the way home

PHOTOGRAPHS AND ESSAYS BY STEPHEN GORMAN

Every so often a book comes along that truly meets the moment we are living in. The Way Home is a captivating, groundbreaking exploration of humankind’s choices in a fraught world of dizzying technological, cultural, and environmental change. This timely work asks, “What is it about modern industrial society that has driven the rapidly escalating and intertwined global environmental emergency and geopolitical crisis? Can we identify the underlying factors and forces that have led us to this point? In our quest for endless growth will we forfeit our only home, and in the process sacrifice true wealth that cannot be measured — healthy ecosystems, strong communities, wisdom, joy, serenity, a sense of purpose, a sense of place? Searching for a new way forward, The Way Home also asks, “Are there examples of other successful contemporary cultures that modern industrial society can learn from? Can we grant ourselves the freedom to imagine — and perhaps even emulate — their approaches to living sustainably? Can we hear other peoples’ stories, adopt their worldviews, and change our cultural narratives and priorities in ways that put community and the planet first?” Merging art, science, history, and culture, The Way Home investigates the root causes of our planetary predicament while offering exciting possibilities for other ways of knowing and being on our one and only blue and green home.

“Steve Gorman is a sage, a seer, a shaman, but with a camera. His powerful challenge to us is civilizational. His hard-earned photographs and accompanying commentary make us want to learn more, to understand more, and, remarkably, to change.”

— James Gustave (Gus) Speth, Chair of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the President; Founder of the World Resources Institute; Co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme; Dean of the Yale School of the Environment; author of America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy and The Bridge at the Edge of the World.