The Glory of the Garden

It's often said that cultural shifts only become clearly evident with hindsight. Is it possible that the post-fossil fuel era has already begun?

Indeed, for all the talk of insurmountable challenges and very real crises‐both ecological and economic in nature—there are also promising signs of a shift in how our global culture operates. From young people waiting longer to drive through teens building tiny, mortgage-free houses to the trend toward dematerialization and collaborative consumption, we've documented some of the early symptoms of what might just be a paradigm shift.

Add to that the fact that some serious business types are questioning the fundamentals of growth-at-all-costs economics, and people everywhere are beginning to ponder the notion of a plenitude economy where quality-of-life matters more than GDP, and you really can make the case that we are witnessing something profound.