Saving the Planet: How to Shape an Environmentally Sustainable Global Economy (The Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series) [Paperback]

Lester R. Brown (Author), Christopher Flavin (Author), Sandra Postel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 1991 | Series: The Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series

The authors of the highly acclaimed State of the World series elaborate upon their vision of a global economy that does not destroy its own natural support systems.

Authoritative yet extremely readable, this book addresses control of energy resources, population, poverty, transportation, taxes, and other issues necessary to create an environmentally sound global economy.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

To remake our outmoded notions of economics--and to save the global environment--the Worldwatch Institute delivers a comprehensive, persuasive guide to achieving a sustainable economy based on energy efficiency and reuse, rather than waste, of resources. Using an analogy to the denial that ran rampant on the Titanic, the authors of the Institute's yearly State of the World series stress the urgent need to move away from a fossil-fuel economy in order to counteract global warming. ``Renewables'' are the key: Brown and his colleagues present tables demonstrating that wind and solar energy will create more jobs than coal and oil development will, and argue that the hazards of nuclear waste and accident obviate the viability of nuclear power. ``When it comes to solar technologies, today's political leaders, still captivated by coal and nuclear power, are akin to the steam engine's 18th-century skeptics.'' The farming of rain forests' natural products (nuts, medicines, rubber) could be substituted for clear-cutting; farming methods that prevent erosion, such as ``intercropping,'' could help feed a stable population (the authors argue that the earth, currently home to 5.4 billion people, cannot sustain more than 8 billion without catastrophic famine and disease). ``Sustainable progress'' rather than standard economic growth would take into account equity for women, the poor, other species, and future generations. Indicators should be adjusted, the authors say, so that for every economic gain that enhances GNP, such as the cutting and selling of trees, a debit--the destruction of that resource- -should be factored in. The refreshing thing about Worldwatch, in addition to its sane, can-do rather than alarmist attitude, is its balanced international scope, its drawing of statistics and examples from every continent. This volume, which launches a Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series, should be made part of the economic and political-science curriculum for undergraduates and graduate programs, including business schools. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, is one of the world’s most widely published authors, with books in more than forty languages. He has been honored with numerous prizes, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the United Nations Environment Prize, and Japan’s Blue Planet Prize. He lives in Washington, DC.

Sandra Postel lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she directs the Global Water Policy Project. She is a Pew Fellow in Conservation and the Environment and a former vice president for research at the Worldwatch Institute. Her previous book, Last Oasis, now appears in eight languages and was the basis for a PBS television documentary.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (November 17, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393308235
• ISBN-13: 978-0393308235
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #855,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Environmental Science
  • #14 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science > Earth Sciences > Environmental Science
  • #34 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Outdoors & Nature > Environment > Conservation

More About the Author

Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, is one of the world's most widely published authors with books in more than 40 languages.