Did you know? The heat in the upper six miles of the earth’s crust contains 50,000 times much as energy as found in all the world’s oil and gas reserves combined. Despite this abundance, only 10,500 megawatts of geothermal generating capacity have been harnessed worldwide.  For more information view the text and data in Chapter 5 of Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.

Mission

The Earth Policy Institute (EPI) was founded in 2001 by Lester Brown, the founder and former president of the Worldwatch Institute, to provide a plan of a sustainable future along with a roadmap of how to get from here to there. EPI works at the global level simply because no country can fully implement a Plan B economy in isolation.

EPI’s goals are (1) to provide a global plan (Plan B) for moving the world onto an environmentally and economically sustainable path, (2) to provide examples demonstrating how the plan would work, and (3) to keep the media, policymakers, academics, environmentalists, and other decision-makers focused on the process of building a Plan B economy.

Activities

People change behavior either in response to new information or new experiences. Earth Policy Institute disseminates new information to guide the process of change via its plan of a sustainable future as outlined in its Updates, Indicators, and books, the most recent of which is Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.
You can also download our Annual Report, which outlines EPI's major accomplishments.

Books

EPI publishes its basic research in book form simply because there is a worldwide network of book publishers in all the major languages, a network that does not exist for monographs or magazines. Having books available in the world’s leading languages broadens the dissemination of its research findings. The Institute has published 7 books.

Updates, Indicators, and Book Bytes

Plan B Updates are original, four-page analyses of environmental issues ranging from worldwide advances in renewable energy to deaths from heat waves to new flows of environmental refugees.

Eco-Economy Indicators consist of the 12 trends EPI uses to measure progress toward building a Plan B world.

Book Bytes are highlights and adaptations from EPI's books and research.

All are released electronically on EPI’s listserv and are posted on its website along with supporting data and sources for additional information.