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Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble
In this new edition, Lester Brown outlines a survival strategy for our early twenty-first civilization.
The world faces numerous environmental trends of disruption and decline such as rising temperatures, falling water tables, shrinking forests, melting glaciers, collapsing fisheries, and rising sea levels. In Plan B , Lester R. Brown notes that in ignoring nature's deadlines for dealing with these environmental issues we risk the disruption of economic progress.
In addition to these environmental trends, the world faces the peaking of oil, the addition of 70 million people per year, a widening global economic divide, and the spread of international terrorism. The global scale and growing complexity of issues facing our fast-forward world have no precedent.
The world faces numerous environmental trends of disruption and decline such as rising temperatures, falling water tables, shrinking forests, melting glaciers, collapsing fisheries, and rising sea levels. In Plan B , Lester R. Brown notes that in ignoring nature's deadlines for dealing with these environmental issues we risk the disruption of economic progress.
In addition to these environmental trends, the world faces the peaking of oil, the addition of 70 million people per year, a widening global economic divide, and the spread of international terrorism. The global scale and growing complexity of issues facing our fast-forward world have no precedent.
365 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2003
22 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
About the author
Lester R. Brown
119 books80 followersLester Russel Brown is an American environmentalist, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. BBC Radio commentator Peter Day calls him "one of the great pioneer environmentalists."
In the mid-1970s, Brown helped pioneer the concept of sustainable development, during a career that started with farming. As early as 1978, in his book The Twenty-Ninth Day, he was already warning of "the various dangers arising out of our manhandling of nature...by overfishing the oceans, stripping the forests, turning land into desert." In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”
He has been the recipient of many prizes and awards, including, the 1987 United Nations Environment Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize for his "contributions to solving global environmental problems."
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
In the mid-1970s, Brown helped pioneer the concept of sustainable development, during a career that started with farming. As early as 1978, in his book The Twenty-Ninth Day, he was already warning of "the various dangers arising out of our manhandling of nature...by overfishing the oceans, stripping the forests, turning land into desert." In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”
He has been the recipient of many prizes and awards, including, the 1987 United Nations Environment Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize for his "contributions to solving global environmental problems."
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
May 14, 2012
Lester Brown is known by many in the environmental community to be a bit of an alarmist, meaning of course that his preferred method of motivating or reaching his audience is to present them with troubling facts in hopes that this will spur them into action. While some take offense to this general style of presenting an argument, I actually found the way he lays his argument out in Plan B 2.0, Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble sobering rather than alarming, and measured rather than irresponsible.
This is where physical geography gets the most interesting for me, when it is focused on how humans affect their environment. I found this book sobering and uplifting at the same time. It presents a universal call to action that is not overly politically divisive, makes clear sense of the problems we face and what cause them, and is not overly pessimistic about our future. I would recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about global climate change and environmental activism.
This is where physical geography gets the most interesting for me, when it is focused on how humans affect their environment. I found this book sobering and uplifting at the same time. It presents a universal call to action that is not overly politically divisive, makes clear sense of the problems we face and what cause them, and is not overly pessimistic about our future. I would recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about global climate change and environmental activism.
August 28, 2025
It is kind of sad to see that the problems Brown was seeing in 2003 are still problems and that some of the solutions he offers have not been taken into action yet. Also, a lot of the information he had on future predictions, we surpassed (not good).
April 24, 2014
Our world view is changing, thanks in large part to Lester Brown's writing. Everyday I encounter new voices in the social media that understand Lester Brown and the solutions presented by him and the several other authors, each with his own slant on the same problem.
We are capable of pulling back. We are not lemmings, each one of millions running desperately into the sea to relieve the stress of overcrowding or desperate to find relief from thirst. Not yet. At least not all of us.
Still, many of us are hungry or desperate, and some of us need to get busy using less, being more efficient and awakening to the crisis already affecting too many humans and too much life on this beautiful Eden, Earth.
