A parable about sustainability · Why what we’ve got is unsustainable · Let’s bail out and go over the wall! · A systemic change · But why “humanity’s” next great adventure?

Have you ever owned anything that stopped working after a few hours of use? Make some estimates about whether this was because of bad design or poor workmanship.

What are some real-life inventions that didn’t work because they were “systemically flawed”? [All heavier-than air flying machines before the one built by the Wright brothers. All perpetual motion machines (whose builders almost always thought they’d work if made with finer material or more exact specifications).]

Have students collect expressions of the idea that some institution or system would work if people were just made of “finer materials.”

What does Quinn mean by “greened-up versions of our traditional religions”?

What “mixed metaphor” is Quinn referring to in the section titled “Let’s bail out and go over the wall”?

Do you feel that Quinn has given you “something better to want” than belonging to the culture of maximum harm?

Quinn says that “when the plane’s going down and someone offers you a parachute, you don’t demand to see the warranty.” What does he mean by this?

Does the New Tribal Revolution sound like a “great adventure” to you? Compare this with the “Star Trek” adventure. Are the two adventures mutually exclusive?