The word​‘development’ is associated with the spread of industrialism, an ideology ever increasing material wealth and consumption (‘growth’). Through the relentless exploration of nature, using large scale science and technology, guided by powerful nation states and corporations, development is meant to augment world scale trade and individualism. 

In the last thirty years, information technology has made everyone climb the endless ladder of consumption. This has brought the world to the brink of ecological collapse. We are in the depths of socio-economic inequality, despair, increasingly dysfunctional political institutions, and hugely stressed socio-cultural systems. 

Industrialism spreads unchecked, and the crisis continues to worsen. Those who think of alternatives are in a minority. If the crisis grows faster than what solutions we find, human civilisations may collapse as they have done many times all over the word in the last 3000 years, only at a global scale. 

As the crisis knocks at our doorstep, and we are crossing crucial planetary boundaries, there is an urgent need for alternatives.