"For example, in the energy economy, the path to reform leads away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources, and in materials production, away from primary reliance on mining and more on recycling."
Keith NEWS FROM THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE State of the World 2003 Online Discussion ***************************************** ***************************************** Friday, January 24, 2003 12PM-1PM EST (17:00-18:00 GMT) Chat live with Chris Bright about his State of the World 2003 chapter, A History of our Future ************************************************************************ The environmental and social challenges we face today---from population to pollution to ecological decline---are enormous, but not intractable, writes Chris Bright in his State of the World 2003 chapter, A History of Our Future. As history demonstrates, people are capable of fundamental change for the better. Bright says that a barrier to change is that damage assessments often have an air of unreality because they bear little obvious relation to life as we ordinarily live it. A great deal of environmental degradation cannot be seen. Large economies tend to displace the ill effects of behavior from the behavior itself. Few of us ever encounter the toxic waste, soil degradation, or unsustainable mining and logging that support our collective consumption patterns. It is not that hard, however, to envision the paths that reform will have to take. For example, in the energy economy, the path to reform leads away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources, and in materials production, away from primary reliance on mining and more on recycling. Despite the obvious need for change, and despite our obvious technical competence, it can still be hard to believe that real, fundamental change is possible. And yet such change does occur, even though it can be difficult to appreciate because it is so readily taken for granted. For example, who today remembers the campaign to eradicate smallpox? Join the author of A History of Our Future to discuss findings from his chapter in the Worldwatch Institute's award-winning report, and the solutions available right now to put the world's economy on a more sustainable path. ********************************************* Join State of the World 2003 authors every Friday through March 14 for live web chats covering individual chapters. Go to http://www.worldwatch.org/live/ for more information. For more information, or to order a copy of State of the World 2003, go to: http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/sow/2003/ Phone orders and support: toll-free in the U.S. at 1-888-544-2303 (or 1-570-320-2076 outside the U.S.). ********************************************* About the Worldwatch Institute: The Worldwatch Institute is an independent research organization that works for an environmentally sustainable and socially just society, in which the needs of all people are met without threatening the health of the natural environment or the well-being of future generations. By providing compelling, accessible, and fact-based analysis of critical global issues, Worldwatch informs people around the world about the complex interactions between people, nature, and economies. Worldwatch focuses on the underlying causes of and practical solutions to the world's problems, in order to inspire people to demand new policies, investment patterns, and lifestyle choices. For more information, visit http://www.worldwatch.org/. Should you no longer wish to receive emails from the Worldwatch Institute, send us an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and we will take you off our distribution list. Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
