A bold, practical vision for humanity’s future
As climate chaos, inequality, and social fragmentation intensify, humanity faces an imminent choice: continue with a system built on extraction and endless growth, or reimagine civilization itself.
Leading thinker Jeremy Lent offers that reimagination: an ecocivilization, grounded in proven design principles of ecosystems and in humankind's evolved inclination toward justice, mutuality, and dignity.
The book doesn’t merely diagnose what’s broken. It reveals how our current civilization—designed for exploitation, accumulation, and elite power—is functioning exactly as it was intended. In its place, Ecocivilization charts a radical yet feasible alternative.
Leading thinker Jeremy Lent offers that reimagination: an ecocivilization, grounded in proven design principles of ecosystems and in humankind's evolved inclination toward justice, mutuality, and dignity.
The book doesn’t merely diagnose what’s broken. It reveals how our current civilization—designed for exploitation, accumulation, and elite power—is functioning exactly as it was intended. In its place, Ecocivilization charts a radical yet feasible alternative.
Explore a Future Both Hopeful and Practical
— Technology reconfigured to empower people rather than entrench centralized power --
— Cities designed around wellbeing, community, and balance with nature --
— Democracy reinvented so regular citizens—rather than oligarchs—shape collective destiny --
— Corporations legally restructured to serve life and people, not just profit --
— Enforceable Rights of Nature legislation protecting all of Earth's sentient beings --
Backed by years of research, Ecocivilization goes beyond critique to articulate a coherent, achievable vision for humanity’s next chapter.
It is both a roadmap and a manifesto—a call to imagine, and build, a better future on a regenerated Earth.
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“We need to think big—the crisis we're in demands nothing less. And this book does just that. It will fire your imagination.”
— Bill McKibben, co-founder, 350.org
— Bill McKibben, co-founder, 350.org
“In this beautifully written volume, the third of his grand trilogy, Lent describes in eloquent detail the emergence of a new ecological civilization. This is an inspiring and tremendously hopeful book, needed more than ever in our current dark times."
— Fritjof Capra, author of The Web of Life, coauthor of The Systems View of Life
“An amazing, passionate book that takes us though our past, present, and most importantly, the future we can, and must, create.”
--Riane Eisler, author, The Chalice and the Blade, The Real Wealth of Nations, and Nurturing Our Humanity
--Riane Eisler, author, The Chalice and the Blade, The Real Wealth of Nations, and Nurturing Our Humanity
“A magnificent undertaking, a brilliantly informed guide through the past and into radically different futures. Lent shows that humanity is indeed at a turning point in its story, and he summons us to a great project. A must read.”
— James Gustave Speth, co-founder, Natural Resources Defense Council
“A vital call toward transformation of our Earth community. This book will be a critical compass in leading the way toward a generative movement of movements."
— Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-director, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology; co-author ofJourney of the Universe
— Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-director, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology; co-author ofJourney of the Universe
“A clear-eyed and compelling vision of how humanity might redesign its economies, institutions, and cultures to work in service of life rather than extraction. One of the most hopeful and coherent articulations of how a flourishing, life-centred civilisation could realistically emerge.”
— Tomas Bjorkman, co-founder and chair, Inner Development Goals Foundation
Finally, a blazing ray of hope! Synthesizing the work of leading thinkers and activists from around the globe, Jeremy Lent deftly explains how humanity can build a new socio-ecological order that moves beyond the pathologies of modern capitalism. After reading this book, you’ll want to roll up your sleeves and join others in expanding the many initiatives already underway.”
— David Bollier, author of Think Like a Commoner and commons activist-scholar at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics
— David Bollier, author of Think Like a Commoner and commons activist-scholar at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics
“Our civilisation is coming to an end. And thus: It is high time we aimed at co-creating or returning to eco-civilisation. Whether or not one sees any real chance of us succeeding in doing so at scale this side of collapse, there is no higher calling than following this aim. This book is an intellectually impressive and impassioned guide to what it actually could look like.”
--Rupert Read, Co-Director of the Climate Majority Project, and author, Why Climate Breakdown Matters.
"One of the greatest thinkers of our age"
George Monbiot, The Guardian
George Monbiot, The Guardian
The Web of Meaning, integrates science and traditional wisdom to lay out a solid foundation for a worldview of deep interconnectedness
USA/Canada
New Society Publishers |
UK/Commonwealth
Profile Books |
Available now: USA | Canada | UK
WINNER OF TWO NAUTILUS AWARDS, 2022
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GOLD AWARD
WORLD CULTURES' TRANSFORMATIONAL GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT 
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SILVER AWARD
SCIENCE & COSMOLOGY 
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The Patterning Instinct explores the way humans have made meaning from the cosmos from hunter-gatherer times to the present day. Prometheus Books, 2017 |
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2017 Nautilus
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Jeremy Lent
Jeremy Lent, described by Guardian journalist George Monbiot as “one of the greatest thinkers of our age,” is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future.
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Lent is the founder and host of the Deep Transformation Network, an online global community of over 5,000 members exploring pathways toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth. Lent has written extensively about the vision and specifics of an ecological civilization, and is a founding member of the Ecocivilization Coalition, a worldwide alliance of changemakers coming together to act as a transformation catalyst in service of this potential future. He is president of the Coalition’s parent, the Institute for Ecological Civilization, and is a board member on the executive committee of the Global Compassion Coalition.
His upcoming book, Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All, will be published by Melville House in May 2026. The book lays out the potential for a fundamentally different world system—an ecocivilization based on life-affirming principles rather than principles of extraction, exploitation, and wealth accumulation. It demonstrates the specifics of an alternative, positive future available for humanity, weaving together the groundbreaking work of visionary leaders, thinkers, and communities around the world.
Lent is recognized as a leading authority on the theme of an ecological civilization. He has published numerous articles on this and related topics since 2018, in media such as Open Democracy, Salon, Common Dreams, Counterpunch, Alternet, Kosmos Journal, and YES! Magazine, where his article headlined an issue featuring ecological civilization. He has contributed several chapters on the topic to book-length anthologies exploring positive futures, as well as journal articles.
His upcoming book, Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All, will be published by Melville House in May 2026. The book lays out the potential for a fundamentally different world system—an ecocivilization based on life-affirming principles rather than principles of extraction, exploitation, and wealth accumulation. It demonstrates the specifics of an alternative, positive future available for humanity, weaving together the groundbreaking work of visionary leaders, thinkers, and communities around the world.
Lent is recognized as a leading authority on the theme of an ecological civilization. He has published numerous articles on this and related topics since 2018, in media such as Open Democracy, Salon, Common Dreams, Counterpunch, Alternet, Kosmos Journal, and YES! Magazine, where his article headlined an issue featuring ecological civilization. He has contributed several chapters on the topic to book-length anthologies exploring positive futures, as well as journal articles.