Lester Brown’s Worldwatch Institute gave us the first warnings year after year with real data. And the 2001 book Eco-Economy gave us a reliable guide to the policies needed to secure the future.
Recent books echo Brown’s 2003 Plan B. Some refine the detailed options, but all agree on the ever more desperate need for the world view that requires an ecologically honest cost/benefit analysis. We still tout economic growth as a panacea for all our economic ills when in fact it is costing us and the Earth far more than it is worth.
The solutions outlined by Brown should be blatantly obvious: Our resource base must be analyzed in relationship to projected population growth. Our barriers to family planning need to be removed. Ecology and efficiency must trump short-term economic gain. Protecting our remaining world resources like water and forests is now urgent, as is the upgrading of our cities.
We can do this, as Plan B and Eco-Economy and other recent books make crystal clear. The solutions have been studied and refined since the 1970’s. It’s not magic, just political will and corporate greed that stand in our way. People in developed countries need to use less. We need to shift the tax and subsidy codes; get off fossil fuels, coal and plastic; increase efficiency in electrical grids and automobiles; and redo urban transport. (I have a vivid childhood memory of the rails being torn up in Oakland, California.)
The media can help, as can the wealthy and writers of fiction. Brown tells the tale of soap operas successfully illustrating how individuals can make a huge difference. Fiction can be a powerful paradigm changer.
We cannot buy our way out of overusing the planet, nor the lemming-like desperation of overcrowding that threatens human populations throughout the world. We’re all in this together.
We are capable of pulling back. We are not lemmings, each one of millions running desperately into the sea to relieve the stress of overcrowding or desperate to find relief from thirst. Not yet. At least not all of us.
Still, many of us are hungry or desperate, and some of us need to get busy using less, being more efficient and awakening to the crisis already affecting too many humans and too much life on this beautiful Eden, Earth.
Lester Brown’s Worldwatch Institute gave us the first warnings year after year with real data. And the 2001 book Eco-Economy gave us a reliable guide to the policies needed to secure the future.
Recent books echo Brown’s 2003 Plan B. Some refine the detailed options, but all agree on the ever more desperate need for the world view that requires an ecologically honest cost/benefit analysis. We still tout economic growth as a panacea for all our economic ills when in fact it is costing us and the Earth far more than it is worth.
The solutions outlined by Brown should be blatantly obvious: Our resource base must be analyzed in relationship to projected population growth. Our barriers to family planning need to be removed. Ecology and efficiency must trump short-term economic gain. Protecting our remaining world resources like water and forests is now urgent, as is the upgrading of our cities.
We can do this, as Plan B and Eco-Economy and other recent books make crystal clear. The solutions have been studied and refined since the 1970’s. It’s not magic, just political will and corporate greed that stand in our way. People in developed countries need to use less. We need to shift the tax and subsidy codes; get off fossil fuels, coal and plastic; increase efficiency in electrical grids and automobiles; and redo urban transport. (I have a vivid childhood memory of the rails being torn up in Oakland, California.)
The media can help, as can the wealthy and writers of fiction. Brown tells the tale of soap operas successfully illustrating how individuals can make a huge difference. Fiction can be a powerful paradigm changer.
We cannot buy our way out of overusing the planet, nor the lemming-like desperation of overcrowding that threatens human populations throughout the world. We’re all in this together.
December 17, 2012
"Our global economy is outgrowing the capacity of the earth to support it, moving us ever closer to decline and possible collapse. We have lost sight of how vast the human enterprise has become. A century ago, annual growth in the world economy was measured in billions of dollars. Today it is measured in trillions.
"As a result, we are consuming renewable resources faster than they can regenerate. Forest are shrinking, water tables are falling, and fisheries are declining. We are using up oil at a pace that leaves little time to plan beyond peak oil, and we are discharging greenhouse gases into the atmosphere faster than nature can absorb them.
"Sustaining progress now depends on replacing the fossil fuel-bases, throwaway economy with a new economy, one powered by abundant sources of wind, solar energy, hydropower, and biofuels. The transportation system will be far more diverse, relying more on light-rail, buses, and bicycles and less on cars. And it will be a comprehensive reuse-recycle economy.
