The Earth Policy Reader

by Lester R. Brown, Janet Larsen, Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts

Award-winning environmental analyst Lester R. Brown and his colleagues chart progress in building the eco-economy, an economy that is compatible with the earth's ecosystem. Brown explains, for example, why wind-generated electricity with its abundance and falling cost is emerging as the foundation of the new post-fossil fuel energy economy: now cheaper than electricity from coal, oil, or natural gas, it can be used to electrolyze water and produce hydrogen, the fuel of choice for the new fuel cell engines that every major automobile manufacturer is working on. And since an eco-economy relies heavily on recycling materials already in the system, such as steel and aluminum, we learn how, in this new economy, recycling industries will largely replace mining industries. Bringing together in one volume the essential Eco-Economy Updates that are distributed worldwide over the Internet and published in the world's leading newspapers, The Earth Policy Reader monitors the shift from the old economy to the new.

322 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Lester Russel Brown is an American environmentalist, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. BBC Radio commentator Peter Day calls him "one of the great pioneer environmentalists."

In the mid-1970s, Brown helped pioneer the concept of sustainable development, during a career that started with farming. As early as 1978, in his book The Twenty-Ninth Day, he was already warning of "the various dangers arising out of our manhandling of nature...by overfishing the oceans, stripping the forests, turning land into desert." In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”

He has been the recipient of many prizes and awards, including, the 1987 United Nations Environment Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize for his "contributions to solving global environmental problems."

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's a book for class.

first book of environment & agriculture i've read at american within development.

very, very good, scary and hopeful.

i mean that book is five years old, so data is 2002, and it will make you poop your pants

but the wind stuff & technology and how many have gone green power, and the potential

three states in the midwest have enough windpower for the entire US, including transportation

so damn, there you are, and then you go back to water scarcity

perhaps the single most immediate problem that could challenge existence

and we don't pay attention to it
because it happens in a water table

that's underground

internet no reach

hard to poop our pants for what we can't see

fit into a picture and soundbite

good read

i can't swap it yet
cuz i might need it later

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lester Brown is a hero.