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ISBN 233-96584-X (UK hbk)
non-fiction, agronomy, utopia, sociology, third world, world issues
Originally published in french under the title L'Utopie ou la mort! .
"If curbs are not urgently imposed upon population growth and industrial output, and if the Third World is not relieved of its poverty and deprivation, we can envisage the total collapse of our civilisation during the 21st century. This now famous prediction, issued by the 'realists' of the Club of Rome, has inspired René Dumont, the distinguished agronomists whose previous studies of the underdeveloped countries have firmly established him as an authority on the subject, to offer a new and dramatic ultimatum.
"For Dumont the forecast did not go far enough, and in particular did not follow through its own social and political consequences. It is imperative that the rich countries -- the culprits in the present situation -- should not only admit their responsibility once and for all but that they should seek for ways of preventing catastrophe before it is too late. The choice between Utopia and self-destruction is in our own hands. Amongst the main threats to our survival Dumont includes soil degradation, malnutrition, the depletion of mineral and energy reserves and air and water pollution. Arms production, waste of paper and the private car must be abolished. Most important of all is the necessity for population control, which he considers -- originally -- to be most pressing in the rich countries where the wastage level is at its highest.
"It is futile simply to call for an end to dominance and injustice: we must investigate how equality can be achieved in a constructive and practical way. Starting with the premise that the rich countries must mobilise forces and declare a state of emergency, Dumont puts forward a series of 'utopias': schemes for a fair society that is essentially concerned with long-term international survival. We must put an end to waste by going back to the grass roots of the peasant ethic based on austerity and dignity; we must revolutionise our system of education, with a new set of morals and a new faith. These and many other far-reaching suggestions are posited by René Dumont with a verve and conviction which make his book essential reading for all those who are concerned with the future of our civilisation." [jacket blurb, UK hbk, 1974]
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