Executive Summary A sample of the book comprising the first three and last four chapters, with appendices. In the last two decades environmental problems have risen from regional to planetary in scale and scope. The 1970s fears of spreading deserts and shrinking forests were joined in the 1980s by red tides, acid rain, the ozone hole, and the threat of global warming. The same two decades saw human populations soar from 3.7 billion in 1970 to 5.5 billion in 1992. At the same time the consumer revolution spread from the West to East Asia, and to a growing middle class in other countries.
Technology is crucial too.
For each unit we consume, we are still using too many resources, and emitting too much pollution. Yet we may be on the threshold of deeper crisis. If present trends go on unchecked, the consequences are incalculable. The decade will add a billion people - the equivalent of four Americas. World population is expected to grow to 8.5 billion in 2025 and could pass 10 billion by 2050.