World On The Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse
Lester R. Brown
World On The Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse
Norton Company, New York, NY, 2011
Recycling papers and swapping out light bulbs isn't going to restore our planet. While these well-intentioned steps are necessary, global environmental leader Lester Brown says these actions aren't nearly enough. World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse documents in detail how we journeyed so far down the wrong path and offers what the Earth Policy Institute calls Plan B — concrete solutions for rescuing the planet. Plan B includes four components: a massive decrease in global carbon emissions (a cut of 80 percent by 2020), the eradication of poverty, the stabilization of the world population (8 billion by 2040), and restoring the planet’s natural landscape.
Yes, Plan B is a monumental undertaking. Yet when Brown feels overwhelmed, he recalls the history of the U.S. participation in World War II. Though initially resisting involvement, the attack on Pearl Harbor led the U.S. to fully engage in World War II. In 1942, one month after the Pearl Harbor bombing, President Roosevelt announced the country would produce 45,000 tanks, 60,000 planes and several thousand ships. No one had ever seen such huge arms production numbers. Public skepticism abounded. Roosevelt told auto industry leaders the country relied on them. Shortly thereafter, the sale of new cars were banned for nearly three years; residential and highway construction was halted. People planted victory gardens and rationed gasoline and sugar. Factories converted to making war goods. “It did not take decades to restructure the U.S. industrial economy. It did not take years. It was done in a matter of months,” writes Brown. And within three and a half years the U.S. helped lead the Allied Forces to victory. By addressing Plan B with an urgency and scale comparable to the U.S. mobilization for World War II, it is possible to quickly shift away from business as usual and keep our global civilization from unraveling. —Reviewed by Gail Lord
