Healing the Planet: Strategies for Resolving the Environmental Crisis [Paperback]

Paul R. Ehrlich (Author), Anne H. Ehrlich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1992 | ISBN-10: 0201632241 | ISBN-13: 978-0201632248 | Edition: 1st

America's most eminent environmental scientists describe what is needed to repair the Earth. "An important book that could serve to get society back on track in dealing with our serious environmental problems".--Science Books & Films. The Ehrlichs co-wrote The Population Explosion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This catalogue of global gloom is pierced by few solutions worthy of the authors' stature as leading environmentalists. Healing on a planetary scale, the Erlichs ( The Population Explosion ) demonstrate, will require worldwide management of population, energy consumption and technology by scientists and political economists. The thesis is well argued, with 65 pages of references and notes--but the reader is left grasping for places to begin the treatment. The Erlichs, however, are more concerned with rigorous, almost academic analysis of "the more general problem of assuring the continuance of ecosystem services" and its counterpart, "the human predicament." Readers are given a course on the biological crisis zones, including summaries of global warming, "unsustainable" agriculture and a compact chapter on energy and the environment. For most readers, these alarms will seem like an echo of many other recent books.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Biologist and demographer Paul Ehrlich is a professor of environmental studies at Stanford, where Anne Ehrlich is a research associate in biology. Since the publication of their book The Population Bomb ( LJ 10/1/68), they have been in the forefront of the overpopulation/environment controversy. This new book is designed as a companion volume to the Ehrlichs' Population Explosion ( LJ 4/1/90), which focuses on the population factor in the environmental crisis. This work concentrates on energy, global warming, the ozone layer, acid rain, pollution, and a host of other problems. Provocative, engrossing, and readable, it is recommended for all libraries.
- Richard Shotwell, Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 366 pages
• Publisher: Perseus Books; 1st edition (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201632241
• ISBN-13: 978-0201632248
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,148,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Yet again, Ehrlich got it wrong, February 11, 2002

By 

R. Jacobsen "Bob" (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Healing the Planet: Strategies for Resolving the Environmental Crisis (Hardcover)

About every eight years, Paul Ehrlich issues a prediction of disaster. And about a decade later, we learn he was wrong.

In his 1968 book "The Population Bomb", he predicted that the world would be unable to feed itself by the end of the century (yes, that century that ended over a year ago). Billions would die of starvation, and the world population would drop to a fraction of its 1968 value.

In 1976, his book "The End of Affluence" predicted that the world economy would crash "within a decade", resulting in a "North America unable to even feed itself".

In 1984, his book "The Cold and Dark: The World After Nuclear War" stated that, unless a unilateral nuclear disarmament pact was implemented, nuclear war was inevitable. He also failed to forsee the collapse of the Soviet Union, arguing that American nuclear policy would result in an increasing repressive and centralized Soviet economy.

This is just the most recent case. He's probably due for another book right about now, and his fans will forget the past when reading it.