1 comments about Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children.

1. Kudos to the Shabecoffs! Phil Shabecoff continues his distinguished career in science writing with this- his latest expose. Poisoned Profits hits the nail on the head. We are surrounded by hundreds to thousands of man made organic chemicals about which we know little to nothing. Business- as usual denies all. Wake up and smell the Bis-Phenols! I just ordered 50 copies for my environmental toxicology course!

5 comments about Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution.

1. Not a particularly easy read but well worth the effort. This book needs to be updated and revised for mass circulation with some degree of urgency. I have actually contacted two of its authors, indirectly, through their website at Rocky Mountain Institute and their associate has assured me that my concerns are being addressed. Apparently a new edition (same or different title?) is in the offing.



2. The seller was quick to respond to the order, and the book was shipped to me promptly. I would buy from this seller again.



3. I am about halfway through this now and I find the book very engaging and not difficult to read. I do agree that the current edition is dated.
   
   Kyoto costs too much? 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 is a pipe dream? This book will go a long way to persuading you that we will meet that target and more before 2050 and *make* money. The compelling question is - why aren't we further along in making the changes needed?



4. Although one might not completely agree with all of the ideas and concepts discussed in the book, it is a wonderful read for those who are both environmentally conscious and business world-savvy. As a treehugging bean-counter, I absolutely enjoyed "Natural Capitalism".



5. I read Paul Hawken's book "The Ecology of Commerce" first. It was so good I decided to read this one too. It's just as good.
   
   The name of the book describes what it is about very well. In a sense capitalism is unnatural because it is unsustainable. In contrast Natural Capitalism is when business interests work in concert with social interests and natural systems so that all three sustain each other.
   
   Natural Capitalism is easy to read and is essentially optimistic. It discusses broad strategies for sustainability as it relates to the activities of businesses and their products and services. It also gives many examples of how these strategies can be implemented so we can see Natural Capitalism in action.
   
   By and large this book is even more relevant now as when it was first published in 1999. I applaud the writers for saying some tough things that need to be said and for showing real, proven solutions instead of just talking about problems and theories. Very refreshing!

5 comments about The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals And Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World.

1. This long awaited book fulfills all of my expectations for a manual to help us create the conversations and collaboration necessary to reclaim our world's health. Over the years there have been quite a few high impact books helping us understand the extent of the challenges we face as we look forward to create a sustainable world. "The Necessary Revolution" steps forward and outlines how to create the partnerships that are needed to unleash the pent up creativity that millions of team members across the world and in all enterprises have been holding back. Peter Senge and team from his organization Society for Organizational Learning come at the subject as world leaders in the austere world of business. It is going to be very difficult for business leaders across the world to read this work and write it off as rantings of an extremist. Peter is one of the top business minds in the world and I do not believe this work can be easily ignored.
   
   For those of us who are disbursed across enterprises and feel like we have little impact on moving our enterprises towards a more sustainable future, this book provides outstanding case studies of work being done across the world by enterprises large and small. Some of the work and the visions of the leaders chronicled in this text are not only enlightening but surprising. After many chapters a "toolbox" is provided to help set the stage for the conversations and collaboration needed to move change forward. And of course, all of this work is set in a framework of systems thinking which is so necessary to be able to see beyond the silos so many are bound by.
   
   "The Necessary Revolution" should be required reading for community leaders of all types, NGO, religious, Government, and corporate alike. As we start to create these critical partnerships and conversations focused on sustainability, I believe that we can quickly change the course that we are on. A must for every person who wants to see a change in our direction. Thank you Peter, Bryan, Nina, Joe, and Sara for this extraordinary work.



2. I am a fan of the Society for Organizational Learning's approach to large organizational and social challenges. This book closes the loop on the learning's of Senge's entourage which span from The Fifth Discipline and the practical Field books to Presence. Now in The Necessary Revolution each author's unique experiences in teaching and guiding many fellow travelers along the road towards a more sustainable way of life are blended together in a coherent whole.
   
   This book captures the process of leading organizations on the journey towards sustainability without losing the necessary personal and spiritual touch that is so necessary in leading multi-dimensional sustainable changes within complex organizations. This is certainly a book to be used in business schools because while it teaches some administration of the sustainable organization, it also teaches the value of disruption and the disruptive innovation process, and how to guide and meld such strategies.
   
   I have been fortunate to have known personally, Brian, Sara, and Joe, and to have learned much as a result of their efforts through workshops, seminars and the Sustainable Enterprise Academy. I am very pleased to see so much of the essence of these efforts condensed in this volume. There are now many books on approaching sustainability through enterprise, organizations and society, but The Necessary Revolution enters new territories through the experience and rigor of the authors.



3. This is one of the most interesting and important contributions of 2008 to the vital area of sustainability thinking. MIT's Peter Senge is well known for deep analysis of organizational effectiveness (that can be challenging to read). He applies the same "systems thinking" found in his best-selling book, "The Fifth Discipline", to the multi-dimensional problem of unsustainable industrialization to reveal the real drivers and not merely the symptoms of the core problems. Yet in this fresh, face-paced book, Mr. Senge takes a more "story-teller" approach to illustrate how we as a society can accomplish much more in our efforts to find more sustainable practices working together than working in a wary isolation.
   
   He uses many examples of successful collaboration between industry, brands, NGO groups, government and individuals. This is the new charter for effectiveness. As Wired magazine rightly said this year: "Global warming is too important to leave to environmentalists alone to solve." Government and business are in the best position to lead large-scale sustainable change and must take more and more ownership.
   
   I help lead sustainability programs for a major athetic brand, and we would never dream of collaborating around performance technology innovations. Yet, increasingly, we and my peers at other brands throughout the industry have been actively collaborating around many sustainability initiatives - even making ideas and patented technologies that solely benefit the environment available to others. We work with NGO groups to better inform our strategies and they are always willing and helpful to collaborate (as some of them say, we would rather work in partnership than take you to court!). We are working to develop common mreasures and standards to drive supply chains toward more sustainable production and better equip the consumer for informed choices regarding environmental impact. Senge's book is all about such collaboration - in product companies, energy sector and the built environment.
   
   No longer perceived as a fad or gimick, sustainability and eco-thinking are now evolving to necessary(and perhaps even survivability) strategies to insure this generation's children will have a world worth inheriting and similar opportunities than us adults have had living quite well off the resouces of the planet. Peter Senge shows us how to get there by developing shared awareness of the problem and working effectively across boundaries of all kinds. A main audience he wrote this book for is the grass-roots visionaries who have "gotten this" long ago and who work quietly but surely as the dynamic change-agents for a more sustainable world. A intellectually savvy and notable contribution to the topic that reads remarkably well. 5 stars.



