Paul Hawken's extraordinary new book

Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice and Beauty to the World (Penguin 2008) is Paul Hawken's remarkable new book, a sweeping portrait of the environmental and social justice movements, which together are "addressing two sides of a single larger dilemma. The way we harm the earth affects all people, and how we treat one another is reflected in how we treat the earth."

Hawken has also been instrumental in establishing a database of the astonishing number--one or two million he says--of organizations now working toward ecological sustainability and social justice in every corner of the earth. The database may be found at www.wiserearth.com, and is an open-source, user created and edited "community directory and networking forum that maps and connects non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights and more."

Over the next month or so I want to address and assess Hawken's portrait and analysis of that vital community, including his persuasive argument that for all its dispersed, local to international, tiny to worldwide, determinedly independent, and largely bottom-up organizations, it is indeed a movement, in Hawken's view the largest in human history.

Look for a series of postings here in Reckonings over the next few weeks, beginning here.

- John Boettiger