Believing Cassandra

An Optimist Looks at a Pessimist's World

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"Believing Cassandra is really interesting, clarifying and inspiring. Read it and you'll not only know how to think sustainability and do sustainability—you'll know how to dance, sing and laugh it as well. At the same time, the ideas are dead serious—and I mean dead. If we don't get it right, this sustainability thing, much will die in our clumsy human hands. Alan AtKisson gives us tools to understand where we are, where we're headed and how to change. What could be better—an important book that's a great read."
—Vicki Robin, co-author of Your Money or Your Life

"Alan AtKisson is the freshest and wisest voice to emerge from the sustainability movement in many years. Believing Cassandra manages to be incisive, humorous, and hopeful while examining unblinkingly the environmental holocaust enveloping the earth. Cassandra's dilemma was to know the future and not to be believed. Not so here. The gift of Alan's writing is that it is original, credible and welcoming. It renews our sense of the possible and expands the dimensions of our collective intelligence, transforming our sense of the future from a curse to a blessing. A very important work."
—Paul Hawken author of Natural Capitalism

The Story of Cassandra
Cassandra was the young and beautiful daughter of Priam, the last king of Troy. Apollo bestowed upon Cassandra a special gift—the ability to see the future. But when she refused his favors, he twisted her gift with a curse, so no one would believe her prophecies.

The Story of Alan AtKisson
Consultant, raconteur, and musical performer Alan AtKisson sees a parallel between Cassandra's situation and that of today's environmentalists—concerned citizens and scientists who see the world hurtling toward self-destruction. Is it true that most of the human race could care less about their dire warnings?

But stop the hand wringing and let's get to work, says AtKisson. One way or another, by choice or catastrophe, our civilization will discover a sustainable way of life. We can either shape the future with our own creativity and innovation, or let "nature's strong hand" bring on the consequences.

In a style that's refreshingly candid and vivid with unforgettable personal anecdotes, AtKisson provides us with a bridge passing over the brink of despair to the crest of an enticing future. He enables the reader to join the pioneers who embrace the ideas, techniques, and practices of sustainable living—the people who are "believing Cassandra."

The world has raced beyond the limits to growth, putting us in a dangerous stage of "overshoot." The sky is literally falling, and we don't know what to think.

Alan AtKisson takes a surprisingly bright view of the apocalypse, and makes it seem like a transformation we might just survive. He re-explores the ancient Greek myth of "Cassandra's Dilemma"—Cassandra had the gift, (some would say curse), to be able to accurately prophesy the future, but no one would believe her. AtKisson sees therein the predicament of modern-day environmentalists, trying to deliver a message that even basically sympathetic citizens don't want to hear.

By contrast, AtKisson himself uses the tools of a poet and songwriter, who is also a trained scientist and legendary community organizer, to dramatize the challenges facing us. He works his readers steadily through and beyond the grim predictions of computer models that provided the foundations for two seminal works in environmental literature, The Limits to Growth and Beyond the Limits. In the process, he makes even the arcane language of system dynamics accessible to the technical neophyte.

And in the chapter "Longing for the End of the World," AtKisson brings us into direct confrontation with TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as We Know It), and shows why it might not be so bad after all. This startling appraisal provides a lead-in to an entertaining, inspiring discussion of the possibilities for a sustainable future. AtKisson explains the real potential for sustainability in a way that will silence critics who have assailed the fundamental concept of limits to growth since the warning was raised back in 1972.

The book ends with some rousingly optimistic scenarios for global transformation. AtKisson, who is a musician, knows that his audience ought to leave the theater humming a tune, and he gives them three to choose from. This is more than lip service. This is genuine imagination and hope.

For anyone who has followed the halting and fitful progress of the environmental movement, this book is a must read. Effervescent as champagne, crisp as a fresh garden mesclun, AtKisson has created a lively and believable look at our future. Anyone who is fed up with hearing only about our problems—holes in the ozone, toxic wastes, and the greenhouse effect—will take heart from this book.

About the Author
Alan AtKisson is a true citizen of the world, whose work has led him to crisscross the globe. He has been the executive editor of In Context magazine, senior fellow with the policy institute Redefining Progress, and co-founder and chair of Sustainable Seattle, a collaborative project to design model-city plans for America's hippest town. He is presently president of AtKisson & Associates, a consulting firm focused on sustainable development and innovation. He lives in New York City.