Table of Contents

Lester R. Brown, Janet Larsen, & Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts

The Earth Policy Reader

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Acknowledgments

Preface

1. The Economic Costs of Ecological Deficits
Introduction
Deserts Invading China
Introduction
Advancing Deserts Gaining Momentum
From Ecological Deficits to Dust Bowl
Spreading Deserts: The Response
The National Costs of Failure
The Worldwide Effect of Failure

Assessing the Food Prospect
Introduction
Soil: Surplus to Deficit
The Fast-Growing Water Deficit
The Changing Food Economy
The Soybean Factor
Future Food Security

Facing the Climate Challenge
Introduction
The Rising Costs of Climate Change
Restructuring the Energy Economy
Building the Wind-Hydrogen Economy
Fixing the Market

2. Eco-Economy Indicators: Twelve Trends to Track
Population Growing by 80 Million Annually
Economic Growth Losing Momentum
Grain Harvest Growth Slowing
Fish Catch Leveling Off
Forest Cover Shrinking
Water Scarcity Spreading
Carbon Emissions Climbing
Global Temperature Rising
Ice Melting Everywhere
Wind Electric Generation Soaring
Bicycle Production Breaks 100 Million
Solar Cell Sales Booming

3. Eco-Economy Updates
Energy and Climate
U.S. Farmers Double Cropping Corn and Wind Energy
The Rise and Fall of the Global Climate Coalition
Climate Change Has World Skating on Thin Ice
OPEC Has World Over a Barrel Again
Wind Power: The Missing Link in The Bush Energy Plan

Population and Health
Population Growth Sentencing Millions to Hydrological Poverty
Africa Is Dying -- It Needs Help
HIV Epidemic Restructuring Africa's Population
Obesity Threatens Health in Exercise-Deprived Societies
Iran's Birth Rate Plummeting at Record Pace

Food, Land, and Water
Paving the Planet: Cars and Crops Competing for Land
Dust Bowl Threatening China's Future Worsening Water Shortages Threaten China's Food Security
World's Rangelands Deteriorating Under Mounting Pressure

Forests, Fisheries, and Disappearing Species
Fish Farming May Overtake Cattle Ranching as a Food Source
Our Closest Relatives Are Disappearing
Illegal Logging Threatens Ecological and Stability

Ecological Economics
Green Power Purchases Growing
New York: Garbage Capital of the World
Tax Shifting on the Rise

Notes