If it had been the purpose of human activity on earth to bring the planet to the edge of ruin, no more efficient mechanism could have been invented than the market economy. Yet the majority of people in the West place their hope and faith in the mechanism of the market as the bearer of promise for their futures. This promise, to deliver an ever-increasing supply of consumer goods, hides a dark reality - the spreading of market values is leading to social desintegration in the West, and in the third world it is precipitating the destruction of the indigenous cultures that are the only surviving examples of how people can truly live in harmony with their environment. Jeremy Seabrook argues that, if the rhetoric about a sustainable society is to be translated into practical politics, Greens in the West must stand up and resist the growing dictatorship of the market, with a passion and energy equal to that of the market system itself.