Lightland

Climate Change and
the Human Potential

by Michael Osborne

Lightland takes you through the world of fire, darkness, and the Titans into the world of Light and the eventual reign of the Olympians. It maps how our existing world which runs by the Fire of Prometheus can be replaced by a new world that runs with the Light of Apollo. In Lightland, the higher human potentials found in the Olympic Pantheon replace the present human traits represented by the rule of the Titans. In Lightland, the material age of consumerism is reconsidered as we face the greatest challenge of our species . . . the radical and fundamental change of the most important natural asset of our civilization . . . a stable climate. In its exploration of the twelve seemingly impossible trials of Hercules, the tasks of the half-human, half-god hero are interpreted in the light of human potential so that humankind, like Hercules, can take its rightful place on Mount Olympus and "live forever with the immortals where neither sorrow nor old age can touch him." Using the writings of Hesiod in his pre-Homeric work, The Theogony, Lightland presents the Titanomachy, that great battle in which the Olympians dethrone the Titans, as a metaphor of the great struggle of humankind to evolve to a more advanced state where freedom and justice become the twin pillars of our new house and a new race of heroes.

A prophecy from a contemporary prophet.
Charles H. Freeman

Michael Osborne is one of the energy world's true visionaries. If even half of the extraordinary possibilities envisioned in this come to pass, the world of the 21st century will be quite unlike the world at the century's dawn.
Christopher Flavin, President, Worldwatch Institute and author, Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution

Like a space telescope pointed back at Earth, Michael Osborne provides both perspective and an ability to look backwards in time. We can appreciate, and perhaps change our condition for the better with tools like this.
Karl R. Rábago, Rocky Mountain Institute

Lightland is an important and ambitous work: part history, part philosophy, part sustainability epistle. Infused with the wisdom of ancient mythology, it harkens back to some of our earliest sources of enlightenment. The result is a profound blueprint for our ciivilization to move forward as an ethical and prosperous global community.
Stacey Abel, Co-Chair, (SEED) Sustainable Energy and Economic Development, Executive Director, Community Investment Corporation

Ibsn: 1-891386-18-2, 126 pages, $14.95