Touching the Jaguar

&ldquo;This eloquent book inspires us to create a new reality of what it means to be humans on this magnificent planet.&rdquo;<br/>&mdash;Deepak Chopra<br/><br/>This all happened while Perkins was a Peace Corps volunteer. Then he became an &quot;economic hit man&quot; (EHM), convincing developing countries to build huge projects that put them perpetually in debt to the World Bank and other US-controlled institutions. Although he'd learned in business school that this was the best model for economic development, he came to understand it as a new form of colonialism. When he later returned to the Amazon, he saw the destructive impact of his work. But a much more profound experience emerged: Perkins was inspired by a previously uncontacted Amazon tribe that &ldquo;touched its jaguar&rdquo; by uniting with age-old enemies to defend its territory against invading oil and mining companies. <br/><br/>For the first time, Perkins details how shamanism converted him from an EHM to a crusader for transforming a failing Death Economy (exploiting resources that are declining at accelerating rates) into a Life Economy (cleaning up pollution, recycling, and developing green technologies). He discusses the power our perceptions have for molding reality. And he provides a strategy for each of us to change our lives and defend our territory&mdash;the earth&mdash;against current destructive policies and systems.<br/>