AtKisson is also a very good summarist of the problems facing the world today. Believing Cassandra begins with a discussion of global environmental and economic trends, including the exponentially exploding human population, the destruction of natural habitats, and the "normalization" of the American lifestyle (i.e. gross mass consumption) in the global culture. He brings together elements of human psychology ("Studies have shown that people's sense of satisfaction with their material wealth is determined not by what they actually have, but by how much they have compared to everyone else") with systems theory to show why we are "progressing" ourselves rapidly down to all hells, and even why we should not fault (or guilt) ourselves for these rather destructive-seeming impulses. He shows us the picture - what we are doing, a little of why we are doing it, and where we and our world are going if we keep on as we are - and then he brings us with him into Cassandra's Dilemma: how do we sound the alarm loudly and articulately enough and with such appropriate timing that we can stop the mindless descent into chaos? At the end of part one, he offers his answer, that "To... prevent global collapse, we need an idea that is both visionary and profitable, a solution that can appeal to both the ardent altruist and the hardened venture capitalist... something that will challenge our higher natures and attract our baser instincts... something that has the power to command a lifetime of allegiance..." This something is Sustainability.

Part two is AtKisson's prescription for reinventing the world. Environmentalists are familiar with the sustainability concept, though we often struggle with the differences between "green" practices and "sustainable" ones; builders and foresters discuss "sustainable" resource use; corporations approach sustainability from a market perspective. The term's meanings are regularly muddied and blurred, and the word is used by both sides of the political spectrum to represent very different things. AtKisson, building on the discussion of the global state as described in part one, suggests some conditions for society's survival (e.g. "You cannot dump garbage... into Nature any faster than Nature can absorb this refuse without going haywire"), and then offers a definition of sustainability that he feels meets all of those conditions, and with grace. He reminds us that beyond physical sustainability (e.g. we need air to breathe), there is also social and moral sustainability - that a culture must also have within it the opportunities for personal nourishment and enrichment if its people aren't to go mad. And, breaking some "green" taboos, AtKisson is all willing to further economic development and support the entrepreneurial urge; in fact, he seems ready to use whatever enticements are necessary to get the public moving in the right direction, by appealing to altruism or morality, or greed or the desire to be hip. He may be a Cassandra, but he is one that is determined to be proven wrong, and suggests that we coax our audience any way that we can.

I can't say that I agree with AtKisson entirely, and I do think that he possesses some peculiar blind spots in his global summations. Nonetheless, I find his book oddly liberating. By stepping outside of the social code of environmentalism, yet remaining in constant pursuit of an environmental goal, Believing Cassandra offers dyed-in-the-green environmentalists a chance to remove ourselves from the mind set of our community - including the powerful aura of human guilt. By reflecting from a distance on ways that we can be "sustainable" whether or not we are "green," we will hopefully (a) find avenues for approaching sustainability with our less green colleagues, and (b) have a chance to discern which community taboos are useful, and which are getting in the way. It is quite possible that AtKisson is right that we need to play a little more and beat ourselves a little less - for in the end, beating ourselves won't get us anywhere but more wounded, and less ready for the work that needs to be done. We need to believe Cassandra, that the world as we know it is heading for collapse - and then we need the strength to do everything we can to prove that prophecy wrong. Believing Cassandra means seeing what we need to do, and then getting on with the work. And the play.