Derek Paul is a retired physicist, turned generalist. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree from Cambridge University and then worked for three years in industry. In 1953 he took up residence in Kingston, Ontario teaching and doing research in atomic physics for a decade at the Royal Military College of Canada. He obtained a doctorate from Queens University in 1958. From 1964-95 he was a professor at the University of Toronto. In 1976 he became a participant in the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, with their strong focus on peace issues. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 and the maximum tension in the Cold War greatly changed his off-duty activities, which came to include co-founding Science for Peace (1981- ) and making several visits to the Soviet Union and one to East Germany, all by invitation. In the late 1990s he was a member of the new International Society for Quality of Life Studies. In 2005, he cofounded the Global Issues Project, which grew to a committee of eleven and organized international roundtables over seven years on crucial issues spanning forests, climate change, fresh water, food, population, a no-growth economy, biochar, and peace in outer space. He was motivated to write this book because of the urgent need to address the huge threat of climate change, reduce ecological footprint and increase biocapacity everywhere. He is a member of two physical societies, the International Society for Ecological Economics, Coalition Climat Montreal, and the Canadian Association of the Club of Rome. He lives in Montreal.