Customer Reviews

Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (Substantially Revised)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is the best book in print that provides a comprehensive global solution to today's environmental problems. Too many environmentalists have great visions of doom but few practical solutions. I think Brown is overly optimistic but he at least does have a plan that is connected to reality. The most important part of the book is Part III, The Great Mobilization. Specifically, America needs to do a total mobilization of its economic resources as it did for World War II. Nothing less will be adequate. Only a global level he has compiled a budget for what is needed which you can read on page 263. You should read the footnotes for this to see how he got this. He has a global energy plan on page 254. If you want to know more about Brown look up his organization Earth Policy Institute on Google. Hopefully, Obama will heed Brown's advice. You might want to watch the following National Geographic special to see what the stakes are National Geographic: Six Degrees Could Change the World.

Plan B is an amazing effort - I could hardly put it down!

Like many people, I've put a lot of thought into the multitude of woes that face the planet and our poor (oh so human) race, and I've tried earnestly to do my bit here and there to make a difference...

Like just about anyone who's really tried to think things through however, I usually end up feeling overwhelmed, powerless and disheartened by the sheer magnitude of it all.

I try to stay informed, and I've read plenty of scary stuff by real experts about the terrible existential problems that we and our children face - Climate change, water crises, food crises, pandemics, overpopulation, terrorism, war, poverty, illiteracy, peak oil, biodiversity loss, rainforest depletion, collapsing fisheries, ...

I've also read plenty of amazing stuff by real experts about the solutions to these terrible existential problems - renewable energy, sustainable economies, sustainable fisheries, forestry, and farming, sustainable design and manufacturing, poverty eradication, universal primary education, population control, universal health care, ...

The problem with most of these "expert" solutions though is that they only address the problem that the expert understands - which would be just fine if we lived in a hypothetical world where that problem existed in isolation from the other problems that humanity faces.

Reading about these "solutions" usually leaves me feeling all positive and "Bono/We are the World" for a short time, but when I really think about it again, I realise that there is no point educating children who are dying of starvation or thirst! And what is the point of providing health care to a country that is so geopolitically unstable that it will collapse into civil war and genocide at any moment? What is the point of teaching sustainable farming practices to people whose land is turning into desert, or sinking into the ocean due to climate change?

No matter how hard most mere mortals try, it is just too hard to make sense of all the bad things that are going on in the world today. Quite the opposite - the more one tries to understand and to make sense, the more overwhelmed, powerless, and disheartened one becomes.

Clearly, Lester R Brown is no mere mortal.

I'm not going to spoil the book for you, but you need to know that Lester R Brown's life work has been to understand all the problems above and more, and to understand their interdependencies.

He has cultivated this understanding so that he and his Earth Policy Institute can develop a comprehensive programme that addresses these problems together, in a way that successes in one area reinforce progress in other areas - a programme that he calls "Plan B" - "Plan B is an integrated program with four interdependent goals." - "cutting net carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent by 2020, stabilizing population at 8 billion or lower, eradicating poverty, and restoring the earth's natural systems"

These goals are integrated because for example, it is unlikely that we can "stabilize population unless we can also eradicate poverty. Conversely, we cannot restore the earth's natural systems without stabilizing population and climate, and we are not likely to stabilize climate unless we also stabilize population. Nor can we eradicate poverty without restoring the earth's natural systems."

Boldly, Brown has put realistic dollar values on the various aspects of his programme, and has compared these costs with current military spending. The figures are particularly interesting when one considers how much of the current global military budget is really wasted putting band-aids on the problems described above.

Astonishingly, he's explained how all this might be achieved (or well under way) by 2020! This is not futuristic, pie in the sky, utopian science fiction - everything that Brown proposes is easily possible with today's technologies, and within today's socio-economic world order. We've just got to see the big picture and do it!

Most impressively, he has done all this in a 268 page book that is so absorbing and easy to read that even a child can follow it.

In Plan B, Brown describes not only how to "save civilization" as we know it, he actually describes what we must do as a society to become "civilized".

I cannot recommend Plan B 4.0 highly enough - read it - get your kids to read it - get your parents to read it - give it to your neighbours. What are you waiting for? It is free! Go to the [...] Website and download the PDF - get the presentation and all the other stuff that goes with the book while you're there.

Brown has an excellent plan for our future with the use of LEDs for lighting, electric transport, redesigned cities for energy efficiency, etc. He goes astray when he thinks wind will supply 44% of energy by 2020, plus 11% from geothermal, etc. Oil and coal won't be that easy to replace even with his recommended carbon tax. Overall though a good plan for the future.

PLAN B 4.0: MOBILIZING TO SAVE CIVILIZATION has been substantially revised and offers an analysis of food shortages and how they can bring down civilization. From trends of falling water tables, eroding soils and rising temperatures to how world food prices are rising and millions are going hungry, this provides an analysis of a dangerous new food era marked by shortages and rising prices, and makes for an analysis recommended for any social issues collection.

I think overall, there is great information with fabulous scientific studies presented here. However, I found myself getting so frustrated with whomever did the editing for this work, as I often felt like he was running circles around any particular subject!! Just when I thought I was heading into some solutions, he revisits the problems, OVER AND OVER AND OVER again!!! I wanted to scream!!
So, three stars from me...good information and written so it's not over the head of the everyday consumer, but freaking drove me batty with the redundancy of it all.

Lester Brown's book is a clearly presented, rational exploration of the enormous problems that we face as a species who, until lately, have largely ignored our planet's ability to support our ever growing numbers. Expecting yet another environmental diatribe that offers little hope to individuals, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the focus of this book is actually on providing us with a realistic and effective global action plan that would ultimately lead humankind back onto a more sustainable path. I wish it was required reading for politicians everywhere!

There are certainly flaws with this book, but overall, it is a great one-stop-shop for a clear explanation of many of the environmental and political issues confronting the world today. It is well researched and organized in a useful way.

I wouldn't recommend this book as much for his solutions as I would for his explanations of the problems. I highly recommend it to use as a well cited reference book on current issues.

Lester Brown consistently puts out extremely well researched, insightful reviews of the state of civilization. The most important insight of this book is that several important and inter-related trends, including climate change, water shortages, loss of topsoil and agricultural land, and population growth are conspiring to produce a future that could very well be frightening for our children and grand children if we don't make dramatic changes to business as usual. Fortunately, he also describes the fix in detail, and the opportunity it presents us to build a sustainable economy that will save civilization from a fate similar to the Mayans or Easter Islanders.

Plan B 4.0 continues in a long line of great books that Lester Brown has put out. It is his 4th edition of Plan B, and is a valuable update to this series. It includes some new and alarming trends since 3.0, including a discussion of farmland deals which are poised to exacerbate the social crisis to follow the pending food shortages. As with the previous editions, he begins by outlining in amazingly concise and stark terms the problems we will (and already do) face on our present course with regard to water, food, energy, and security and exactly why and how these have developed in different regions. He then outlines the opportunities to change course and deploy smarter decisions, technologies, policies, and choices to avert these extremely serious problems which could soon grow to a scale which is unmanageable.

I have found that this book receives a good audience among people who are not typically aware of these issues and among people of various political leanings. I strongly recommend it for anybody who is interested in understanding the defining problems of the 21st century.

Excellent resource on environmental issues and world hunger. Filled with tons of facts. A 'must-read'!