The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century

The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century is John Ruskin’s rigorous and prophetic denunciation of capitalism’s assault on the environment, developed through his conflicted relationship with 19th-century science.

The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century is John Ruskin’s rigorous and prophetic denunciation of capitalism’s assault on the environment, developed through his conflicted relationship with 19th-century science.

Dismissed by contemporaries as the ravings of a deluded enemy of modernity, The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century is an eerily prescient denunciation of capitalism’s assault on the atmosphere – and the profound danger for the earth but also the spiritual well-being of humanity. It is one of Ruskin’s final writings, conducted with both rigorous scientific observation and a sense of Biblical prophecy.

Ruskin’s call to action is even more urgently needed today. His rallying cry, There is no Wealth but Life, is implicit throughout the Storm Cloud. How his thought developed through a conflicted relationship with the professional science of his day, and what we can take from his writings, are examined by Peter Brimblecombe, Professor of Atmospheric Pollution at the University of Essex, in his Introduction. A foreword by the Master of the Guild of St George, Ruskin’s association for social and spiritual reform, sets out what Ruskinians today can do and are doing.