"We have the technologies needed to build the new economy, including, for example, gas-electric hydrid cars, advanced-design wind turbines, highly efficient refrigerators, and water-efficient irrigation systems. We can see how to build the new economy brick by brick. With each wind farm, rooftop solar panel, and reforestation program, we move closer to an economy that can sustain economic progress."
~~back cover
Although the author makes many valid points, and his overall thesis is viable and immediate, he beats the subject to death with enough facts and graphs to make the reader's eyes cross. I think there can never be enough public discussion of the ecological and economic "cliff" we are facing in the very near future, but somehow I doubt this book will be part of waking up the general public about our imminent danger.
"As a result, we are consuming renewable resources faster than they can regenerate. Forest are shrinking, water tables are falling, and fisheries are declining. We are using up oil at a pace that leaves little time to plan beyond peak oil, and we are discharging greenhouse gases into the atmosphere faster than nature can absorb them.
"Sustaining progress now depends on replacing the fossil fuel-bases, throwaway economy with a new economy, one powered by abundant sources of wind, solar energy, hydropower, and biofuels. The transportation system will be far more diverse, relying more on light-rail, buses, and bicycles and less on cars. And it will be a comprehensive reuse-recycle economy.
"We have the technologies needed to build the new economy, including, for example, gas-electric hydrid cars, advanced-design wind turbines, highly efficient refrigerators, and water-efficient irrigation systems. We can see how to build the new economy brick by brick. With each wind farm, rooftop solar panel, and reforestation program, we move closer to an economy that can sustain economic progress."
~~back cover
Although the author makes many valid points, and his overall thesis is viable and immediate, he beats the subject to death with enough facts and graphs to make the reader's eyes cross. I think there can never be enough public discussion of the ecological and economic "cliff" we are facing in the very near future, but somehow I doubt this book will be part of waking up the general public about our imminent danger.
July 14, 2019
A species out of control?
Lester Brown recently wrote Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth (2000) in which his thesis was that "the environment was not part of the economy...but instead that the economy was part of the environment." (p. xv)
Here he presents an upbeat and positive plan for saving the world from the consequences of what he calls the planet-wide "bubble economy." His central argument is that we are about to face a food shortage of crisis proportions as our aquifers and rivers run dry. The relative price of food, which is directly dependent upon ready water supplies from underground and through the diversion of rivers, he argues, is about to skyrocket as China and other grain-hungry nations begin to import grain.
His plan B is a combination of interventions that would include environmental tax reform, that is, taxing products in terms or their true cost including pollution and the use of non-renewable resources. Thus the consequences of pollution-induced illnesses like asthma, etc. be factored into the cost of gasoline. In this way non-polluting energy sources such as windmills and solar energy cells would become cost-competitive with fossil fuels almost immediately.
The first half of the book is devoted to describing the problem, which he calls "A Civilization in Trouble." The second half is devoted to his Plan B which includes adopting "honest global accounting," stabilizing the population, and raising land productivity. He wants not only to shift taxes from the environmentally sound ways of doing business to the ecologically harmful ways, but to shift the subsidizes that many countries now give to fossil fuel producers and to fishing and logging industries to environmentally safe products and industries. He points out that it is foolhardy to subsidize the destruction of our environment as we are now doing.