4. Senge's book correctly identifies the sustainability challenge, gives a bit of history about how we got where we are and then establishes a framework for companies, individuals, governments and others to follow in order to tackle the problem. He provides lots of examples of sucesses in the area of sustainability and gives a good amount of detail about specific initiatives that have yielded results. Well-written and provocative. I work in this area and he gave even me reason to rethink some of my ideas.



5. The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and organizations are working together to create a Sustainable World. (TNR)
   Value of TNR: The theme of TNR is that we must shift beyond being reactive in our solutions approach, merely seizing short term solutions, and move to deep thinking to really make a difference. I strongly agree. The book includes many stories of what organizations and individuals are doing to try to be more proactive. The "Take, Make, Waste" mode of the last 60 years is no longer viable and some folks are digging deeper in their thinking and getting beyond symptom solutions. It is the right message but with insufficient thinking on the part of the authors on what it would really take to accomplish that deep thinking. They fall into the same trap they are critiquing, working in a problem-solving mode with humans doing less harm and letting nature restore itself, but with just a more sophisticated version than they challenge.
   Shortfall: The authors point out that what got us into the mess we are in is working from a Cartesian view of reality that sees the world as things divided into parts and pieces that are not connected. As a result we have outsourced solutions by specialty, allow the problem creator to side step the deep dive to get to the underlying causes. However, TNR is working with an approach to Systems Thinking based on the Study of machines and computers that originated at MIT with Jay Forrester in the Engineering and Cybernetic Systems School in the 1950s. Forrester moved to the Sloan Management School and took his Systems Dynamic Theory with him. It is still a part of the Sloan School and has been adopted by the SOL Sustainability Consortium unrevised from its computer science basis and applied directly to human systems. It is true that Systems Thinking is needed to get us past the current crisis but one based in and developed from understanding artificial intelligence in computers and the working of machinery is just as limited as the element Cartesian model that positioned us for the current challenge. Even though the authors open with the Einstein quote, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we create them," they fail to see that that is the mind that created the form of system thinking is still the one they are using for the most part.
   One of the greatest shortfall of the book is the banalization of the term regenerative and equating it with renewable, as in renewable resources and restorative, as restoring a wetland to its original state--or letting nature do it. This comes from the way of thinking about Systems itself.
   The least encompassing type of Systems Thinking is what I call, Causal Systems Thinking or Cybernetic Systems Thinking because it is based in Cybernetic Studies and Science coming from Computer Science fields and Industrial Engineering applications to machinery based on non-living metaphors applied to Living Systems. Causal loops are an incomplete and often inaccurate way to describe human and social systems since they imply a single connecting or steam of causes back to an original cause. Even Forrester said that feedback loops do not apply to open systems, which Living Systems are because feedback loops are based on repetitive behavior and refer back to actions of the past and control those directly for the future. In open systems, the actions are independent of past action. (see Principles of Systems, Jay Forrester, 1979) www.wholebusinessblog.wordpress.com

5 comments about Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy.

1. The charts alone tell the story of what lies ahead. The most striking figure for me is that the US, the world's sole superpower for the last 2 decades, holds 3.3% of the world's natural gas reserves yet produces and uses 18.5% of the world total - not sustainable long term strategy for a country that refuses to invest meaningfully or intelligently in efficiency or alternative sources of energy. More concerning yet is the growing concentration of the world's dwindling oil reserves in unstable regions of the world where ALL of the major developing and developed countries are involved in a high stakes, high nerves 21st century version of the Great Game. Klare lays out the situation simply and clearly and lets the reader draw most of the conclusions. It doesn't take much editorializing to help us understand why the US has 12 major military bases in the Gulf region or why China refuses to condemn the appalling situations in Sudan or Zimbabwe. For anyone who wants to understand the larger picture, this is a great book.



2. This is the latest offering from one of the most insightful analysts of national and global security issues. In this book, Klare is essentially warning of the impending energy crisis, both related to climate change and to the increasing scarcity of petroleum, and of how both will likely escalate into political and/or military crises. He tells the sordid tale of the unholy alliances the United States has historically entered into to secure access to petroleum, and reveals the dynamics of the current global energy market--who has it, who needs it, the deals being cut to access it, and what the consequences of this arrangement may be. Klare also makes a compelling case for US/Chinese cooperation on things like carbon sequestration for coal-powered power plants to mitigate global warming, since both nations will continue to rely heavily on this dirtiest of fuels. He also makes a strong pitch for a rapid and massive move toward renewable energy sources as a key part of not only securing energy, but securing peace as well.
   
   "Oil will cease to be primarily a traded commodity, but instead the preeminent strategic resource on the planet -- with power struggles over energy being the defining characteristic of the new century."



3. This book should not be read at night when alone. This book if read sober will scare the s*$# out of you. The truth has a tendency to do that to people. Every US citizen should read this book no matter your job, education, or whatever. Michael Klare hit a home run with this book.
   
   As America sits in front of their TV stuck in a deep trance about American Idol or the latest screw up by some movie or pop star the world has been changing. Everyone still thinks things are like the way they were in the 50s, America sits on top of the world. I only wish things were like that. The recent spike in gas prices at the pump shows us all how things are NOT like the 50s.
   
   This book shows the reader just how the world has changed. He chronicles the change in both the world and the world oil market. Rising powers, thus the name of the book like China and India have drastically increased their thirst for oil. This increase demand on oil from those two countries and others have changed the world oil market. At the same time the safe fields in places like Texas have dried up. This has forced the oil providers to go deeper into the world's sewage ponds to get that oil.Those ponds are increasing more and more violent and less and less stable. These two things are creating a unique market paradox. Prices have jumped as we all have seen.
   
   The rising demand various countries are experiencing is pushing countries to work harder to secure that oil. Klare does a great job documenting how China is aggressively doing whatever it takes to secure that oil. Oil is no longer just a good. It is a strategic asset for almost every country. Every country defines not only growth but survival in terms of oil availability.
   
   As a result of this new view of oil nations are posturing like crazy all over the country to ensure that their interests are taken care of. That is where the scary part of the book enters into things. The modern day suburban opinion is that man has evolved out of war. That is behind us. Of course the people that believe that are the ones who don't go to war. People forget two of man's bloodiest wars started by accident, over night. Klare puts it best:
   
   "As the desire for ever scarcer energy supplies builds, the potential to slide across this threshold into armed conflict and possibly great power confrontation poses one of the greatest dangers facing the planet today"
   
   After reading the book you will see what he is talking about. It pans out in the news almost everyday. Those readers who are Christian believers will really be shocked. The story of competition for oil reads a great deal like the prophesy of the end times spoken about in numerous books of the bible. It also reads like the old Hal Lindsey book in the 70s about the "Late Great Planet Earth".
   
