Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester Brown was officially launched today at a press teleconference.

If you have not yet had a chance, please take a look at the Table of Contents where the entire book is available for free downloading.

And, yes, we offer the book for sale through our secure server as well. Purchasing from us helps keep our small nonprofit afloat.

Many governments today are wrestling with climate change—how to effectively cut carbon emissions while maintaining jobs and providing a steady supply of electricity. Lester Brown’s plan for cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by the year 2020 does both.

The overall goal of Plan B is to stabilize climate, stabilize population, eradicate poverty, and restore the economy’s natural support systems. The worldwide cut in net carbon emissions of 80 percent by 2020 would keep atmospheric CO2 concentrations from exceeding 400 parts per million.

As he says, “I did not ask what would be politically popular but rather what would it take to have a decent shot at saving the Greenland ice sheet and at least the larger glaciers in the mountains of Asia.”

Why focus on the Greenland ice sheet and the glaciers in the Himalayan mountains and on the Tibetan plateau? Because the ice melt from these glaciers sustains not only the dry-season flow of the Indus, Ganges, Yangtze, and Yellow rivers but also the irrigation systems that depend on them. Without these glaciers, many Asian rivers would cease to flow during the dry season. Unfortunately these glaciers are melting and at an increasing rate.

In addition, both the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are melting at an accelerating pace. Should they melt entirely, sea level could rise by up to six feet during this century. As Lester Brown notes, “Such a rise would inundate much of the Mekong Delta, which produces half of the rice in Viet Nam, the world’s second-ranking rice exporter. Even a three-foot rise in sea level would cover half the riceland in Bangladesh, a country of 160 million people. And these are only two of Asia’s many rice-growing river deltas.”

These are just some of the reasons Lester Brown outlines in Plan B 4.0 as to why we need to implement Plan B—and quickly.

In my next blog entry, I will talk about some of the encouraging trends showing that progress is being made.

In the meantime, check out the entire book at the Table of Contents page.

Cheers,

Reah Janise Kauffman
Vice President

p.s. You can listen to Lester talking about Plan B 4.0 on Michio Kaku's Explorations in Science radio program this week and Ira Flatow's NPR program Science Friday this Friday at 2:30 pm EDT.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Our exciting new edition to the Plan B series is on its way to a bookstore near you. ... PLAN B 4.0: MOBILIZING TO SAVE CIVILIZATION by Lester Brown.

We will be launching this edition on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 -- just a few weeks away. But you can order the book TODAY through our online secure shopping cart.

If you've read any of the previous editions, you will be thrilled to read this new edition. Lester Brown, who some consider the environmental leader of environmentalists, lays out the problems we are facing in the first three chapters. Do you want to know why we need to cut carbon emissions at least 80 percent by 2020? ... Food scarcity. The food riots and protests last year when food prices hit an all-time high were just an inkling of what we have to look forward to if we allow global temperature to rise. Every environmental trend affects our food supply and since they are all declining, we could be in for a rough ride unless we take appropriate action now.

In Chapters 4 through 10 you will find the details of Plan B: stabilizing climate, stabilizing population, eradicating poverty, and restoring the economy's natural support systems. These goals are interrelated in that we are not likely to reach one without reaching the others. They are the minimal requirements to save civilization.

In Chapter 5 you will find exciting new developments on the renewable energy front. For example, look at the U.S. state of Texas. The 9,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity in operation and under construction, plus a huge amount in development, will give it over 50,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity (think 50 coal-fired power plants) when all these wind farms are completed. This will more than satisfy the needs of the state’s 24 million residents.

China, with its nearly launched Wind Base program, is working on six wind farm mega-complexes with a generating capacity ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 megawatts each. And this is in addition to scores of smaller wind farms already in operation and under construction.

The United States has led the world in each of the last three years in newly installed wind generating capacity, having surpassed Germany in 2006. But this lead will be short-lived as China appears set to blow by the United States in new generating capacity in 2009.

In July 2009, a consortium of European corporations and banks, led by Munich Re, and including Deutsche Bank, Siemens, and ABB startled the world when it announced a proposal to tap the massive solar thermal generating capacity in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. A German firm calculates that solar thermal power plants in North Africa could economically supply half of Europe’s electricity. Algeria, a pioneer in this field, has already signed an agreement with Germany to export the electricity from its solar thermal power plants. Algeria notes that it has enough harnessable solar energy in its desert to power the world economy.

The soaring investment in renewable energy resources is being driven by the realization that these new energy sources can last as long as the earth itself. In contrast to investing in new oil fields where well yields begin to decline in a matter of decades, or in coal mines where the seams run out, these new energy sources can last forever.

This is just a glimpse into what PLAN B 4.0: MOBILIZING TO SAVE CIVILIZATION has to offer. Order your copy today. ... And spread the word about this invaluable resource.

Cheers,

Reah Janise Kauffman
Vice President

P.S. Chapter 1, "Selling Our Future," is available online now.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Welcome to the Earth Policy Institute blog!

In this first entry, I'd just like to introduce you to our new website, designed by Joint Concepts. As you can see, the site has a totally new look and feel. We have the same comprehensive information and data, but now everything is incredibly easy to search and to find.

The new site boasts an array of features, like this blog, but also RSS feeds for both our releases and podcasts. That's right ... podcasts. In case you haven't been aware, we have been adding podcasts, so you can read or listen to our releases now. Subscribe to this service.

Through this blog, we plan to keep you updated on the work being done by our staff and global network of volunteers who are working to implement Plan B. We'll let you in on some of the fascinating research we are doing, too, which you can get by subscribing to our listserv or RSS feed.

One thing we have worked hard on is our new Data Center. For all of you who devour data, this should be an invaluable resource. The data is divided into topic areas to make it easily accessible. And each dataset is available in Excel.

We also have a Press Room that allows the media to keep up with our latest releases, see an archive of EPI in the News, download a bio or photo of Lester Brown, and more.

Want to learn more about our staff? Go to About EPI. You can also help our cause by making a donation to Earth Policy Institute. To keep its independent status, the Institute does not solicit contributions from governments or corporations. Thus your support is invaluable to our efforts.

Our Action Center is a hub of activity. Here is just a sampling of what people around the world are doing to spread Plan B.

For anyone who has a link to our site or if you've bookmarked any page, please note that urls have changed. We regret any inconvenience this may cause, but it was unavoidable for the new site.

Cheers,

Reah Janise Kauffman
Vice President

P.S. You can also follow us on < and become a fan on !