Brown quotes Oystein Dahle, former Vice President of Exxon for Norway as saying: "Socialism collapsed because it did not allow the market to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow the market to tell the ecological truth." (p. 210)
A striking example of what Brown means by shifting taxes comes from former Harvard Economics professor N. Gregory Mankiw, who wrote: "Cutting income taxes while increasing gasoline taxes would lead to more rapid economic growth, less traffic congestion, safer roads, and reduced risk of global warming..." (p 214)
Incidentally, Brown asserts that rising temperatures adversely affect crop yields. He notes that crops are grown in many countries "at or near their thermal optimum, making them vulnerable to any rise in temperature." He cites a study by Mohan Wali at Ohio State University showing that photosynthesis increases until the temperature reaches 68 degrees F. and then plateaus until it hits 95 degrees whereupon it begin to decline, and ceases at 104 degrees. (pp. 62-63)
The problem with his solution is that, as Brown points out, the body politic, especially that of the United States, must take action to implement the changes. Unfortunately, President Bush, who represents corporate interests (as most American politicians do), will continue to call for more studies, and nothing will be done. More particularly, taxing destructive practices will only work if all (or at least a substantial majority) of the countries of the world cooperate. Polluted air, acid rain, depleted aquifers, and rivers run dry cross borders. Consequently we have a daunting task in front of us.
A crucial psychological problem is that our instincts were honed in the pre-history when the resources of forest and savanna were effectively inexhaustible, where it didn't matter how much we burned and polluted since we could just move on. Our numbers were so small relative to the land that it would renew itself as we were despoiling other lands. With six billion-plus people on the planet there are no "other lands" and there is no time for the land to renew itself. We can no longer toss our waste over our shoulders, defecate in the stream, and slash and burn.
This is just one respect in which we have to ask, are human beings as presently evolved able to cope with the modern world? The tribal mentality, with its violence toward outsiders and toward the environment, is still with us, but the tolerance of the environment for such behavior is not. The myth of the noble savage and indigenous people living in harmony with nature needs a reality check. We are savages in headsets, neither noble nor ignoble. We are indigenous people whose lands have gone the way of the Garden of Eden. We are clumsily and incompletely adjusting to a different landscape: the modern world.
The race is on. Which will come first: our adjustment to the needs of the planet or the collapse of our great civilizations? Note well it is the needs of the planet that come first. Note also that the collapse of our civilizations will usher in a period of immense pain and suffering, even for those of us sitting atop Mount Olympus, as it were, in our garden homes sheltered from the storms in our inner cities and in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
A great deal of human suffering can be averted by anticipating the consequences of globalization, of diminishing resources resulting in diminishing returns. But it is also true that a great deal of human suffering can be averted by not doing something stupid that may have unintended consequences. We must use our abilities and our knowledge to choose between the two. Lester Brown is trying to help us do that. This book is a fine introduction to the problem and to a possible solution.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Lester Brown recently wrote Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth (2000) in which his thesis was that "the environment was not part of the economy...but instead that the economy was part of the environment." (p. xv)
Here he presents an upbeat and positive plan for saving the world from the consequences of what he calls the planet-wide "bubble economy." His central argument is that we are about to face a food shortage of crisis proportions as our aquifers and rivers run dry. The relative price of food, which is directly dependent upon ready water supplies from underground and through the diversion of rivers, he argues, is about to skyrocket as China and other grain-hungry nations begin to import grain.
His plan B is a combination of interventions that would include environmental tax reform, that is, taxing products in terms or their true cost including pollution and the use of non-renewable resources. Thus the consequences of pollution-induced illnesses like asthma, etc. be factored into the cost of gasoline. In this way non-polluting energy sources such as windmills and solar energy cells would become cost-competitive with fossil fuels almost immediately.
The first half of the book is devoted to describing the problem, which he calls "A Civilization in Trouble." The second half is devoted to his Plan B which includes adopting "honest global accounting," stabilizing the population, and raising land productivity. He wants not only to shift taxes from the environmentally sound ways of doing business to the ecologically harmful ways, but to shift the subsidizes that many countries now give to fossil fuel producers and to fishing and logging industries to environmentally safe products and industries. He points out that it is foolhardy to subsidize the destruction of our environment as we are now doing.
Brown quotes Oystein Dahle, former Vice President of Exxon for Norway as saying: "Socialism collapsed because it did not allow the market to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow the market to tell the ecological truth." (p. 210)
A striking example of what Brown means by shifting taxes comes from former Harvard Economics professor N. Gregory Mankiw, who wrote: "Cutting income taxes while increasing gasoline taxes would lead to more rapid economic growth, less traffic congestion, safer roads, and reduced risk of global warming..." (p 214)
Incidentally, Brown asserts that rising temperatures adversely affect crop yields. He notes that crops are grown in many countries "at or near their thermal optimum, making them vulnerable to any rise in temperature." He cites a study by Mohan Wali at Ohio State University showing that photosynthesis increases until the temperature reaches 68 degrees F. and then plateaus until it hits 95 degrees whereupon it begin to decline, and ceases at 104 degrees. (pp. 62-63)
The problem with his solution is that, as Brown points out, the body politic, especially that of the United States, must take action to implement the changes. Unfortunately, President Bush, who represents corporate interests (as most American politicians do), will continue to call for more studies, and nothing will be done. More particularly, taxing destructive practices will only work if all (or at least a substantial majority) of the countries of the world cooperate. Polluted air, acid rain, depleted aquifers, and rivers run dry cross borders. Consequently we have a daunting task in front of us.
A crucial psychological problem is that our instincts were honed in the pre-history when the resources of forest and savanna were effectively inexhaustible, where it didn't matter how much we burned and polluted since we could just move on. Our numbers were so small relative to the land that it would renew itself as we were despoiling other lands. With six billion-plus people on the planet there are no "other lands" and there is no time for the land to renew itself. We can no longer toss our waste over our shoulders, defecate in the stream, and slash and burn.
This is just one respect in which we have to ask, are human beings as presently evolved able to cope with the modern world? The tribal mentality, with its violence toward outsiders and toward the environment, is still with us, but the tolerance of the environment for such behavior is not. The myth of the noble savage and indigenous people living in harmony with nature needs a reality check. We are savages in headsets, neither noble nor ignoble. We are indigenous people whose lands have gone the way of the Garden of Eden. We are clumsily and incompletely adjusting to a different landscape: the modern world.
The race is on. Which will come first: our adjustment to the needs of the planet or the collapse of our great civilizations? Note well it is the needs of the planet that come first. Note also that the collapse of our civilizations will usher in a period of immense pain and suffering, even for those of us sitting atop Mount Olympus, as it were, in our garden homes sheltered from the storms in our inner cities and in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
A great deal of human suffering can be averted by anticipating the consequences of globalization, of diminishing resources resulting in diminishing returns. But it is also true that a great deal of human suffering can be averted by not doing something stupid that may have unintended consequences. We must use our abilities and our knowledge to choose between the two. Lester Brown is trying to help us do that. This book is a fine introduction to the problem and to a possible solution.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
September 4, 2015
My review of plan b here.
I bought & gifted this book to 5 people. It was originally gifted to me as well.
I bought & gifted this book to 5 people. It was originally gifted to me as well.
June 11, 2009
Lester gave me a signed copy of this book when he spoke at the Council of Scientific Society Presidents in Washington DC. If you care about the planet, read it. It will scare the crap out of you.
January 23, 2018
I skim-read this book. In light of recent politics, its warning might be coming too late.
November 27, 2018
An important work on the importance of humanity living in harmony with the planet, touches on implications to oceans, water shortages, natural systems climate, food and poverty.
Read
February 4, 2021This one sent me back into a doctoral program in Environmental Studies. Damn you, LRB!!!
May 29, 2008
Plan B refers to the authors belief that we need to desert the oil-based, disposable economy that has flourished in the U.S. for the past hundred years. The book is written in two parts. The first section highlights aspects of the unsustainable course that we are on: peak oil, water shortages, rising temperatures and sea levels, and deterioration of natural systems. It's pretty stark, and he does not soften it up-- for one reason or the other, we've gotten ourselves here, so now it is time to confront it head on.
The second section presents Plan B, his way of dealing with the problems of the first section. A few points particularly stand out. First, several major problems, specifically water shortages and environmental degradation, are driven by overpopulation. While most of the developed world has slowly growing or even contracting populations, poorer countries (south asia and sub-saharan africa particularly) have rapidly growing populations. Not only that, but these countries (such as Pakistan, Nigeria, and Ethiopia) expect 2 or 3 fold increase in population by 2050. So population control is the first big thing. The other is moving past oil. He suggests several well-known alternatives (he seems particularly partial to wind power) to get away from polluters.
