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The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too La

thom hartmann neale donald walsch joseph chilton pearce

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While everything appears to be collapsing around us – ecodamage, genetic engineering, virulent diseases, the end of cheap oil, water shortages, global famine, wars – we can still do something about it and create a world that will work for us and for our children’s children. The inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature documentary movie The Eleventh Hour and soon to be released HBO special Ice on Fire , Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight details what is happening to our planet, the reasons for our culture’s blind behavior, and how we can fix the problem. Thom Hartmann’s comprehensive book is one of the fundamental handbooks of the environmental activist movement. Now with fresh, updated material on our Earth’s rapid climate change and a focus on political activism and its effect on corporate behavior, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight helps us understand – and heal – our relationship to the world, to each other, and to our natural resources.

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1998

This edition

Format
448 pages, Paperback
Published
April 27, 2004 by Harmony
ISBN
9781400051571
ASIN
1400051576
Language
English

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About the author

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thom hartmann

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Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
onetimeweeb
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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With the on-going economic crisis, the environment is not exactly high on everyone's mind. So here is a little reminder from the introduction of this excellent book: "In the 24 hours since this time yesterday, over 200,000 acres of rainforest have been setroyed in our world. Fully 13 million tons of toxic chemicals have been released into our environment. Over 45,000 people have died of starvation, 38,000 children. ..." Hartman not only describes the serious trouble we're in, but also how we got there - and our way out of our it. A must-read for everyone who cares about life on Earth.

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yuna733
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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This is an important book - How did we get to the place we are environmentally? Talks about old cultures - living within their means, cooperatively and new cultures with our dominator competitive, society without regard for ruining the earth. Suggests how to reconnect to the earth. I started drying my clothes on the clothes-line religiously - to use the energy given to us by the sun rather than relying on "ancient sunlight".
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Vsgeneric
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Hartmann's call to action regarding our dwindling natural resources and the destruction of planet earth is emphasized in his comparison of old and young cultures. He urges us to think about what we are losing in our consumerist society -- our connection to nature and to each other. There were long preachy diatribes, but the end of the book was worth slogging through. His message that our personal health is tied to environmental and cultural strength was worth the read. If you can get through the first half, the second half is more positive and draws together the threads of the previous chapters.
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-Lunicorn-
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Amazing book

I read this book so quickly! Such an easy read, I just flew through the chapters.
The first part of the book definitely shines a light on the damage our civilisation has had on the world, but don’t let that stop you from pushing on through. It isn’t a doom and gloom book, it also talks about ways which we can, everyday make a difference in this world, even in the smallest ways. This should be an essential book in the school curriculum. I found it inspiring and empowering, and I felt by the end of it that I really am having a positive impact on the world right now. Everybody should read this
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wasteman
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Though updated with statistics and events through 2004, this reads like a prophetic treatise on the collapse of our industrialized culture which is entirely based on fossil fuels, a limited resource. No one seems to deny that oil is limited, but 2 narratives determine our actions today: Older and younger cultural beliefs. Older cultures valued generosity, leisure, and community. The younger cultures value productivity, accumulation and individualism. He gives many examples to illustrate his points making this an interesting read, not academic at all.
The first part of the book describes the problems: higher concentrations of CO2; loss of diversity with increased plant and animal extinctions; exploitations of the poor and the increasing wealth gap between the rich and poor; deforestation; attempts to privatize a basic human need: water; and continuing human slavery. But the second part explores how we can look back at older ways of thinking and redefine our relationship with the world and with each other. As I was reading, I thought about the Massai I met in Kenya and the recent documentary I watched about the Amish. Both cultures seem backward to a society totally dependent on a diminishing resource, yet they are more prepared to survive the collapse of industrialism than I am.
There are 2 documentaries on this topic of peak oil more recent than this book that I have seen: "Collapse", and "Blind Spot". But Thom Hartmann's book is the most hopeful and spiritual and in that sense, a more thoughtful and challenging read. Everyone needs to read this as there is much food for thought.
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adiroy2
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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The first third of this book outlines all the problems we've got going on, on this planet. Since this book was published originally in 1998, it covered ground I was pretty familiar with. No solutions were offered, though. Then, there was a section about culture and then a third section. Hartman is fond of "Old Way" thinking, characterizing modern society as "Young Way" thinking. According to him, primitive cultures had it going on. But what to do about the fact that we don't live in primitive cultures anymore? There are no solutions in this book! Near the end, I hit this paragraph which made things clear:

"Missing the point of a book like this is quite easy to do, because the book makes a radical departure from the normal fare of self-help and environmentalism. It presents the problems, delves into the causes of them, and then presents as a solution something that many may think couldn't possibly be a solution because it seems unfathomably difficult: change our culture, beginning with yourself."

Okay then. I'm off to change the culture, beginning with myself.
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AssassinOnAcid
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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It would be fair to say this is one of the only books or things i’ve read as an adult that has shifted my opinion so much in a matter of hours
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AppleDangani
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Probably one of the best books I've read, I want to get the updated version and read more from this author and authors that have praised this book. Very impactful!
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