Vital Signs 2002: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future [Paperback]

Janet N. Abramovitz (Editor), Worldwatch Institute (Editor, Corporate Author), United Nations Environment Programme (Corporate Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393323153 | ISBN-13: 978-0393323153 | Publication Date: May 2002

This annual volume, written by the staff of the award-winning Worldwatch Institute, gives prominence to key trends that too often escape the attention of the news media, world leaders and economic experts. By distilling forty-five "vital signs" of our times from thousands of government, industrial, and scientific documents, this book allows readers to track key indicators that show social, economic and environmental progress, or the lack of it. This 2002 edition presents information on environmental and sustainable development topics such as global warming, population growth, transgenic crops, HIV/AIDS, international trade, and Internet use. Each trend is presented in both text and graphics, providing a thorough, well-documented and very accessible overview.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A key source of hard facts on global trends. -- Booklist boxed review

Its cool appraisal of our planet makes all other works of reference look trivial. -- The Guardian

About the Author

The Worldwatch Institute is a Washington-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the evolution of an environmentally sustainable society.

Product Details

• Paperback: 215 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc (May 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393323153
• ISBN-13: 978-0393323153
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,631,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Global Almanac, July 1, 2002

By 

J.W.K (Nagano, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vital Signs 2002: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future (Paperback)

A product of The World Watch Institute, "Vital Signs" is the only book out there that attempts to provide the Big Picture of massive global trends - and succeeds. Unlike any other study, it gives a unique snapshot of the social, economic, and environmental trends that determine the quality of our lives and the future of our children's lives. It answers the question, "Where has development brought us?" And although we might not want to hear the answer, it is necessary if we wish to steer ourselves in the right direction. To quote the introduction, "a candied appraisal reveals disparities between rich and poor, mounting health challenges, battered ecosystems, and persistent social and political conflicts." More specifically, we see that the global temperature is rising; forests are fading; pesticide use is skyrocketing (as are pesticide-resistant pests); soda beverage drinking is up as with its concomitants, obesity and diabetes, and food-borne illness is widespread, among other things to numerous to mention. The "key indicators" Vital Signs focuses on are food and agricultural trends, energy trends, atmospheric trends, economic trends, transportation trends, communication trends, health and social trends, and finally military trends. The second half of this slim, compact, hard-hitting book focuses on "special issues." These include environmental features (like the deterioration of farmland and the increase of "unseen toxic wastes"), economy and finance features (from foreign spending to the cruise industry), resource economic features (the biotech and water issues, for example), health features (such as asthma and food-borne illness), social features (like persisting poverty and voter decline), and military features - in particularly, progress against landmines. As you can the see, the scope of the book is vast, but the presentation is clean and seamless. It won't bog you down and intimidate. A veritable resource treasure house. If you want global awareness or simply need to scrape together some important and up-to-date facts for a research paper, look no further. Baseline information for anyone interested in the future of the planet.