The book was written in 2005. Oil at that time was about $50 a barrel, which was historically on the high side. He notes that oil production is likely to decline. With oil at about $125 today, he seems downright prescient. One would think this would prompt our leaders to say "wow, I guess oil is going to run out, maybe we should push to develop other sources of energy". But alas, the solutions are a gas-tax holiday (thank you senators McCain and Clinton, this will surely wean us off our unquenchable thirst) and Bush's idea, to drill the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. You'd think that, at this point, with glaciers disappearing and Greenland tottering we'd see some better idea than a gas tax holiday. I mean come on, the information is all out there.
Anyhow, this book really made me think and consider what I might do. Considering I live in one of the worst offenders in terms of unsustainable cities (in Atlanta, transportation planning means no planning at all), I guess there is a lot to do.
So, please read this. And when you are done, pass it on to someone else.
The second section presents Plan B, his way of dealing with the problems of the first section. A few points particularly stand out. First, several major problems, specifically water shortages and environmental degradation, are driven by overpopulation. While most of the developed world has slowly growing or even contracting populations, poorer countries (south asia and sub-saharan africa particularly) have rapidly growing populations. Not only that, but these countries (such as Pakistan, Nigeria, and Ethiopia) expect 2 or 3 fold increase in population by 2050. So population control is the first big thing. The other is moving past oil. He suggests several well-known alternatives (he seems particularly partial to wind power) to get away from polluters.
The book was written in 2005. Oil at that time was about $50 a barrel, which was historically on the high side. He notes that oil production is likely to decline. With oil at about $125 today, he seems downright prescient. One would think this would prompt our leaders to say "wow, I guess oil is going to run out, maybe we should push to develop other sources of energy". But alas, the solutions are a gas-tax holiday (thank you senators McCain and Clinton, this will surely wean us off our unquenchable thirst) and Bush's idea, to drill the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. You'd think that, at this point, with glaciers disappearing and Greenland tottering we'd see some better idea than a gas tax holiday. I mean come on, the information is all out there.
Anyhow, this book really made me think and consider what I might do. Considering I live in one of the worst offenders in terms of unsustainable cities (in Atlanta, transportation planning means no planning at all), I guess there is a lot to do.
So, please read this. And when you are done, pass it on to someone else.
July 28, 2010
This book is great. I read excerpts of this book while in college and read the entire book after graduation. Lester Brown does a great job of providing background, examples, detail and misc. facts on various environmental issues and challenges.
I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, but with a warning. It is written so anyone can understand and follow along, which makes it a great read for someone interested in environmentalism but lacking the technical mindset.
My only problem with this book is that you can tell the author is an environmentalist, which is both good and bad. He gives a lot of facts, which are great (and technically accurate), but my main problem is his mis-use of statistics and lack of explanation of his assumptions when making claims – I don’t expect it in the text, but a foot note or detailed appendices would be nice, especially with some of the claims he is making which seem to be pulled out of thin air. It is common for him to compare an average of something to the minimum of something else – which, obviously, makes the low value look extremely low in comparison; in other words, he does not compare apples to apples, and (surprise!) his case looks even more significant than it probably actually is.
All in all this is a great book and I still agree with everything he says in it, but just don’t be fooled by comparisons. Just be sure to take a mental note of what exactly he is talking about and comparing then make your own decisions from there!
I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, but with a warning. It is written so anyone can understand and follow along, which makes it a great read for someone interested in environmentalism but lacking the technical mindset.
My only problem with this book is that you can tell the author is an environmentalist, which is both good and bad. He gives a lot of facts, which are great (and technically accurate), but my main problem is his mis-use of statistics and lack of explanation of his assumptions when making claims – I don’t expect it in the text, but a foot note or detailed appendices would be nice, especially with some of the claims he is making which seem to be pulled out of thin air. It is common for him to compare an average of something to the minimum of something else – which, obviously, makes the low value look extremely low in comparison; in other words, he does not compare apples to apples, and (surprise!) his case looks even more significant than it probably actually is.
All in all this is a great book and I still agree with everything he says in it, but just don’t be fooled by comparisons. Just be sure to take a mental note of what exactly he is talking about and comparing then make your own decisions from there!
May 4, 2009
I shouldn't say that I love this book because I hate it that there is even a reason for this book to be written. But well, we are here and we keep going on with destroying what actually gives us what we need to live so to read a book about it all in a way this book was written was very absorbing.
True our daily lives, how we create things and through our wrong and stuborn believe that sources on this planet will never finish we keep using them in an exagerating and stupif way.
Everything is explained very clear and in an interesting way, also what we all but also politician, owners of companies and again just every person can do if we would think about some easy but important decisions we daily make. What we could do to stop the over-using of our planet so that we do have a future, so that also next generations would still have a possibility to exist.
And if for once we would stop thinking as humans do and show some respect for he one that give us a place to live, we would get so much in return.
True our daily lives, how we create things and through our wrong and stuborn believe that sources on this planet will never finish we keep using them in an exagerating and stupif way.
Everything is explained very clear and in an interesting way, also what we all but also politician, owners of companies and again just every person can do if we would think about some easy but important decisions we daily make. What we could do to stop the over-using of our planet so that we do have a future, so that also next generations would still have a possibility to exist.
And if for once we would stop thinking as humans do and show some respect for he one that give us a place to live, we would get so much in return.
August 3, 2011
Plan B 2.0, the second in Brown’s Plan B series, looks into green development and the ecological destruction across the globe caused by rapid industrialization and the “throwaway economy,” consisting of oil and water shortages, pollution and deforestation. Brown proposes solutions involving sustainable agriculture, wildlife and resource conservation, renewable energy and recycling, among other things. Brown’s solution also includes a $161 billion yearly budget and environmental taxes to make the economy more eco-friendly.
Reviewers have suggested that while Brown’s propositions are practical and his statistics “intriguing,” they are presented in a somewhat disorganized manner, and lack the “meticulous” cost-benefit analysis required for the subject. However, it is widely considered a great launchpad for discussion on an environmentally friendly economy.
Reviewers have suggested that while Brown’s propositions are practical and his statistics “intriguing,” they are presented in a somewhat disorganized manner, and lack the “meticulous” cost-benefit analysis required for the subject. However, it is widely considered a great launchpad for discussion on an environmentally friendly economy.
November 30, 2009
I say currently reading, but that could be a fib. I started this book like a year ago, got all passionate about it and then killed it like a spider (wait, eric kills the spiders) whatever...
It was a bit dry and technical, but if you want to know the ins and outs of renewable energy, the fate of where we're headed if we keep on like we are and what's going to happen when china and india catch up economically... read it, even just the first couple chapters. pretty sobering.
Not to mention the impending doom of our agriculture practices and fresh water crisis which is contrasted to civilizations of the past such as the easter island indians. if you want to know what they did wrong check it out because we're on the same road.
And I haven't even said anything about oil yet.
It was a bit dry and technical, but if you want to know the ins and outs of renewable energy, the fate of where we're headed if we keep on like we are and what's going to happen when china and india catch up economically... read it, even just the first couple chapters. pretty sobering.
Not to mention the impending doom of our agriculture practices and fresh water crisis which is contrasted to civilizations of the past such as the easter island indians. if you want to know what they did wrong check it out because we're on the same road.
And I haven't even said anything about oil yet.
July 23, 2016
The book was a fun read, but I only read the Energy Efficiency Revolution, the Renewable New Energy Economy, and the chapter on cities. What I wanted when I picked up this book for my book club was to get an idea of where we can go and how to do it. I found that it was generally positive about energy generation, but practical in the ways to go about creating a revolution. The facts and figures provided were really helpful in wrapping my head around the local, national and global state we are in. I would recommend it to students who are looking for really great facts for papers, and to leaders who are curious how a clean energy economy might work.