   Klare ends with a call for diplomacy to work things out. He is right about calling for that. However I doubt it will work. When you are cold from no oil or hungry or have your national pride wounded because of oil related problems nations might not be in the mood for diplomacy.



4. This book was a real eye opener about the rising importance of geopolitics in the oil markets.



5. 1. The International Energy Agency estimates a $5.1 trillion investment by 2030, for problematic fields in the Caspian Sea basin, the middle-east, and Siberia. Increased output will need to come from tough oil reserves.
   2. New US oil production by 2030 looks promising. Thunder Horse production started in June 2008, producing 250,000 barrels of oil per day. The US consumes over 25 million bbl/day and exports over 340 million barrels/year. The Bakken oil reserve in Montana, North Dakota, and Southeastern Saskatchewan has an estimate 271 billion to 503 billion barrels of oil. North Dakota oil production will grow significantly. Pemex expects Chicontepec oilfied in Veracrus and Puebla states to reach peak production of 470,000 barrels/day by 2014. Ultra deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Perdido will operate on the surface of 8,000 ft of water and produce as much as 130,000 barrels/day. It is very doubtful that peak oil has occurred.
   3. Suppose consumption reached 100 million barrels per day, the greatest difficulty will be that oil prices drop because of oversupply, as production is destined to increase due to profits and shortages. Oil price controls will be forced to lift and remove and competition use technology and science to increase recoverable oil and bring those supplies too the market. Deep Hot biosphere suggests the earth has abundant resource of petroleum. Oil profits will drop and the oil business will become a marginal low PE business.
   4. Cogeneration of nuclear energy electric generation pumping the hot steam into sand tar oil reserves, coal fire electric cool water and steam into oil shale extracting black liquid gold, and coal gasification ICGG will produce hydrogen, electricity, and gasoline; bringing cheap oil and gas back to the market. The financial and environmental costs of using synthetic fuels, tar sands, and shale oil are huge and the current price of oil makes these alternatives now possible. Tough oil will open a vast new supply and return the US into red exporter status.
   5. The Saudis will want to produce 10-15 million barrels/day by 2025.
   6. 50% of the current world oil production come from 116 giant fields producing more than a 100,000 barrels/day. Those in decline are Ghawar in Saudi Arabia, Cantarell in Mexico, and Burgan in Kuwait. Discover of new fields produces a self-defeating cycle. Why look for new discover of easy oil? Tough oil is the future.
   7. By 2030, oil, coal, and natural are projected to provide a 87 percent of the world energy requirements. Oil production will need to rise by 42 percent, natural gas by 65 percent, and coal by 74 percent.
   8. Japan has a large energy deficit. Japan has called on national firms to acquire overseas oil and gas reserves. In 2006, Tokyo adopted a New National Energy Strategy mandating that an ever-greater proportion of Japan's oil imports be supplied by Japanese energy firms. The oil volume in exploration and development by Japanese companies will be raised to around 40 percent by 2030. The move was designed to help Japanese firms compete with firms in China and India. This is a wasteful strategy. 2030, should be enough time for Japan to shift completely into a hydrogen society. Instead, of investing in new oil development, Japanese firms should invest into Black Light quantum power generation, hydrogen production, and millions of fuel cell migration devices. Nationalization continues to slow the conversion to a hydrogen society. Gas prices have reached a level where a transfer of technology is now justifiable.
   9. National Owed Corporations hold large reserves: Saudi Aramco (264 bbl), National Iranian Oil (137.5 bbl), Iraq National Oil (115 bbl), Kuwait Petroleum Corp ( 101.5 bbl), Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (92.2 bbl), Petroleos de Venezuela (80 bbl), National Oil Corp of Libya (41 bbl), Nigerian National Petroleum (36.2 bbl), Lukoil (16.1 bbl), Qatar Petroleum (15.2 bbl), Gazprom (13.8 bbl), Pemex (12.2 bbl) , China National Petroleum Corp (115. bbl), and Chevron (8 bbl). The large Middle Eastern, National Owned companies control the most large oil reserves. Exxon Mobil, Chevron, British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell, and TotalFinaElf are overshadowed by NOCs.
   10. In 2007, Abu Dhabi Investment authority invest $7.5 billion in Citigroup. Abu Dhabi has made significant investments in Advance Micro Devices (AMD).
   11. Coal fire plants and nuclear plants will provide electricity supply meeting 2030 requirements. Chinese leader show a strong preference for coal fire plants and nuclear. China coal consumption will raise 130 percent by 2030 and account for half of the world consumption.
   12. BP believes there exists 909 billion metric tons of coal in the world. US has 246 billion tons, Russia (157 billion), China (114 billion), India (92 billion), and Australia (78 billion) with important reserves in South Africa, Kazahstan, and Ukraine. China is the largest consumer of coal, 38 percent followed by the US at 18.4 percent.
   13. The IEA expect China to invest $1.5 trillion in transmission and distribution of power by 2030. China will spend, $2.74 trillion invested in power development , by 2030. Included are new hydro projects, quads of Solar energy generation, and gigawatt wind power generation.
   14. 2030, China's projected total power generation of 8472 Trillion watts hours will mean that China will equal the production of the US and European Union combined.
   15. China is driving a world commodity boom between 1995-2005: aluminum - 31.9 million tons; iron production - 1.5 billion tons, copper - 16.6 million tons. Deutsche Bank said, "The surge in world demand has contributed to one of the most durable and powerful rallies in industrial metal prices in history." In 2006, China Machine-building international Corp agreed to build three coal fire plants in Zimbabwe in return for Chromium and other minerals. In return for a $5 billion reconstruction and development loan to Congo, China will gain exclusive access to Congo copper, cobalt, and nickel. China will develop infrastructure in Aynak Afghanistan to extract copper.
   16. A war over resources control causes economic hyperinflation and impoverishment. Contention over limited resource leads to war. Unlimited energy dissolves the contention for resource and creates a proliferation of productivity. Klares conclusions that resources are limited and war is inevitable are not believable.

5 comments about The End of Food.

