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The Industrial Revolution, powered by oil and other fossil fuels, is spiraling into a dangerous endgame. The price of gas and food are climbing, unemployment remains high, the housing market has tanked, consumer and government debt is soaring, and the recovery is slowing. Facing the prospect of a second collapse of the global economy, humanity is desperate for a sustainable economic game plan to take us into the future. Here, Jeremy Rifkin explores how Internet technology and renewable energy are merging to create a powerful 'Third Industrial Revolution.'
He asks us to imagine hundreds of millions of people producing their own green energy in their homes, offices, and factories, and sharing it with each other in an 'energy internet,' just like we now create and share information online. Rifkin describes how the five-pillars of the Third Industrial Revolution will create thousands of businesses, millions of jobs, and usher in a fundamental reordering of human relationships, from hierarchical to lateral power, that will impact the way we conduct commerce, govern society, educate our children, and engage in civic life. Rifkin's vision is already gaining traction in the international community. The European Union Parliament has issued a formal declaration calling for its implementation, and other nations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, are quickly preparing their own initiatives for transitioning into the new economic paradigm. The Third Industrial Revolution is an insider's account of the next great economic era, including a look into the personalities and players – heads of state, global CEOs, social entrepreneurs, and NGOs – who are pioneering its implementation around the world.
- Introduction
PART I: THE THIRD INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
- The Real Economic Crisis Everyone Missed
- A New Narrative
- Turning Theory to Practice
PART II: LATERAL POWER
- Distributed Capitalism
- Beyond Right and Left
- From Globalization to Continentalization
PART III: THE COLLABORATIVE AGE
- Retiring Adam Smith
- A Classroom Makeover
- Morphing from the Industrial to the Collaborative Era
Jeremy Rifkin is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and the author of eighteen bestselling books, including The Hydrogen Economy and The End of Work. He has been a guest on Face the Nation, The Lehrer News Hour, 20/20, Larry King Live, Today, and Good Morning America. The National Journal named Rifkin as one of 150 people in the U.S. that have the most influence in shaping federal government policy. He has also testified before numerous congressional committees, and since 1994, Mr. Rifkin has been a senior lecturer at the Wharton School's Executive Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Rifkin is chairman of the Global CEO Business Roundtable, which includes IBM, Cisco, Cushman and Wakefield, and has served as an adviser to various global leaders, including Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Angela Merkel of Germany. His monthly column on global issues appears in many of the world's leading newspapers and magazines, including The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian in the U.K., Die Suddeutsche Zeitung in Germany, Trud in Bulgaria, Clarin in Argentina, and Al-Ittihad in the U.A.E. He lives in Bethesda, MD.
