STATE OF THE WORLD 1986: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society

by Lester R. & Others Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 1986

More a grab bag of subjects of interest to Worldwatch people than a systematic survey of the world's ecosystems. Still, the Washington-based research group has important things to say about the close relationship between the state of any economy and the health of its environmental support systems. Chapters range from a discussion of the heavy toll tobacco exacts on the developed world and what governments must do to discourage smoking, to an outline of a strategy to reverse Africa's tragic ecological decline. One section redefines ""national security"" in economic and ecological terms, comparing the economic decline of the US and USSR (both with bloated defense budgets) to the meteoric rise of Japan (with minuscule military expenditures) to a position of global economic supremacy. Another concludes that when historians analyze our debt-ridden era, they will discover that economic and ecological deficits--the latter occurring when the demands on a natural system exceed its capacity to recover--are both rooted in the loss of social discipline. The news isn't all bad. China, which through family planning, market incentives, tree planting programs, etc. has dramatically improved both its economy and ecology and become self-sufficient in food, repeatedly is extolled as a model for the developing world. An entire chapter documents the far-reaching effects of an obscure 1978 federal law which required utilities to pay independent power producers a fair price for their electricity. In California, where the law has been aggressively implemented, the more innovative and competitive smaller producers are now building all of the state's new power facilities. According to Worldwatch, utilities nationwide could ultimately become ""common carriers"" like the pipelines and railroads that simply link producers and consumers. A valuable, if scattershot, introduction to some of the most important current thinking of ecologically sustainable economic development.

Pub Date: Feb. 24, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION