State of the World 2002: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Towards a Sustainable Society. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd. (2002), pp. 265, £12.95. ISBN 1-85383-878-0 (original) (raw)

2002, Experimental Agriculture

This is an unusually brilliant and remarkably concise examination of environmental change in the past century. In the seven chapters of Part One, the author demonstrates that we humans have impacted all the`spheres' that surround us on our planet ± the lithosphere and pedosphere, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the biosphere ± more deeply in the twentieth century than in all previous history combined. During the twentieth century the world's population quadrupled, the global economy expanded 14-fold, and industrial output expanded by a factor of 40. Also, carbon dioxide emissions increased 13-fold, water use rose nine times and energy use increased 16 times. In that time too, humans used ten times more energy than their forbears had over the entire 1000 years preceding 1900. In the ®ve chapters of Part Two, the author dextrously analyses the elements of population growth, migration, technological change, industrialization and international policies, ideas and their many`feedback loops' into the realm of environmental policies. The author is not a dogmatic`no-change-at-all' environmentalist or a`doom and gloom, degradation everywhere' ambassador. He does caution us, however, to be prudent: ®rst to understand the sheer dimensions of environmental change and the many results thereof in this past century; and, second, to think sensibly about how these problems might be addressed before dangerous thresholds are breached by our unwitting, collective activities. This book is immensely insightful and revealing, carrying a message that is deeply gripping and sobering. It deserves the widest attention from scientists, educationalists, the public, politicians and corporate leaders alike. For undergraduates everywhere, it should be compulsory reading.