Walking on Lava: Selected Works for Uncivilised Times

Walking on Lava: Selected Works for Uncivilised Times is a one-volume introduction to the Dark Mountain Project. The book contains forty short pieces. I read this for my church women reading group, and it left me wondering how we have done so little in the intervening years. And if our political situation goes Trump's way we'll be doing even less going forward.

from the inside dust jacket:

The Dark Mountain Project began with a manifesto published in 2009 by two English writers —Dougald Hine and Paul Kingsnorth— who felt that literature was not responding honestly to the crises of our time.

In a world in which the climate is being altered by human activities; in which global ecosystems are being destroyed by the advance of industrial civilisation; and in which the dominant economic and cultural assumptions of the West are visibly crumbling, Dark Mountain asked: where are the writers and the artists? Why are the mainstream cultural forms of our society still behaving as if this were the twentieth century—or even the nineteenth?

Dark Mountain’s call for writers, thinkers and artists willing to face the depth of the mess we are in has made it a gathering point for a growing international network. Rooted in place, time and nature, their work finds a home in the pages of the Dark Mountain books, with two new volumes published every year.

Walking on Lava brings together the best of the first ten volumes, along with the original manifesto. This collection of essays, fiction, poetry, interviews and artwork introduces The Dark Mountain Project’s groundbreaking work to a wider audience in search of ‘the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.’

The Manifesto that kicked it off argues against the possibility that technological solutions to climate change are possible, suggesting instead that notions of "progress" should be re-evaluated. The book primarily addresses writers and artists, asking where they are in the midst of this crisis and why they aren't in the forefront addressing the issues. It does not suggest political action on climate change.