1. Since Ehrlich and the Club of Rome, we've seen a number of attempts to resurrect the dire, zero-sum predictions of Thomas Malthus. And yet the world enjoys more food and less hunger each year as human beings learn to trade and cooperate over greater distances. That old bugbear, "overpopulation" rears its head again in an effort that reveals an author that is, himself, malnourished when it comes to economics.
   
   Readers will find familiar scapegoats in big box stores that in reality increase the availability of food to everyone -- especially the poor. Agricultural subsidies and trade barriers are the real culprits when it comes to price spikes and food shortages. But the "End of Food" is yet another attempt to roll back the gains made by globalization -- gains that have filled more bellies than any nostalgia for local growers and rehashed Malthusianism.
   
   Sadly, books like this are an intellectual drought in the garden of plenty. Reflective and open-minded types will turn their eyes to the works of Julian Simon, the ingenuity of Norman Borlaug, and greater understanding of the ecosystem of prices and incentives that enable food markets adapt and change to meet the demands of a healthier, better-fed global population.
   
   Sorry, Mr. Malthus. No more cause for pessimism, today, than in the 18th Century.



2. THe funny thing about the modern era is how it has consistantly been shaped by the idea of the coming doomsday. The method (nuclear war, overpopulation, climate change) shifts with the wind, but the constant is a belief in the inevitable fall of our "evil" civilization unless we sign up for one political agenda or another.
   
   Paul Roberts is making a career in trading on fear. He was crowned as a genius for writing a book about an energy crisis (the end of oil) shortly before the crisis arrived. As a followup, he is selling on fears about food.
   
   This book is poorly researched, badly organized and doesn't quite understand what point it wants to make. It can't decide if it wants to be whiny book about how walmart for social changes in America because it sells cheap food or if it wants to trade in hysteria about rising food prices and diminishing food resources. He can't decide if he wants to complain about the efficiency of a meat diet or global warming or family social dining habits.
   
   And in the end, the book doesn't lead anywhere. It ends with Roberts putting out a political agenda about food. Ironically (in a sad sense),
   Roberts perscription for fixing his food "crisis" in the end are all the things that the world has been doing for the last 50 years. Bluntly, we need to apply brute force science to food production with a goal of increasing production regardless of consequences or costs.
   
   He pushes genetic modification as one answer. He pushes the elimination of meat production in favor of factory farmed fish as another. And he wants international planning to drive food production.
   
   In summary, he doesn't make his case or lay the groundwork for the changes he is suggesting. He can't construct an argument to save his life and depends on a shotgunning facts out as a substitute.



3. I had read Roberts' earlier "the end of oil" and had forgotten how difficult it was to read through. This book is slightly less interesting despite the more interesting topic, which in theory should be more malthusian than the end of oil, but Roberts treats every issue with a very vacillating, politician-like ambiguity. It's surprising for example that he doesn't make more out of the peaking of fossil fuels in relation to fertilizer for food production. Every time he comes near to making a point he hedges and describes the optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints without really taking a stand.
   Typical of his writing style as well is his tendency to travel all over the globe interviewing random peasants, farmers, executives, etc., as if a travelogue somehow makes the subject more accessible. Presumably this is because he is a journalist, not an expert per se in the issue of agriculture or food. But after so many round the world trips interviewing a farmer in china for ex. and his woes the reader begins to get tired of his peripatetic descriptions.
   In summary I found it hard to really get a grip on any of the issues he presents except in a very vague way and I found it equally hard to get all the way through to the end without giving up. And this is not because I don't find the issue serious-- if anything, I think he is far too optimistic: the lack of freshwater supplies, peaking of fossil fuels, lack of arable land, increasing loss of topsoil, increasing population pressures, will probably result in some kind of malthusian crisis.



4. Robert's "End of Food" includes a lot of good information, but there are probably 200 places where a good editor would've challenged the author to reword or tighten up the manuscript. I wonder whether his editor even read the book carefully, or whether he/she knew enough about the subject to properly edit it. A few examples of the issues I'm talking about:
   
   At the beginning of the book Roberts lays out a ridiculously simplified, linear reductionist theory of the role meat consumption played in man's history (except that he rolls it out as fact rather than no small amount of speculation).
   There are a number of factual inaccuracies that should've been caught or at least reworded. Example: He states that meat is easier to digest than plant foods, which in many cases is simply wrong. Cooked rice, for example, is half-digested before it's even in the stomach.
   
   Three times Roberts refers to soil as dirt. In 45 years I've never heard a farmer (or any agricultural specialist) refer to soil (in a field)as "dirt". This carelessness on Robert's part is enough to make thoughtful readers question whether he's been shoddy in other areas too. There are at least a dozen places where he refers to animal manure as poop, which is just plain silly, and makes Roberts sound like a goofball. Imagine if physicians referred to a laceration as a "Bo-Bo" in a medical report, not once, but 12 times? Could you take him seriously?
   
   Roberts is very very loose with his date references. Sometimes he's wrong. On p. 118 he states "By the late 1960s the U.S. was in deep economic trouble......having lost it manufacturing lead to low-cost rivals like Japan...." But in fact in the late 60s very little U.S. manufacturing had shifted to Japan. Roberts is only about 15 years off there.
   Then, on page 152 he writes, "...by the late 1980s....African output faltered;...The timing couldn't have been worse. Just as Africans were producing fewer bushels [in the late 80s], a new glut of grain , unleashed by Butz's "fence row to fence row" policy, sent prices plummeting". The problem with this is that Butz's fence row policy was implemented in 1971, almost 20 years before the African output faltered, which is many years too much lapsed time to have had a meaningful direct effect.
   
   Finally, what possible reason is there for a 26 page prologue in a general interest book such as this? 26 pages! Where was Robert's editor? If a writer's proposing a 26 page prologue, there's at least a chapter missing in the body of the book.
   
   All in all I enjoyed the book, although it's not nearly as well-written as Pollan's food books.



5. I agree this is among the very best of this century's "Declinist Literature". It's an urgent Cassandra alarm about the looming danger of worldwide famine.
   Those who poo poo Roberts as "Malthusian" should read more carefully the section with Malthus, who was writing his doomsday predictions at a time when the whole New World still lay there rich in topsoil, ripe for takeover by millions of starving European farmers. Sure, Malthus was proven wrong - at that time - but he would've been correct if the New World hadn't been quickly deforested/deprairied and farmed to feed teeming Europe. There is no frontier left, (the Amazon is the last big frontier left on Earth to be cleared and farmed, and we all know about that grim scenario),everywhere soils are massively depleted and threatened by flood, pests and drought from climate change, while our addiction to natural gas derived fertilizer is a recipe for major famines when the pipelines are cut off by war or peak oil. There is little water left in China, India and many other regions, which - as Roberts shows - import water indirectly in the form of grain from those that still have water. But anway, how is it "Malthusian" to point out rationally that fecund soil has peaked all over the Earth?
   Recommended to go with it is Eating Fossil Fuels: Oil, Food and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture
   Perhaps Roberts was hastily edited or not edited(for example, "eighteen hundred years ago" instead of "eighteen thousand years" in the section on Cro Magnon diet. Yet readers should realize that many major publishers no longer use copy editors and sometimes agents without training in editing are now asked to do the job without pay, so get used to errors and typos).

