Samuel Alexander

In our age of overconsumption, Henry Thoreau's fiery criticisms of consumer culture and his poetic defense of simpler living have never been more relevant or necessary. But Thoreau is not an easy writer to read. His sentences are often very dense and his ideas are often challenging and provocatively expressed. For these reasons the casual reader can be easily put off. But his perspectives are too important to miss. This concise introduction provides...

This book addresses a central dilemma of the urban age: how to make the vast suburban landscapes that ring the globe safe and sustainable in the face of planetary ecological crisis. The authors argue that degrowth, a planned contraction of economic overshoot, is the only feasible principle for suburban renewal. They depart from the anti-suburban sentiment of much environmentalism to show that existing suburbia can be the centre-ground of transition...

Dario suffers from anxiety and depression mixed with a toxic desire to please his parents. Although an overachiever in all things, he can't get the approval he craves; never believing he could be good enough for them. His friends try to help him realise he's okay as is, but nothing they do works. Eventually, something beyond his control forces Dario to the conclusion that all he'd worked for no longer mattered. Will the damage of Dario's past stop...

Rayland has big dreams of Broadway superstardom and the spunky determination to get her there. Sometimes feisty and aggressive but that's part of her charm. Her two best friends, Dario and Gavin, have their own opinions about this charm. Chasing her dreams comes naturally. The harder task is dealing with Dario's depression and helping him realise his worth. But when his friendship with Gavin breaks up for the second time and Dario starts to spiral...

Carbon civilisation is powered predominately by finite fossil fuels and with each passing day it becomes harder to increase or even maintain current supply. Our one-off fossil energy inheritance is but a brief anomaly in the evolution of the human story, a momentary energy spike from the perspective of deep time. Today humanity faces the dual crises of fossil fuel depletion and climate change, both of which are consequences of the modern world's fundamental...

A feature-length documentary that follows a community in Australia who came together to explore and demonstrate a simpler way to live in response to global crises.