Writing this book is part of a personal journey that began more than twenty-five years ago, a journey in search of a true understanding of the global ecological crisis and how it can be resolved. It has led me to travel to the sites of some of the worst ecological catastrophes on the planet and to meet some of the extraordinary men and women throughout the world who are devoting their lives to the growing struggle to save the earth's environment. But it has also led me to undertake a deeper kind of inquiry, one that is ultimately an investigation of the very nature of our civilization and its relationship to the global environment.