5 comments about Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future.

1. Many books have come along in the last several years that try to explain why MORE is not making us HAPPIER. Cliff notes: research indicates that health is most important to our happiness, followed by making at least $10-13,000 per year. Close relationships count, too. Marriage is a plus. Kids....not so much.
   
   As McKibben points out in the opening pages, "More" and "Better" began to be linked in the post-war economy. But not anymore.
   
   McKibben writes, "On the list of important mistakes we've made as a species, this one seems pretty high up. A single-minded focus on increasing wealth has driven the planet's ecoligical systems to the brink of failure, without making us happier. How did we screw up?"
   
   McKibben continues by both charting our screw-ups, and pointing out useful ways that we can live happier and healthier lives. The main tenet of the book is that we must divorce the ideas of "More" from "Better." At a point, "More" means finding a place to store it all.
   
   If you've read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Deep Economy's Chapter 2, "The Year of Eating Locally," will feel like a review. On the plus side, McKibben manages to make a conclusion that took Pollan an entire book to suggest: eating locally (1) is better for the environment (doesn't require as much fossil fuel from farm to table); (2) is better for the local economy (keeping the profits close-by); 3) tastes better (tomotoes allowed to ripen on the vine for their whole lives develop all the sugars and nutrients that make tomatoes taste like tomatoes); and (4) feels better to support farmers you can meet and with whom you shake hands.
   
   In subsequent chapters, McKibben bounces among topics ranging from local radio, a shortened workweek, commute times, and consumer culture. To emphasize his points, he calls on others' research and hooks them to his own global insights from experiences in China, Guatemala and other countries.
   
   My favorite thing about McKibben's book is that it is accessible, and therefore a very solid start to helping us re-imagine what we as individuals can stand for...and against in building better lives for ourselves and future generations. McKibben has solidified the hunches that many of us feel - that living more simply and more locally is a key to personal happiness, and good for our communities, too.



2. I must admit, I wasn't particularly enthused about "Deep Economy" when I picked it up... it was one of several shorter texts required for my senior seminar class as a business major. I'm so glad I stuck with it... because it's had a lasting impression upon me.
   I won't give all the details about the book... several reviewers have already done a great job with that.
   All I will say is that the issues that McKibben covers in "Deep Economy" are so very relevant, and I find that he has a way of cutting down to the very core of so many of the problems facing our society. I was mostly disaffected when I picked this up, and now I can say I've been transformed into an environmentally and economically responsible localvore. This should be required reading for everyone.



3. McKibbon's "Deep Economy" is a very readable history of industrialized economics coupled with a blueprint (albeit one that is unlikely to be followed) of how we might change our economic direction into one that is more sustainable and beneficial on an individual and communal level.
   
   The idea that most clearly sticks out to me in this work is that of the "quality of life index," which could also aptly be called the "happiness index." That happiness within a society can and should be quantifiable, and that as a quantity, it should be factored into the overall values of this or that economic program is an interesting one, and also one that seems worth exploring in economics classes as well as sociology ones.
   
   The focus on local business and production also serves as a rallying point for people on both ends of the political spectrum. While buying locally and organically appeals at surface immediately to the crunchiest of hippies, the boost of small business and the opportunities that McKibbin's plan offers swings the door open for the staunchest of the right-wing business class.
   
   This book, if not an obvious plan for going forward, serves at least to give all of us an opportunity to explore a world where our fundamental economic groundwork is altered. It is hard to put down, and once you do, it's hard not to let it challenge your traditional understanding of what the economy is and should be.



4. This book was required summer reading for me, but I would've read it even if it wasn't. It's a book with ideas people can believe in. It's not hard to understand and I enjoyed it very much. I've learned a lot and know that it will have an effect on what I think about, talk about and do with my every day life.



5. With Deep Economy, Bill McKibben delivers a book that challenges conventional economic and political wisdom. Simply put, we can no longer pursue unlimited growth while producing more and more stuff. This point is heavily underscored as we approach the upper bounds of Earth's natural resources and come to terms with the damage caused by operating under the current prevailing wisdom for over a century.
   
   McKibben points out that, while economic growth is beneficial up to a certain point, it fails to produce corresponding benefits when it passes that threshold. The increased wealth tends to accumulate in the pockets of those who are already wealthy, while the majority of people see little to no increase in income. The endless cycle of consumption tends to produce more inequality and insecurity, rather than prosperity and happiness.
   
   Luckily, McKibben proposes a solution to the dilemma: we should shift our focus from growing economies to growing communities. The pursuit of this goal will yield different rewards, but those rewards will be experienced on a fundamental human level.
   
   Many will view the examples cited in the book as too small to be meaningful, undertaken with an overly optimistic outlook that will be impossible to achieve. But change has to start somewhere, and in the present situation a little inspiration is welcome. Deep Economy provides that inspiration.

5 comments about Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage.

1. This book explores what every executive must know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and business. According to the authors, companies generate lasting value by building environmental thinking into their business strategies. This book attempts to show how to be good stewards of the Earth while simultaneously building the bottom line; how to keep a sharp focus on execution while using an environmental strategy; and ways to cope with environmental pressures and responsibilities.
   
   According to the authors, the state of the art in environmental thinking can be summed up with the slogan, "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." The best pollution-control option is to reduce the use of resources and eliminate waste. The next best option is to refurbish or reuse items. Then recycle what's left. As a last resort, throw something out.
   
   I really enjoyed the many case studies included. Here are a few:
   
   (a) In the weeks before Christmas 2001, the Dutch government was blocking Sony's entire European shipment of PlayStation game systems; more than 1.3 million boxes were sitting in a warehouse because a small, but legally unacceptable, amount of the toxic element cadmium was found in the cables of the game controls. Sony rushed in replacements to swap out the tainted wires. It also tried to track down the source of the problem by inspecting more than 6,000 factories and resulted in a new supplier management system. The total cost of this environmental problem was more than $130 million.
   
