Lester R. Brown
Table of Contents
Preface » (pdf)
Acknowledgements » (pdf)
- 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
- Emerging Water Shortages » (pdf)
Introduction »
Falling Water Tables »
Rivers Running Dry »
Farmers Losing to Cities »
Scarcity Crossing National Borders »
A Food Bubble Economy »
- 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 »
- 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 »
- 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 »
- 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
- Raising Water Productivit »y (pdf)
Introduction »
Adopting Realistic Prices »
Raising Irrigation Water Productivity »
Rainwater Harvesting »
Raising Nonfarm Water Productivity »
A Global Full-Court Press » »
- Raising Land Productivity » (pdf)
Introduction »
Rethinking Land Productivity »
Multiple Cropping »
Raising Protein Efficiency »
A Second Harvest »
Saving Soil and Cropland »
Restoring the Earth »
- 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 »
- 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
- 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 »