Imagine Karl Marx calling for capitalism, Gandhi advocating war, or the Pope embracing atheism. This is the scale of the disbelief that will greet a new book by Stewart Brand, best known as founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, described by Apple's Steve Jobs as a forerunner of the World Wide Web. 

From 1968, Whole Earth Catalog was a beacon for the counterculture, focusing on back-to-the-land pioneers, appropriate technology, renewable energy and self-sufficiency. So it will come as a shock to many to find Brand arguing, in Whole Earth Discipline, for rapid urbanisation, the urgent application of genetic engineering, the widespread adoption of nuclear power and the development of new forms of geoengineering—all seen as almost satanic forces by most environmentalists. 

But the climate challenge will force us all to think the unthinkable. Some years ago the Global Business Network, which Brand co-founded, predicted that the melting of Arctic ice would lead to massive releases of freshwater into the Atlantic, triggering abrupt climate change, with the result that by 2020 much of Europe would endure a climate like Siberia's. Back-to-the-land policies and renewable energy won't save us if the climate starts to go haywire. Instead, Brand insists, we must embrace solutions that transform our culture. Foremost among these, he says, is a radical acceleration of urbanisation. 

Even more controversial will be his conclusions on genetic engineering, which can help create crops that use less land, pesticide and water; nuclear power, whose carbon footprint is much lower than that for fossil fuel-powered electricity generation; and geoengineering, ranging from ships that create artificial clouds over the oceans to giant space mirrors, both designed to bounce back solar radiation into space.

But recall what happened last time a major nation went nuclear fast, as China is doing. The US was hit by controversies around reactors at Diablo Canyon and Three Mile Island, helping to launch modern environmentalism. But urbanisation, genetic engineering and geoengineering are inescapably controversial. So is history about to repeat itself?

John Elkington is co-founder of SustainAbility and Volans (www.volans.com)