   (b) In a speech to shareholders, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott vowed to cut energy use by 30 percent; to use 100 percent renewable energy (from sources like wind farms and solar panels); and to double the fuel efficiency of its massive shipping fleet. The company will invest $500 million annually in these energy programs.
   
   (c) In the mid-1990s, executives at Unilever saw a big threat to one of their product lines. Supply for the frozen fish sticks business was at risk because the oceans were running out of fish. In partnership with World Wildlife Fund, the company set up the Marine Stewardship Council, an independent body to promote sustainable fisheries around the world. The Council certifies fisheries where the total catch is limited so that fish populations do not diminish over time. To create specific incentives for fishermen to seek certification, Unilever committed to buying 100 percent of its fish from sustainable sources by 2005.
   
   (d) Over the last 15 years, chemical giant DuPont has cut its contribution to global warming by 72 percent. Half of the cuts came from changing one process: the production of adipic acid. This modification eliminated emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas that causes far more warming than carbon dioxide.
   
   (e) IKEA is proud of its "flat packaging." Efforts to squeeze millimeters out of every box have allowed the company to pack its trucks and trains tighter. That saves up to 15 percent on fuel per item.
   
   (f) Toyota saw the Green Wave coming and responded with the energy-efficient "hybrid" Prius, a breakthrough product that enhanced profits.
   
   According to the authors, the top 10 environmental issues facing humanity are:
   
   1. Climate Change. This includes rising sea levels, changes in rainfall patterns, severe droughts and floods, harsh hurricanes and new pathways for disease.
   2. Energy. Companies selling goods and services that promise to improve energy efficiency will claim market share.
   3. Water. Companies around the world now face limits on access to water.
   4. Biodiversity and Land Use. Biodiversity preserves our food chain and the ecosystem on which all life depends. It also holds prospects of new drugs, foods and other products. A key factor in the decline of biodiversity is habitat loss.
   5. Chemicals, Toxics and Heavy Metals. Part of what makes air pollution more dangerous is the presence of toxic elements. Exposure to chemicals like dioxin, a byproduct of production processes such as papermaking, and heavy metals such as lead and mercury can create severe public health risks.
   6. Air Pollution. Significant air-quality controls on factories, cars and other emissions sources have reduced air pollution over the past 30 years in the United States, Japan and Europe. But the air is still not clean.
   7. Waste Management. The EPA estimates that the 1,200 Superfund sites across the country will require
   about $200 billion to clean up over the next 30 years. Under the liability provisions of the Superfund law, anyone found responsible for the waste at a site can be held liable for the full cost of cleanup, even if the toxics were legally disposed.
   8. Ozone Layer Depletion. With a thinned ozone layer, the world becomes a more dangerous place, with
   reduced agricultural productivity, higher risk of skin cancer and other health problems.
   9. Oceans and Fisheries. More than 75 percent of the world's fisheries are over-exploited and beyond sustainability.
   10. Deforestation. Every company that uses wood, paper or cardboard packaging has a stake in, and responsibility for, the state of our forests. When McDonald's realized 15 years ago that litter was an issue, it began working on reducing packaging.
   
   Companies can and should be a force for good, leading the charge on caring for the environment and protecting our shared natural assets. Financial and environmental success can be achieved together. With the right mindset and tools, companies can handle the hard trade-offs.
   
   This is a great book that should be required reading to executives at all levels!



2. This is a great book! The information presented is very useful. I have also heard both authors speak at conferences. They have a great message and convey it clearly.



3. Good book with alot of insights... but I think you really have to be interested with these matters to be able to finish the book.



4. Excellent breakdown of the drivers for companies to go green. Also excellent analyses of strategies used by the corporate world to achieve their goals with green programs. Many examples of what worked and what didn't work.
   Great reading!



5. I have revisited this book a number of times since I read it last year. It is a good resouce in understanding the benefits and dangers of going green.

5 comments about Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World.

1. A few years ago, activist author Paul Hawken set out to create a database of every non-profit in the world categorized into a taxonomy, which is now on the web in a sort of Wikipedia community format at wiserearth (dot) org - This had never really been done before and he was surprised by the sheer number of organizations working independently to make the world a better place. He found a common thread that all were concerned about the environment and human justice. From this he concluded that there is a global "movement" (a word with many qualifiers) the likes of which have never been seen. He compares it to the "Industrial Revolution" - at the time everyone knew something different was happening, but no one had a name for it or even described it as a unique event, it was both everywhere and unrecognized. Likewise, according to Hawken, this global movement is from the ground up, with no core ideology or leadership, it's an historical mass movement that has snuck up on us and only now being recognized as a major shift.
   
   I think Hawken's message is a powerful one and will appeal to the millions of people working in small groups in isolation against large and powerful forces. Hawken does in fact describe a new trend that has been observed by others: the recent rise, proliferation and influence of NGOs. Hawken contends top-down organizations led by ideologies are old school 20th century, the future is distributed small organic holistic, sort of like how Wikipedia is made, millions of individuals (small and large NGOs) contributing expertise on a local basis that has the net effect of global human and environmental justice.
   
   I had some problems with the book, it is clearly a one-sided manifesto and much of it is historical anecdote of well known incidents (the Bolivian water wars, the India coke pesticide case, etc..) and presents a single side. These issues are extremely complex, it is rarely so easy to say there are good and bad guys, it is harmful IMO to present these controversial issues so one-sided and hold them up as poster children for reform. Why not look at the real undisputed success stories that everyone can get behind? He does in some cases such as Rachel Carson's fight against DDT. Overall I was touched by Hawken's passion,
   vision and (ironically) his idealism.



2. I heard about Paul Hawken few weeks ago and I decided to buy his book. I just feel that I learnt so much, the information is clear, the writing is great. Loved the image of the immune system as a comparison of the reaction of people who fight for Human Rights, Environment, Culture, Language, etc. I just want to read more now about these subjects. (sorry for the mistakes)



3. This is a wonderfully documented guide about groups working for social justice and for bringing balance and restoring our planet's seriously damaged environment.
   
   Among many issues, Paul Hawken tells us that fighting for those important objectives, ideology or partisan politics play a secondary role, because civilization survival is on the balance and people's direct involvement is vital.
   
   Saving Earth and bringing social justice to all must have priority over short term goals, such as profit maximizing via externilizing costs to society.
   
   The road for the largest social movement in history is long and full of powerful obstacles. That is why social and ecological education along with democratic participation are crucial. After all, real democracy is built from the bottom up and not the other way around, as the political establishment wants us to believe.



