Fuel: Alphabet City Magazine 13 - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262113252 ISBN 13: 9780262113250

Publisher: MIT Press, 2008

Synopsis

Writers and artists imagine the transition to a carbon-free future and the radical reinvention of energy that would make it possible.

How will the world work in the pos-toil, post-coal future? Our transition could take the form of disastrous collapses in economic, political, and economic systems―or of a radical reinvention of energy. We could relapse into a new Dark Ages, or we could shift to a new economic model and international order that's not based on (the appropriately named) “fossil” fuels but on renewable energy. No matter what, global warming and resource scarcity will force us to do something. To avert environmental and economic disaster, we'll have to think beyond the weekly fluctuations in the price of gasoline and consider larger matters. In Fuel, writers and artists imagine the transition to a carbon-free future: an architect plans “Velo-city,” a network of elevated bikeways; a designer models a perfectly internalized, tail-chasing energy system; an urbanist examines the new "Oil Cities" in Dubai and Saudi Arabia; a photographer documents the social and environmental damage done by the oil industry in Nigeria; and an architect proposes that oil rigs be turned into sanctuaries for marine and avian wildlife. Reading Fuel, we read our current energy moment in the broader context of a range of possible futures.

About this title

About the Author:

John Knechtel is Director of Alphabet City Media in Toronto.

Review:

...the book's narrative, conceptual designs, and imagery evoke constructive thought about our mismanagements, current dilemmas, and future imperatives (e.g., innovation, sustainability, and stewardship) without the fear mongering of global warming proponents. The book is a good read!

―Dennis M. Filler, The European Legacy

About this edition

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0262113252
• ISBN 13: 9780262113250
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 351
• Editor: Knechtel John