In his remarkable new book Nature’s Echo (Harper Collins, 2026), Thomas Crowther definitively demonstrates:

• • How nature, economics, social relationships, and our own mindsets are closely inter-connected
  • How we can still build a sustainable world by using these interactions to create positive tipping points

A Basis for Grounded Optimism

While scientists argue that we have indeed moved past some negative planetary tipping points, they also believe that the future will still largely be determined by the choices we make now. Thomas Crowther’s book provides a basis for this grounded optimism: there is a lot we can now to create a sustainable world collectively and individually. Nature, he says, is resilient, and as part of nature, we are equally innovative and adaptive.

Crowther identifies a framework for these many opportunities by using a systemic view. At the same time, the book is very personal. From the beginning where he tells the harrowing story of his miraculous recovery from a venomous snake bite, he stresses the power of our minds and the stories we tell to shape our reality. 

Crowther is an ecologist and a systems thinker.  His love of animals and the natural world shines through his well-written prose. At the same time, his understanding of how systems behave extends out from the natural world. It also explains how we manage our economic resources, our social interactions, and our relationship with ourselves. He is not content to describe these different aspects of reality independently. He uses the language of reinforcing and balancing feedback to show how these levels interact with each other.

The first part of the book shows the many remarkable ways in which reinforcing and balancing feedback loops operate in nature to produce growth in balance with available resources. To illustrate, he writes about the richness of life forms above and below a forest canopy; the intricate dance between vegetation, animal life, and fungi beneath a forest floor; and the dynamic balance between predators, prey, and food in a healthy ecosystem.

The second part of the book shows how our ecological and economic systems interact with each other. Using examples such the clearing of the Amazon for cattle raising, he shows why people living on the edge of poverty contribute to the destruction of the natural world they depend on. Moreover, he points to the historical fact that in all societies, the rich tend to get richer, and the poor tend to get poorer – to the point where societies collapse and fragment unless resources are deliberately redistributed.

Crowther’s insights become more personal and relevant to individual readers when he shows us how we have more influence over our environments than we realize. He first describes the social feedback loops in which we all exist. For example, he points out that the most significant indicator of someone buying solar panels for their home is whether their neighbors have solar panels. We are social creatures whose need for belonging leads us to be affected by what others think and do. Moreover, just as we follow others, others follow us. Crowther emphasizes the positive reinforcing dynamics that are informing and inspiring additional projects all over the world. The narratives we tell ourselves and others matter. The ripple effects of our purchasing, investing, and voting decisions can also extend collectively to produce positive tipping points that significantly improve corporate and political behaviors over time.

Crowther goes on to show the tight psychological feedback loop that exists between how we think and what we do. As Henry Ford famously said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Crowther references self-fulfilling prophecies and confirmation biases as recognized findings about how our thinking affects our behavior. He emphasizes that this internal feedback loop impacts how effective we can be in taking climate action. If we take climate action enthusiastically out of love for both the world and the special gifts we offer, we are likely to be more energized and effective. If we react to climate change with hesitancy or pessimism, we will be less effective. If we think that “somebody should do something” (the title of another excellent book), we may be undermining our agency and making matters worse.

Leverage Points for Building a Sustainable World

Taken together these insights lead Crowther to recommend several leverage points for building a sustainable world. On a more collective level, he encourages readers to:

• • Support efforts that enable poor landowners to align their ecological and economic goals, e.g. through the Payment for Environmental Services Program first introduced in Costa Rica and now extended to regions around the world
  • Invest in programs that re-introduce keystone species into environmentally ravaged areas, such as apex predators into grasslands laid bare by herbivores (as in Argentina’s Ibera Wetlands project), and micro-organisms into depleted soils (as in the Plant and Microbial Biotechnology program of Rwanda’s Agricultural Board)
  • Purchase nature-positive products, i.e., those that actively regenerate natural resources rather than just slow their degradation (e.g., as identified by such organizations as the Nature Positive Initiative)

On a more individual level, you can:

• • Realize that you are part of the systems you want to change – and that your enthusiasm, commitment, and optimism are the leverage points over which you have the greatest control
  • Identify environmental issues you want to be involved in and ways to contribute that make the most of your strengths and passions
  • Connect with others where you live and work to share what you are doing and develop new opportunities
  • Join and become active in the global climate movement 350.org or the U.S. senior citizens movement ThirdAct.org
  • Follow and support active local people who are engaged in innovative projects by searching on the web for “regeneration projects near me”

There is much to do.  And we can do it.