September 15, 2007
With neutral language, and in not so many pages, Brown gives a sweeping and incisive diagnosis of our planet (part 1), and provides the eco and social "bills" for shifting to a more sustainable path of progress (part 2). He also highlights specific and hopeful examples of sustainable development underway in the Netherlands, Japan, Colombia, and elsewhere around the globe. With a continuous stream of citations, he communicates in startlingly lucid detail the imperatives we face if we wish to sustain agriculture, aquaculture, water, energy, and functional cities.
December 21, 2007
Lester Brown tells it like it is, as awful as is really is. No sugar-coating here. Just another wake-up call. At this point, there's so many people hitting snooze and ignoring the truth that it's a wonder we've lasted this long.
The best part of this book is there's actually a way out of this mess described therein. If only the leaders of this country (and others) would accept that our civilization is in trouble and there's a way out of it that isn't endless way and suffering, both here and abroad.
The best part of this book is there's actually a way out of this mess described therein. If only the leaders of this country (and others) would accept that our civilization is in trouble and there's a way out of it that isn't endless way and suffering, both here and abroad.
January 6, 2014
The author breaks down various human and environmental threats and explains how our economy is outgrowing the capacity of Earth. Once identifying the major issues, the second half of the book (Plan B) provides solutions to the issues he mentioned in the first part of the book. Issues include deforestation, erosion, fossil fuel and other resource consumption, population, agriculture and diseases, among other concerns. This book provides real suggestions for our real problems as a civilization.
Excellent!
Excellent!
March 5, 2008
A solid framework of analyses and policies that represent a shift in our economic goals, from that of just pure growth to development that will benefit the environment, the current state of world relations, and future generations. It seems that many of the solutions/answers to current issues we are facing are laid out for us by Lester Brown, one of the great thinkers on sustainability. It is just a matter of progressing with the plan and getting the right policies in place.
May 27, 2007
This book gives a good overall snapshot of the world's envrionmental condition. It's easy to find authors who can complain and raise my depression level regarding the environment, but much like Alex Steffen and the Worldchanging team, Brown makes fairly concrete recommendations about how to proceed socially and economically.
September 25, 2008
Lester Brown is eminently qualified to write this book. He has been the senior editor of Worldwatch magazine and yearly book for many years. The first half of the book gives a very clear (devastating) description of where we are heading as a planet, and why. The second part provides a prescription for our ills. One hopes it isn't too late to take his advice.
August 6, 2008
ALL about the crises of our time and a small dose of hope for the future. I am fascinated by soil science, water facts, oil, food, wildlife...but I need help reading this one because I start to feel extremely anxious. Would be good to read with a group or a class. I'm still trying even though I think the Earth Policy Institute has already published a new edition(?).
March 1, 2008
B A very interesting look at how the world is being destroyed by humans--it looks at how civilizations are in trouble (with hunger, lack of education, the AIDS crisis, amongst other things), as well as how the earth is being damaged and destroyed--and what we can do to stop the demise.
March 6, 2008
Really a book everyone should read. A hopeful approach to the environmental challanges we face. We get bombarded with how things are failing. This book pulls things together into a cohesive path forward. Do more than read it take action!
October 30, 2008
While this book threw a ton of facts at you, it does a great job of summarizing that which plagues our planet and mankind. A must read for those interested in saving our future and solving the many crises we face.
June 5, 2009
Slow going. Lots of familiar facts and recommendations but not a lot of inspiration or how to get there - until the 'Building a New Economy' chapter, when the book suddenly perked up for me. Donating this one to the library service.
Currently reading
May 9, 2007NOTE: You can also download it form their website: www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB2/index.htm.
November 10, 2007
This book is fabulous...it looks at a ton of issues across the world and the changes that have to occur to rescue our planet
January 11, 2008
Kill the trees before they kill us
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