From the back cover: "Modern civilization is in trouble. We have craeted a bubble economy, one whose output is artificially inflated by overconsuming the earth's natural capital. Nowhere is the bubble economy more evident than in the food sector where the world grain harvest has been inflated by overpumping aquifers, a practice that virtually guarantees a future drop in production when aquifers are depleted.
The wakeup call may come soon. In China, where water shortages are already shrinking the food supply, the grain harvest has fallen from 392 million tons in 1999 to 340 million tons in 2003. Within the next year or two as its grain reserves are depleted, China's 1.3 billion consumers will begin competing with U.S. consumers for U.S. grain. Given China's trade surplus with the United States of over $80 billion and strong buying power, this has the potential to drive up food prices worldwide. The resulting political instability in food-importing countries may convince us taht business as usual - Plan A - is no longer a viable option.
The alternative is Plan B - a worldwide mobilization to stabilize population and climate before these issues spiral out of control. The goal is to stabilize population close to the United Nations' low projection of 7.4 billion, to reduce carbon emissions by half by 2015, and to raise water productivity by half. Lester Brown puts forth a workable blueprint that can be enacted now.
Plan B: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble is a way of sustaining economic progress worldwide, and alternative to continuing environmental deterioration and eventual economic decline."

An interesting book, but I didn't always agree with Lester Brown. Still, it's good to know what one side is saying, and then form your own opinion. Anyone interested in the environment should read this book to get an idea of what's going on.

this book is being sent out as a ray:

Rules:
1. Journal the book when you receive it and when you send it to the next person.
2. Check the journal entry for shipping order, as it is likely to change if people are added. Contact the next person on the list when you receive the book, to see if they want to be skipped.
3. Please don't keep the book for longer than one month; pass it on or ask to be skipped. If you think you might take longer, contact me and let me know!
4. Enjoy the book. :)

Shipping order (subject to change):
Vamperstein8782 (UK) - UK/Europe preferred
lottiotta (UK) - int'l <--- book is here!

Sent to Vamperstein8782 today!

Arrived safely this morning, thanks. I have one book in front of this on my TBR pile but should be able to get through it within the month.

Sorry I held this up so long - life kinda got in the way of my reading!

This was a real eye-opener and was surprisingly written very much in layman's terms so I found it easy to follow.

Mailed it out on Monday to lottiotta.

Received from my lovely friendly postman this morning, I will read it and then pass it on to a couple of people who I thought might enjoy it too. :)

Thank you very much!

12th October 2008
Sadly, I think it's fair to say that I'm not going to get into this book properly. I've tried flicking through a few times to see if it catches my interest, but as it's a non-fiction that is a little out of date and rather focused on the USA I think I won't get much out of it with my addled CFSy brain! I know lots of hippies around Swansea though, so I'm sure I'll be able to pass it on to someone. I'll keep you posted. :)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

It's going to hunnyb! :)

Thanks for sending this all this way! :) And it's autographed - how exciting!