How can we meet the challenges of our age? This book proposes a move away from the failing political and economic philosophies of both the left and right, towards a more equitable re-organization of society, economy, land, and food production, driven by the local community rather than a central government.

Drawing a parallel between modern society and Viking raiding, trading, and enslaving societies facing dramatic climate change and societal collapse, this book urges us to look beyond the current discourse of capitalism versus chaos, and the failed dualism of ‘state versus market’.

Explore a world where we live slower lives, more immersed in local ecologies. Moving beyond the alienation from place and local livelihood inflicted by our present age, discover alternative models of collective organization, where land and capital are seen as a common good involving widespread and secure redistribution.

These ideas are rooted in distributism – the principle that issues should be dealt with at the most local level feasible, with governance that is bottom-up. Discover a moral economy founded in ideals of justice, where work and production rest on community commitments rather than market deals.

Imagine a concept of shared common good, of what life is for. Build a sense of future possibility around local ecological societies dedicated to human and ecological wellbeing.

Much of the global damage to the environment has arisen not because people were present in the landscape, but because they were absent. It’s time to hospice modernity and build a green Earth rising. This book discusses what this society and landscape might look like in the near future and longer term.