page_title: Lester R. Brown
section_title: Career as environmental activist
hierarchical_section_title: Lester R. Brown / Career as environmental activist
caption_attribution_description: English: Lester Brown.
context_page_description: Lester Russel Brown is a United States environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and former president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. BBC Radio commentator Peter Day referred to him as "one of the great pioneer environmentalists."
  Brown is the author or co-author of over 50 books on global environmental issues and his works have been translated into more than forty languages. His most recent book is The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy, in which he explains that the global economy is now undergoing a transition from fossil and nuclear energy to clean power from solar, wind, and other renewable sources. His previous book was Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity.
  Brown emphasizes the geopolitical effects of fast-rising grain prices, noting that "the biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries," and one that could "bring down civilization."
context_section_description: In 1974, with support of a $500,000 grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Brown founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. While there he launched the Worldwatch Papers, the annual State of the World reports, World Watch magazine, a second annual entitled Vital Signs: The Trends That are Shaping Our Future, and the Environmental Alert book series. According to De Leon, "he gathered a staff of young idealists just out of college. They were expected to be 'professional generalists,' rather than narrow specialists with advanced degrees."
  The institute eventually became noted for being an independent and respected think tank focusing on environmental issues and also a storehouse for a large amount of environmental information.  Their goal is to educate the public and government about environmental problems and to recommend actions. The institute has refused to become a lobbying organization, with Brown saying, "the world is filled with specialists who dig deep burrows into the earth and bring up these nuggets of insight, but there's no one up on top pulling it all together. That's our job." As a result, he has been described as "one of the world's most influential thinkers" and was granted a $250,000 "genius award" by the MacArthur Foundation in 1986.
  In 1991, in his acceptance speech for the Humanist of the Year award from the American Humanist Association, Brown spoke about the dual environmental challenges of population growth and global environmental decline which he attributes to unsustainable economic activity. Because he views the problems associated with nuclear power: cost, safety, and waste storage, as well as the risks of proliferation, he believes that solar is the only sustainable choice for humanity. "We have the opportunity as a generation to build an economic system that can last as long as the sun. None of our forebears had that opportunity. It's an exciting challenge; it's doable."
  In 2001, he left Worldwatch Institute to establish the Earth Policy Institute, devoted to providing a plan to save civilization. At the Institute, his years of working on global issues through an interdisciplinary lens has enabled him to identify trends those working in specialized areas might not see. They have also allowed him to consider global solutions to the many environmental concerns of today. Some of the more important works Brown has written at the Institute include World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse (2011), Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth (2001), and the Plan B series. His most recent book is The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy (2015) co-authored with Janet Larsen, J. Matthew Roney, and Emily E. Adams.
  On June 30, 2015, he officially retired and closed the Earth Policy Institute. His legacies will live on through a Lester R. Brown Reading Room at Rutgers University (his alma mater). The room will house the collection of his books along with their translations, honorary degrees, and awards. His electronic collection of presentations, radio and television interviews, and documentaries in which he is featured will be accessioned into the Rutgers University library system. Rutgers is also hosting the Earth Policy Institute's website so that the information remains available.
  The Library of Congress is receiving his personal papers from his early years, through his career spanning the United States Department of Agriculture, the Overseas Development Council, Worldwatch Institute, and the Earth Policy Institute.
  "Lester Brown is one of the most important voices in the world, regarding the creation of a new conscience of humanity toward a sustainable society." – Jose Jaime Maussan
  "Keep up the good work! Some of us are getting in the habit of relying on you all for valuable information and solid analysis." – Eric Britton, The New Mobility Agenda
  "…a small think tank with a knack of spotting new trends…" – Geoffrey Lean, Telegraph
caption: Lester Brown in 2009.
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