State of the World 2004

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CE/ENVIRONMENT SPECIAL FOCUS: The Consumer Society STATE OF THE WORLD A Worldwatch Institute Report on ProgressToward a Sustainable Society A Bangladeshi child eats a bowl of rice. An American child plays with a piastic doll. A woman in Finland talks on a cell phone. A man in Zimbabwe fílls his car with gasoline. Think of the objects you buy and use in any given day. Now try to imagine there are more than 1.7 biliion humán beings in the consumer society-and their numbers are growing yearly. In many cases, excessive consumption burdens societies with bulging landfills, declining fish stocks, and rising obesity levels. Meanwhile, there are still another 2.8 biliion people who consume too little and who suffer from hunger, homelessness, and poverty. On the Worldwatch Institute's thirtieth anniversary, this special edition of State of the World examines how we consume, why we consume, and what impact our consumption choices have on the planet and our fellow humán beings. From... Tovább

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CE/ENVIRONMENT SPECIAL FOCUS: The Consumer Society STATE OF THE WORLD A Worldwatch Institute Report on ProgressToward a Sustainable Society A Bangladeshi child eats a bowl of rice. An American child plays with a piastic doll. A woman in Finland talks on a cell phone. A man in Zimbabwe fílls his car with gasoline. Think of the objects you buy and use in any given day. Now try to imagine there are more than 1.7 biliion humán beings in the consumer society-and their numbers are growing yearly. In many cases, excessive consumption burdens societies with bulging landfills, declining fish stocks, and rising obesity levels. Meanwhile, there are still another 2.8 biliion people who consume too little and who suffer from hunger, homelessness, and poverty. On the Worldwatch Institute's thirtieth anniversary, this special edition of State of the World examines how we consume, why we consume, and what impact our consumption choices have on the planet and our fellow humán beings. From factory-farmed chicken to old-growth lumber to gas-guzzling cars, many of the things we buy support destructive industries. But businesses, governments, and concerned citizens can harness this same purchasing power to build markets for less-hazardous products, including fair-traded foods, green power, and fuel-cell vehicles. With chapters on food, water, energy, the politics of consumption, and redefining the good life.Worldwatch's award-winning research team asks whether a less-consumptive society is possible-and then argues that it is essential. "The most comprehensive, up-to-date, and accessible summaries ... on the global environment." - E. O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize winner "Since 1984 the most important book of each year has been the same book: the Worldwatch Institute's State ofthe World." - Christopher Camuto, Audubon "The environmental movement as we know it today could not exist without the extraordinary researchers at Worldwatch." -Bili McKibben, best-selling author of The Erid of Nature Vissza