Plan B - orig. 10/16/05

I have just started a book called, Plan B: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, written by Lester R. Brown.

I am excited that the book has a copyright of 2003. The author has excellent credentials. He is the founder of the Worldwatch Institute and was it’s president for 26 years.

...Brown has been awarded over 20 honorary degrees and has written or co-authored over 30 books... He is also a MacArthur Fellow and the recipient of many prizes and awards, including the 1987 United Nations Environmentalism Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize... In 1995, Marquis Who’s Who... selected Lester Brown as one of 50 Great Americans.

In the preface he talks about the economy as a part of the environment and that we have an environmental bubble economy that needs to be deflated. He mentions the declining grain harvest in China which will put a serious stress on food resources and cause an increase in world food prices.

If we cannot stabilize population and we cannot stabilize climate, there is not an ecosystem on earth we can save.

He also mentions that he does not have the credentials to write the book, but that no one has the necessary credentials. I really like this as I feel the same. I am in no way qualified to be discussing the matters I am researching and yet they need to be discussed.

Most importantly Brown promises to outline a plan that will take us from point A to point B.

The Earth Policy Institute is the Web site given in the book.