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Eco-Economy: Building an economy for the Earth
By Lester R. Brown
Published by Earth Policy Institute 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 403, Washington, DC 20036
Email: epi@earth-policy.org
Website: www.earth-policy.org
2001, 352pp, ISBN 0 393 32193 2 (Pb), US$15.95
Ecologically speaking, the world sustains its existence through cycles; the nutrient cycle is one example in which the waste products from one life form are the sustenance of another. The system survives and prospers because it is perfectly balanced. Human economic activity, argues Lester Brown, has a different set of rules; our use of natural resources has a linear progression, producing waste that is not only unused but threatens the continuing survival of the system, carbon-based pollution being the leading example. If all the people in the world and not just the powerful few are to survive and prosper, we need a new form of economics, one that obeys the ecological rules.
Brown is not opposed to economic growth, but to our current method of growth, which we only achieve by ignoring environmental costs. He uses the example of petrol, which he suggests is priced according to the amount it costs to extract it, refine it and transport it (true in America perhaps, if not in Europe), but every litre of petrol used also has another cost, that of the damage that burning it inflicts on the environment, through global warming. If the market were forced to acknowledge this, adding in effect a tax on products and services according to their level of environmental cost, market forces would become the solution to, rather than the cause of the world's problems.
He cites some encouraging progress in this area. Already several European countries are using their taxation system to support the environment, putting a higher tax burden on fuels, vehicles and landfilling, offset by reductions in income tax. And the Chinese government has recognised that the flood prevention service provided by trees in the Yangtze watershed is a far more valuable commodity than their worth as cut timber.
Thus an eco-economy is one that does not rely on unsustainable use of resources, or the creation of damaging pollutants. In separate chapters, Brown describes what that could entail for energy provision, manufacturing and recycling, food production, use of forests, and urban planning. If at times this has the feel of a school project on how we could make a better future, at least Brown is able to support his case with examples of where progress has already been made. Thus he argues that if every country could take the best examples of eco-economics from around the world - e.g. population control in China, water productivity in Israel, tax-shifting in Germany, conversion to hydrogen-based energy in Iceland - and implement them where necessary, according to their own circumstances, a global eco-economy would no longer be a fantasy.
Human nature suggests that long term achievements will only be possible if they also allow short term profits. Hence, Brown's analysis that only by getting the market on the side of the environment will we be able to achieve sustainable progress, seems a sound one. In a section called 'Accelerating the Transition', he describes how the media - among others - have a role in 'getting us from here to there'. One way is for them to highlight not only newsworthy disasters, but also the bigger picture of environmental dangers and damage. Eco-economy also addresses this need for a 'big picture' perspective, a broader vision. While Brown would probably not claim to be an expert in every subject he writes about, a world of increasing specialisation needs people of his calibre who are prepared to attempt the global questions.
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Seeds of Contention: World hunger and the global controversy over GM crops
By Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Ebbe Schiøler
Published by John Hopkins University Press, 2715 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4319, USA
Website: www.jhupbooks.com
2001, 176pp, ISBN 0 8018 6826 2 (Pb), £9.00
'Seeds of contention' appears to have been written chiefly with a European readership in mind, for it sets out to challenge the largely European misgivings about genetic engineering in the context of crop development. Thus it looks not only at the practical matter of where the extra agricultural production is going to come from to feed the developing world's growing population, but also wider issues, such as the role of the press and pressure groups, and moral objections to genetic modification.
It is a refreshing read, not least because it is well written and aimed not at the expert, but for all those with a concern for future food availability in the developing world. The authors' argument for the use of genetic technology is carefully constructed: they set out what 'conventional' breeding has achieved, and what needs to be achieved in the future if hunger is to be reduced. They also address the alternative options available, such as redistribution of food surpluses, organic farming, or continuing to rely purely on non-genetic breeding methods.
While critics of GM technology focus on known or possible risks to human health and the environment, the authors point out that many horror stories prompted by the press have been subsequently disproved; the demand that no risks be taken is, they argue, unrealistic. And while private biotechnology companies may have little interest in poor farmers, there are some exciting research projects in publicly funded laboratories that do offer both nutritional and economic benefits to the poor.