4. Paul Hawken has a wonderful gift of pattern recognition that enables him to draw from diverse sources and sew together a patchwork of information that is compelling in its message: We must work together if life on this planet as we know it today is going to survive the threats of devaluation of individual life, depleted resources, pollution and global heating. (Heating is my term. I feel that `warming' is an unacceptable euphemism!)What is most appealing to me after the excellent summary of facts and issues is Hawken's positive spin on the situation.
   
   When asked at colleges if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science that describes what is happening on earth today and aren't pessimistic, you don't have the correct data. If you meet the people in this unnamed movement and aren't optimistic, you haven't got a heart. What I see are ordinary and some not-so-ordinary individuals willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in an attempt to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. (p. 4)
   
   Healing the wounds of the earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party, only gumption and persistence. It is not a liberal or conservative activity; it is a sacred act. (p. 5)
   
   In total, the book is inadvertently optimistic, an odd thing in these bleak times. I didn't intend it; optimism discovered me. (p. 8)
   
   Hawken points out that the roots of our problems lie in our concepts and attitudes about our world. For instance, production and acquisition of material goods has become the primary focus and goal of the modern world, to the point that they are more important than people. This has shaped our mentality in self-destructive ways. Mass production and distribution of products become more economical and profitable through uniformity. Living systems thrive best on diversity, which provides a gene pool that can adapt to external challenges. However, in the name of enhancing efficiency of food production, distribution and sales, our diversity has been sacrificed and the biological pool of genetic resources has been systematically whittled down to the cheapest and most marketable varieties of edibles. This mind-set is core to the struggles of our modern world between the interests of business and industry and the interests of people and the environment.
   
   In the pursuit of industrial and economic growth that has assumed the proportions of an ideology, natural resources have been over-exploited to the point that they are depleted. Our fish, trees, land and waters have been wantonly exploited, with little if any thought to the needs of tomorrow, much less to those of future generations. Similarly with people:
   
   Slaves, serfs, and the poor are the forests, soils, and oceans of society; each constitutes surplus value that has been exploited repeatedly by those in power, whether governments or multinational corporations. (p. 22)
   
   Trade is not the salient issue; the critical question is, Who sets the rules and who enforces them? There can be no sustainability when institutions whose primary purpose is to create money are dictating the standards. (p. 135)
   
   As a uniform trading system sweeps over the world, the monetary gains are called GDP, but the losses that are suffered, even in the industrialized West, much less in the Third World, are not tallied, as if one were recording sales at the cash register but ignoring thefts at the back of the warehouse. (p. 118)
   
   The World Trade Organization (WTO) seeks to establish commerce as the basis for governing the world. It is set up without checks and balances, as a dictatorial institution that can override local populations' wishes and needs.
   
   The purpose of the organization could not be simpler: the eliminations of constraints on the flow of trade, including how a product is made, by whom it is made, or what happens after it is made. By doing so, WTO removes individual countries; and regions; ability to set standards, to express values, or to determine what they do or do not support if those standards conflict with WTO rules. (p. 120)
   
   In all WTO rulings one common denominator prevails, and the denominator is money. (p. 129)
   
   The severity of the challenges has spawned both awareness and action groups. Hawken gives brief discursive summaries of several dozens of these, and many more as annotated references.
   
   The exponential assault on resources and the production of waste, coupled with the extirpation of cultures and the exploitation of workers, is a disease as surely as hepatitis or cancer. It is sponsored by a political-economic system of which we are all a part, and any finger-pointing is inevitably directed back to ourselves. There may be no particular they there, but the system is still a disease, even if we created and contracted it. Because a lot of people know we are sick and want to treat the cause, not just the symptoms, the environmental movement can be seen as humanity's response to contagious policies killing the earth, while the social justice movement addresses economic and legislated pathogens that destroy families, bodies, cultures, and communities. (p. 145)
   
   Action groups work at different levels to promote a saner, sustainable world:
   · Watch organizations - monitor governmental institutions, corporations and geographically sensitive areas
   · Keeper groups - advocate for the preservation of waters and all their users
   · Networks - combine the information, knowledge and action focus of like-minded groups
   
   For example:
   · The US Green Building Council (USGBC) promotes awareness of, use, and distribution of building materials that do not deplete or harm the environment.
   · "Slow Food (alimento lento) is the long overdue response to dead food, processed food, fast food, agribusiness..." (p. 155)
   · Microloans help to bring hardworking people out of poverty. Kiva.org brokers loans on line.
   
   Hawken points out that every one of us bears a responsibility to participate in addressing these problems. The two basic rules to guide us must be the Golden Rule and the Sacredness of All Life. We must aim for a `zero-waste society" or better, a restorative one.
   
   We will either come together as one, globalized people, or we will disappear as a civilization. To come together we must know our place in a biological and cultural sense, and reclaim our role as engaged agents of our continued existence. (p. 165)
   
   I cannot recommend this book highly enough - to anyone interested in contributing to healing our modern societal illnesses and insanities and saving our world.



5. Some of my friends found this book really inspiring. I tend to look for things like detailed and balanced analysis of issues, in-depth descriptions of the work of political groups, and sophisticated understanding of the way in which voluntary organizations interact with elite politics and economic factors. This book is weak on all of those - but it DOES have a lot of inspirational rhetoric.

5 comments about Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Third Edition.

1. Then you must read this book. It clearly lays how mankind is on the road to ruin if we don't change our ways and the U.S. is no ways immune. It is hopeful also to read about tangible plans on how we can change our ways and build a world for all of us to thrive in, maybe compramising just a little bit for the better well-being of all of us. The book is extremely well writting and the documentation of sources is impressive. My only complaint is that some of it is unessecarily redundant, but I don't blame the author for trying to hit home key points. Anyone with any concern for the future needs to read this book, and take some action, even if just a little.



2. This is a difficult book to get wrapped around. Which is good news, and then again it is bad news.
   
   The good news is that this is an excellent and wide-sweeping run-up to the current health of our Earth.
   
   Such topics as Our Socially Divided World, Eradicating Poverty, Designing Cities For People, and The Great Mobilization are spread over 287 pages of dense statistics and research, backed up by nearly another 100 pages of footnotes.
   
   The bad news? There is far more content than is of interest to me - the motivated renewable energy reader. Some day I will wade through the less interesting parts, and then leave the remainder as a source reference.
   
   The book cover heralds "REVISED AND EXPANDED". Actually, I would have preferred the less-is-more previous edition.



