Preface

Revised January 9, 2009

Dedication

ECOSHIFT is dedicated to my four grandchildren in hopes of improving their future. They will inherit the Earth and will live through the major changes that are coming in the next half-century. What their life is like depends greatly on what human individuals, groups, communities, organizations, politicians, corporations, and governments are deciding to do NOW.

Web Version: ECOSHIFT is written originally in HTML and is on the world-wide web at www.ecoshift.net. Window width and font size can be changed with browser settings for easier on-line reading. There are many internal and external links.
PDF Version: The downloadable PDF file (2.6 Mb) has two pages per sheet to save paper when printing. Internal and external links do not work, but book authors and web sites are underlined to show that the books and links are listed in Appendix 1 and 2.
Hardcopy Version: For readability, durability, and portability you still can't beat a book! ECOSHIFT is now available for purchase as a paperback book at $10 plus postage.

Italic text generally indicates my personal opinions, which may not be widely accepted or stated by others. Italics are also used for Latin words. Within quotations, italics used for emphasis by the original author are indicated by (ital. au.).

Boxes are used to illustrate my personal practices and actions.

The term "ecoshift" is already in use for a type of gear shift for vehicles, for a lawn sprinkler, for a card in a game, for a music group, and as a personal e-mail name, so Google finds thousands of web pages that use it . The web domain ecoshift.com has been parked. Bruce Bassett plans to develop ecoshift.org, which "aims to become a roadmap to personal change in a time of growing ecological concern". The domain eco-shift.net (with a hyphen) is now owned by Catergreen.com, which features such items as compostable cups and plates made from potato, corn, or cane starch.

Acknowledgements

My wife, Suzanne, has continually supported the changes that Ecoshift has induced in our life-style, and has suggested numerous text improvements. Many thanks to Marina Shauffler for her "Ecofeminism and Deep Ecology" seminar in 1995, which started me on the Ecoshift path. Neighbor and fellow Unitarian-Universalist Diane Woods brought me to a "Deep Ecology" study group and co-led with me a mini-conference "Toward an Ecocentric Humanity"; she has stimulated my progress with her enthusiasm through the past decade. I have been particularly inspired by two magazines, Wild Earth (no longer published) and Resurgence, by the writings of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, and by the group study guides of the Northwest Earth Institute. I would also like to thank participants in several Earth Institute groups, authors of dozens of books, and masters of hundreds of web sites for all their sine qua non contributions to ECOSHIFT.

To the next chapter - Where We Are Now: A House of Cards

To ECOSHIFT Table of Contents

ECOSHIFT: Preface - by Tony Federer