World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse

Author(s): Lester R. Brown

Society & Culture

In this urgent time, World on the Edge calls out the pivotal environmental issues and how to solve them now. We are in a race between political and natural tipping points.


Can we close coal-fired power plants fast enough to save the Greenland ice sheet and avoid catastrophic sea level rise? Can we raise water productivity fast enough to halt the depletion of aquifers and avoid water-driven food shortages? And can we cope with peak water and peak oil at the same time? These are some of the issues Lester R. Brown skilfully distils in World on the Edge. Bringing decades of research and analysis into play, he provides the responses needed to reclaim our future.


Product Information

'Lester Brown is one of the pioneers and heroes of global environmentalism. If the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize had been extended to a third recipient, the logical candidate would have been Lester Brown.' E. O. Wilson

Lester R. Brown is president of the Earth Policy Institute, a research organization in Washington, DC. He has been honoured with numerous prizes, including a MacArthur Fellowship, United Nations Environment Prize, and Japan's Blue Planet Prize.

1. Has the Decline of Civilization Begun? I. THE CHALLENGE; 2. Falling Water Tables and Shrinking Harvests; 3. Melting Ice and Food Security; 4. Eroding Soils and Expanding Deserts; 5. The Emerging Politics of Food Scarcity; 6. Environmental Refugees: Millions on the Move; 7. Mounting Stresses, Failing States; II. THE RESPONSE - PLAN B; 8. Building an Energy Efficient Global Economy; 9. Harnessing Wind, Solar, and Geothermal Energy; 10. Eradicating Poverty, Stabilizing Population, and Rescuing Failing States; 11. Restoring the Economy's Natural Support Systems; 12. Feeding Eight Billion; III. WATCHING THE CLOCK; 13. Can We Rescue Civilization?

General Fields

  • : 9781849712743
  • : Earthscan Ltd
  • : Earthscan Ltd
  • : 01 January 2011
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 01 February 2011
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Lester R. Brown
  • : Paperback
  • : 144