Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (Substantially Revised)

by Lester R. Brown

Overview

"How to build a more just world and save the planet....We should all heed Brown's advice."—Bill Clinton

In this updated edition of the landmark Plan B, Lester Brown outlines a survival strategy for our early twenty-first-century civilization. The world faces many environmental trends of disruption and decline, including rising temperatures and spreading water shortage. In addition to these looming threats, we face the peaking of oil, annual population growth of 70 million, a widening global economic divide, and a growing list of failing states. The scale and complexity of issues facing our fast-forward world have no precedent

With Plan A, business as usual, we have neglected these issues overly long. In Plan B 3.0, Lester R. Brown warns that the only effective response now is a World War II-type mobilization like that in the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393070910
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	01/17/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Lester R. Brown is the founder of the Earth Policy and Worldwatch Institutes. He has been honored with numerous prizes, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the United Nations Environment Prize, and twenty-five honorary degrees. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Preface     xi
Entering a New World     3
A Massive Market Failure     6
Environment and Civilization     9
China: Why the Existing Economic Model Will Fail     13
Mounting Stresses, Failing States     14
A Civilizational Tipping Point     18
Plan B-A Plan of Hope     20
A Civilization in Trouble
Deteriorating Oil and Food Security     27
The Coming Decline of Oil     29
The Oil Intensity of Food     34
The Changing Food Prospect     36
Cars and People Compete for Crops     38
The World Beyond Peak Oil     42
Food Insecurity and Failing States     45
Rising Temperatures and Rising Seas     48
Rising Temperature and Its Effects     49
The Crop Yield Effect     51
Reservoirs in the Sky     53
Melting Ice and Rising Seas     56
More-Destructive Storms     61
Cutting Carbon 80 Percent by 2020     64
Emerging Water Shortages     68
Water Tables Falling     69
Rivers Running Dry     75
Lakes Disappearing     77
Farmers Losing to Cities     78
ScarcityCrossing National Borders     81
Water Scarcity Yields Political Stresses     82
Natural Systems Under Stress     85
Shrinking Forests: The Many Costs     86
Losing Soil     90
From Grassland to Desert     93
Advancing Deserts     94
Collapsing Fisheries     97
Disappearing Plants and Animals     101
Early Signs of Decline     106
Our Socially Divided World     107
Health Challenge Growing     110
Throwaway Economy in Trouble     115
Population and Resource Conflicts     117
Environmental Refugees on the Rise     121
Mounting Stresses, Failing States     123
The Response-Plan B
Eradicating Poverty, Stabilizing Population     131
Universal Basic Education     133
Stabilizing Population     136
Better Health for All     140
Curbing the HIV Epidemic     144
Reducing Farm Subsidies and Debt     146
A Poverty Eradication Budget     149
Restoring the Earth     152
Protecting and Restoring Forests     153
Conserving and Rebuilding Soils     158
Regenerating Fisheries      162
Protecting Plant and Animal Diversity     164
Planting Trees to Sequester Carbon     165
The Earth Restoration Budget     169
Feeding Eight Billion Well     175
Rethinking Land Productivity     176
Raising Water Productivity     179
Producing Protein More Efficiently     183
Moving Down the Food Chain     188
Action on Many Fronts     189
Designing Cities for People     192
The Ecology of Cities     194
Redesigning Urban Transport     196
Reducing Urban Water Use     202
Farming in the City     205
Upgrading Squatter Settlements     208
Cities for People     209
Raising Energy Efficiency     213
Banning the Bulb     215
Energy-Efficient Appliances     218
More-Efficient Buildings     221
Restructuring the Transport System     225
A New Materials Economy     228
The Energy Savings Potential     235
Turning to Renewable Energy     237
Harnessing the Wind     239
Wind-Powered Plug-in Hybrid Cars     243
Solar Cells and Collectors      246
Energy from the Earth     252
Plant-Based Sources of Energy     255
River, Tidal, and Wave Power     258
The World Energy Economy of 2020     259
An Exciting New Option
The Great Mobilization     265
Shifting Taxes and Subsidies     267
Summing Up Climate Stabilization Measures     273
A Response to Failing States     276
A Wartime Mobilization     279
Mobilizing to Save Civilization     280
What You and I Can Do     285
Notes     289
Index     373
Acknowledgments     393
About the Author     399

Editorial Reviews

Brown is an effective Cassandra. His picture of climate-change-induced chaos is terrifying and convincing.— Andrew Simms

New Scientist