The Bridge at the End of the World - Softcover

Speth, James Gustave

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300144636 ISBN 13: 9780300144635

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2008

Synopsis

How serious are the threats to our environment? Here is one measure of the problem: if we continue to do exactly what we are doing, with no growth in the human population or the world economy, the world in the latter part of this century will be unfit to live in. Of course human activities are not holding at current levels - they are accelerating, dramatically - and so, too, is the pace of climate disruption, biotic impoverishment, and toxification. In this book Gus Speth, author of Red Sky at Morning and a widely respected environmentalist, begins with the observation that the environmental community has grown in strength and sophistication, but the environment has continued to decline, to the point that we are now at the edge of catastrophe. Speth contends that this situation is a severe indictment of the economic and political system we call modern capitalism. Our vital task is now to change the operating instructions for todays destructive world economy before it is too late. The book is about how to do that.

About this title

Review

"James Gustav Speth...leads us toa bridge at the edge of the world--an epic transformation of the way we live, produce, and consume. This is a fantastic, highly topical and potentially important book. It should widely be read, and translated into other languages."--;i>Environmental Information + Environmental Policy--Udo E. Simonis "Environmental Information + Environmental Policy ""

About the Author

James Gustave "Gus" Speth is the former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, founder and president of the World Resources Institute, and cofounder of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He has also been administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, chair of the U.N. Development Group, professor of law at Georgetown University, and chair of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality in the Carter administration. He currently teaches at Vermont Law School, and is a senior fellow at the Democracy Collaborative where he is co-chair of the Next System Project. He is also distinguished senior fellow with Demos, associate fellow with the Tellus Insitute, and the recipient of numerous environmental awards. His previous books includeAmerica the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy, and the award-winningThe Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability andRed Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300144636
• ISBN 13: 9780300144635
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 476