beautiful
abundant
Building the World We Want
This groundbreaking book cuts through the pessimism and denial that pervade today's discussions of sustainability and invites readers to visualize a verdant and prosperous future for humanity and all the living things that share our planet. As a practical guide, it offers a process for making our current lifestyles more sustainable and inspires us to look beyond the immediate obstacles to nurture the "destination fixation" that stimulates all humanity's greatest achievements.
In the lives and accomplishments of farmers, gardeners, inventors and entrepreneurs, Beautiful and Abundant finds a path toward a world vision we can proudly pass on to future generations – a vision that is aesthetically beautiful, economically abundant, ethically fair and irresistibly contagious.
Humanity is at a turning point. Only one species in the universe can recognize its own impact on its habitat, so far as we know, and we are that species. In the early years of the 21st Century we face the definitive human challenge – sustaining our quality of life on this miraculous, but finite sphere we call Earth.
Tragically, a lot of human energy is being squandered in conflict over short-term environmental obstacles. People debate symptoms and solutions but societies persistently fail to offer positive incentives for change. To harness the full power of human imagination and community initiative we need a positive vision for humanity's future. We need a believable collective vision for the beautiful, abundant planet where our grandchildren will live.
bryan welch
Author, Beautiful and Abundant
CEO, B the Change Media
America's premier green publisher, Bryan Welch is well known for his optimism, sense of humor and his commitment to empowering people to live their own good life. He speaks widely to businesspeople and consumers to share his belief - demonstrated unequivocally in his own work - that it's possible to do well in business without destroying the earth's natural and human resources.
As a child herding milk goats in rural New Mexico, Bryan learned that survival of our own species is impossible without an understanding of, and respect for, nature's systems. While still just a boy he formed an intuition for the intricate and interdependent relationships among the plants, animals and humans that called the Southern New Mexican deserts home. Through the decades he's refocused that intuition into a high-resolution framework for how to live a productive and sustainable life.
On any given day, Bryan might be found spending his early morning hours working on his Kansas farm among the cattle, sheep and goats; his lunchtime polishing a magazine essay at his office; and his evening at a Hollywood cocktail reception for the launch of a green media initiative.
Before starting Ogden Publications (publishers of Mother Earth News, Natural Home , Utne Reader and several other magazines and digital media properties) in 1996, Welch spent 19 years as a reporter, photographer, editor and publisher of newspapers in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, Connecticut and Minnesota. He holds a master's degree from Harvard University where he studied media policy and media management at the Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Business School.
Welch currently is a member of the MPA (Association of Magazine Media) board of directors, the Social Venture Network board of directors and the Down Home Ranch Foundation board of directors. He has also served on the board of the Kansas Land Trust. He and his wife, Carolyn, raise grass-fed cattle, sheep, goats and free-range chickens at the farm they call Rancho Cappuccino, which they also share with donkeys, dogs and the rogue mule, Zero.