According to the author, the Great Disruption started in 2008, with spiking food and oil prices and dramatic ecological changes, such as the melting ice caps. It is not simply about fossil fuels and carbon footprints. The author claims we have come to the end of Economic Growth, Version 1.0, a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our planet's ecosystems and resources. He sees the predicted crisis as a rare chance to replace our addiction to growth with an ethic of sustainability in which we will measure "growth" not by quantity of stuff but by quality and happiness of life.