EPIBuilding a Sustainable Future
Books
Lester R. Brown

Table of Contents

Preface (pdf)

Acknowledgements (pdf)

1. A Planet Under Stress (pdf)
    Introduction
    Ecological Bills Coming Due
    Farmers Facing Two New Challenges
    Ecological Meltdown in China
    Food: A National Security Issue
    The Case for Plan B  

PART I. A CIVILIZATION IN TROUBLE

2. Emerging Water Shortages (pdf)
    Introduction
    Falling Water Tables
    Rivers Running Dry
    Farmers Losing to Cities
    Scarcity Crossing National Borders
    A Food Bubble Economy

3. Eroding Soils & Shrinking Grainland (pdf)
    Introduction
    Soil Erosion: Wind and Water
    Advancing Deserts
    Crops and Cars Compete for Land
    The Land Hungry Soybean
    Grainland Gains and Losses
    Spreading Land Hunger

4. Rising Temperatures and Rising Seas (pdf)
    Introduction
    The Temperature Record
    The Yield Effect
    Reservoirs in the Sky
    Melting Ice and Rising Seas
    More Destructive Storms
    Subsidizing Climate Change

5. Our Socially Divided World (pdf)
    Introduction
    Life Expectancy: A Seminal Indicator
    The Effects of the HIV Epidemic
    Poverty and Hunger
    Poverty and the Burden of Disease
    The High Cost of Illiteracy

6. Plan A: Business as Usual (pdf)
    Introduction
    Accelerating Environmental Decline
    Spreading Hunger, Growing Unrest
    Streams of Environmental Refugees
    Population Growth and Political Conflict
    Plan A: Overwhelmed by Problems

 

 

 

PART II. THE RESPONSE – PLAN B

7. Raising Water Productivity (pdf)
    Introduction
    Adopting Realistic Prices
    Raising Irrigation Water Productivity
    Rainwater Harvesting
    Raising Nonfarm Water Productivity
    A Global Full-Court Press

8. Raising Land Productivity (pdf)
    Introduction
    Rethinking Land Productivity
    Multiple Cropping
    Raising Protein Efficiency
    A Second Harvest
    Saving Soil and Cropland
    Restoring the Earth

9. Cutting Carbon Emissions in Half (pdf)
    Introduction
    Raising Energy Productivity
    Harnessing the Wind
    Converting Sunlight into Electricty
    Energy from the Earth
    Building the Hydroden Economy
    Cutting Carbon Emissions

10. Responding to the Social Challenge (pdf)
     Introduction
     Stabilizing Population
     Universal Basic Education
     Curbing the HIV Epidemic
     Health for All
     School Lunches for the Poor
     Breaking Out

PART III: THE ONLY OPTION

11. Plan B: Rising to the Challenge (pdf)
     Introduction
     Deflating the Bubble
     A Wartime Mobilization
     Creating an Honest Market
     Shifting Taxes
     Shifting Subsidies
     A Call to Greatness

Endnotes & About the Author
(pdf)