3. Lester Brown gives us a solid plan to save civilization from the ravages of Peak Oil and Global Warming. But at $190 billion a year, it just sounds too easy.
   
   In fact Peak Oil is now becoming Peak Everything (the title of Richard Heinberg's latest book), driving huge price increases in many key commodities. This means that the actual cost is likely to become twice Brown's estimate or more, the longer we delay, the higher the price. To keep costs down will take a global mobilization, with many agreements like the proposed Oil Depletion Protocol (subject of another Heinberg book) and massive rationing or taxation of non-essential consumption.
   
   One way or another global economic decline is in the offing. This is a scary issue, especially for politicians, but it needs to be faced. This is because there is a huge difference in how this decline occurs. Business-as-usual decline (Plan A) will lead to collapse, possibly by mid-century. Decline imposed through mobilization (Plan B) will lead to survival, though with far less of many of today's luxuries.
   
   Here's how decline will hit home, even with mobilization. Brown, along with the Apollo Alliance and many others, are now talking about a new economy of "green collar" jobs, with re-localization of much outsourced productive activity. What they don't tell you is that most of these jobs will pay far less in real purchasing power than most white and blue collar jobs in today's top industries.
   
   But good people will take these Walmart-pay type jobs anyway because of layoffs that will skyrocket in the coming decades. That is, today's wealth is based primarily on cheap energy, so with many more people competing there will a lot less wealth to go around as we head down the Peak. Much of Plan B amounts to learning how to live with less. Many of those who've looked carefully at the numbers don't see the resources to build and maintain the renewable energy we'd need to replace all of today's fossil fuels.
   
   This brings up the population issue. Brown says that we must stabilize at eight billion people. But will we really have the resources for 8 billion people to live sustainably and with at least basic middle class amenities (decent food, clothing, housing, health care, education, transportation, ...)? Some people are now saying that we need to think two billion or less.
   
   Radical population reduction seems impossible without invoking the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But it's actually very simple in concept: Women have only one child, on the average, and that child is born in the woman's mid thirties, again on the average. Mathematically this will reduce the population by a factor of 4 in 80 to 100 years. Sure, this would take a global cultural mobilization, but it is possible. As Brown points out, Iran cut its population growth rate in half in less than a decade, and Thailand did too. Perhaps we need Al Gore to show the world the kind of Apocalypse that happens when an exploding population uses up all its resources.



4. This is one of the finest books to summarize in layman's terms both the problems and solutions to our unsustainable, industrialized economy. What distinguishes Lester Brown form other authors on the topic of sustainability is the ease of readability of his books. That definitely cannot be said about other, overly laborious works that mostly appeal to policy makers or academia.
   
   Version 3.0 (2007) here expands where Plan B 2.0 left off and what Eco Economy started in 2001. There is much valuable news and trends in 3.0 not in 2.0 as this is an extremely fast moving topic which needs updating every year. (I've had Harvard profs tell me they need to completely revamp their sustainability lectures each year to keep up with the latest happenings).
   
   Positives: very clear, readable writing style ... a keen ability to "connect the dots" of the many issues of a unsustainable society ... depth and insight ... loaded but not overloaded with useful eco-factoids ... and ability to balance bad news/good news and not be either wholly focused on total eco-gloom disaster scenarios or a total pie-in-the-sky-kind-of-a-guy. His balance is superb and his recommendations believable.
   
   Negatives: not many but some charts and graphs to break up the text would have enhanced the points and visual interest. Also, the 100+ pages of reference notes could have been indexed on the website to save some trees and shipping weight (as only researchers need this for most part).
   
   Other good recent books include "Earth: The Sequel" by Fred Krupp (super detailed accounts about the latest eco-solution technologies poised to change the world) ... and "Peak Everything" by Richard Heinberg (how the collision course of severe resource constraints and industrialization impacts will wreak havoc on society and how new thinking is required to dig out of this mess).



5. Lester R. Brown presents an excellent, comprehensive analysis and discussion of the major ecological and social challenges threatening humanity with the possibility of extinction. These include problems with oil and food supplies; climate change and rising sea levels; water shortages; depletion of natural resources; and warnings about possible tipping points in failing social and economic systems. The most concerning factor is global heating, which could reach a tipping point beyond which it would be impossible to reverse the melting of glaciers and the destruction of life as we know it on our planet.
   
   He proposes numerous solutions for our most serious and urgent challenge, climate change, often measured in the numbers of coal-powered electricity generating facilities that could be eliminated. This is vital to climate control because emissions of carbon dioxide from coal burning facilities is the most serious contributor to global warming on the one hand, and one of the most readily replaceable factor on the other hand.
   
   ...in plan B we propose to cut net carbon dioxide emissions 80 perent by 2020. our goal is to prevent the atmospheric Co2 concentration from exceeding 400 ppm, thus limiting the future rise in temperature.
   
   This is an extraordinarily ambitious undertanking. It means, for example, phasing out all coal-fired power plants by 2020 while greatly reducing the sue of oil. This is not a simple matter.
   
   We can, however, make this shift using currently available technologies. The three components of this carbon-cutting effort are halting deforestation while planting trees to sequester carbon, ... raising energy efficiency worldwide, ... and harnessing the earth's renewable sources of energy... Plan B calls for using the most energy-efficient technologies available for lighting, for heating and cooling buildings, and for transportation. It calls for an ambitious exploitation of the earth's solar, wind, and geotheramal energy sources. It means, for example, a wholesale shift to plug-in hybrid cars, running them largely on wind-generated electricity. (p. 67)
   
   The challenges that are threatening to overwhelm the capacities of various countries to deal with the pressing problems of their populations are not being addressed in anything resembling serious or concerted efforts by the wealthier nations. Brown points out that relatively modest investments in enhanced education (sums far smaller than are being spent on arms and military engagements) are key to stabilizing social and political crises around the world. These are potential human time bombs that could escalate into global problems of population migrations which would threaten other nations. With basic education it is possible to achieve birth control, reductions in population growth and reducing the spread of AIDS are achievable goals.
   
   Plan be is shaped by what is needed to save civilization, not by what may currently be considered politically feasible. Plan B does not fit within a particular discipline, sector, or set of assumptions.
   
   Implementing Plan B means undertaking several actions simultaneously, including eradicating poverty, stabilizing population, and restoring the earth's natural systems. (p. 20)
   
   This book is a must read for anyone seriously interested in understanding the global crises that threaten the continuation of life as we know it on our planet, and wanting to contribute to preventing this disaster.
   
   If you are not contributing to the solution, you are a part of the problem. -Anonymous

No comments about Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America.