Full House: Reassessing the Earth's Population Carrying Capacity / Edition 1

by Lester R. Brown, Hal Kane

Overview

After decades of steady growth, the world's food supply is no longer keeping up with population increases. Production of fish and grain per person has slowed to the point where feeding the 90 million being added each year is possible only by reducing consumption among those already here. These are the findings in this fourth volume in the Worldwatch Environmental Alert series from the Worldwatch Institute. The bottom line, according to Lester Brown and Hal Kane, is that the world's farmers can no longer be counted on to feed adequately the projected additions to our numbers. Achieving a humane balance between food and people now depends more on family planners than on farmers. This issue will increasingly preoccupy national leaders, reorder national priorities, and dominate international affairs. In this volume, the authors propose a global strategy to restore food security and a budget to implement it. Their global food security budget calls for stepped-up expenditures on both sides of the food/population equation. It includes investments not only to provide family planning services to all who want them, but also to eliminate the underlying causes of high fertility, such as female illiteracy. It also includes investments in an extensive reforestation and soil conservation effort, one that will arrest the deterioration of the agricultural resource base.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393312201
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/17/1994
Series:	Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series
Edition description:	1st ed
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Lester R. Brown is the founder of the Earth Policy and Worldwatch Institutes. He has been honored with numerous prizes, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the United Nations Environment Prize, and twenty-five honorary degrees. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

1. Entering a New Era Part 1: Reading the Trends 2. Food Insecurity 3. Ninety Million More 4. Climbing the Food Chain Part 2: The Three Food Systems 5. Overharvesting the Oceans 6. Overgrazing Rangelands 7. Limits of the Plow Part 3: Losing Momentum 8. Spreading Water Scarcity 9. The Fertilizer Falloff 10. Struggling to Raise Yields 11. Environmental Deductions Part 4: Looking Ahead 12. Carrying Capacity: The Big Four 13. Carrying Capacity: The Next Nine 14. The Growing Imbalance Part 5: Taking Charge 15. Reassessing Population Policy 16. Turning the Tide.

Editorial Reviews

Argues that food production will not be able to keep up with expected population growth, and proposes strategies for reducing over-fertility by addressing its underlying causes and protecting the agricultural base by arresting environmental degradation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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