoxy throughout the Westernworld. Distrust of progress and science, calls for individual andcollective self-sacrifice to 'save the planet' andcultivation of fear: behind the carbon commissars, a dangerous andcounterproductive ecological catastrophism is gaining ground.Modern society's susceptibility to this kind of thinkingderives from what Bruckner calls "the seductive attraction ofdisaster," as exemplified by the popular appeal of disastermovies. But ecological catastrophism is harmful in that it drawsattention away from other, more solvable problems and injustices inthe world in order to focus on something that is portrayed as anApocalypse.Rather than preaching catastrophe and pessimism, we need to developa democratic and generous ecology that addresses specific problemsin a practical way.

Introduction: The Return of Original Sin 1Part I The Seductive Attraction of Disaster 51 Give Me Back My Enemy 72 Have the Courage to be Afraid 243 Blackmailing Future Generations 49Part II Progressives Against Progress 694 The Last Avatar of Prometheus? 715 Nature, a Cruel Stepmother or a Victim? 916 Science in the Age of Suspicion 105Part III The Great Ascetic Regression 1337 Humanity on a Strict Diet 1358 The Poverty of Maceration 1499 The Noble Savage in the Lucerne 162Epilogue: The Remedy is Found in the Disease 184Notes 187