State of the world, 1984,:World watch institute report onprogress towards a substainable society.
- New Delhi Prentice-Hall of India. 1985
- 252 p.
This "report card" is a new project from the Worldwatch Institute. To be published annually, it measures worldwide progress in achieving a sustainable society. Prepared by Worldwatch president Lester R. Brown and his associates, the report monitors changes in the global resource base land, water, energy, and biological support systems. The analysis focuses particularly on how changes in the resource base affect the economy.
Brown says: "Observers generally agree on the principal actions needed to put society on a sustainable foot ing, such as stabilizing population, conserving soil, and developing re newable energy resources. But con fusion persists over how well the world is doing in meeting these goals. This progress report is design ed to provide two things policymakers now often lack. First is a sense of direction, showing where we have made important gains and where we are falling behind. Second is a set of guidelines to evaluate policy options and budgetary priorities."
The report contains news on inno vative or particularly successful actions to create a sustainable society: emphasizes global economic connections that policymakers often overlook: reviews national policies and programs, including progress toward specific national goals; and surveys major financial commitments by governments I and international development agencies.
State of the World will not cover the same topics each year but will deal with the shifting constellation of issues that relate to sustainability.
Fertilizer factories have replaced new land as the principal source of growth in food production.
The value of arms imports into the Third World has now climbed above that of grain imports.
Only 15 percent of aluminum cans were recycled in the United States in 1972; by 1981, over half were recycled.
Farmers adopting minimum-till or no-till practices to conserve fuel have discovered that they are also conserving their soil.
Scientists at Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii can now tell when spring plowing starts in North China. 'Cold' economics is now doing to nuclear power what thousands of hot-blooded demonstrators never could.
Wind farms now in the planning stage include 8,600 wind machines with a generating capacity of about 1,500 megawatts.
About 60 million solar calculators were sold in 1983, using over 10 percent of the solar cells manufac tured.
The number of four-cylinder auto mobile engines jumped from less than 10 percent of the U.S. market during the mid-seventies to 41 per cent In 1982.
Areas now witnessing the death of their lakes from acid rain may soon. be confronted with dying forests. By 1983, there were 12 countries, all in Europe, where births and deaths were in equilibrium,