Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?
A report-style nonfiction book that examines the future of population and the environment around the world.
Work Information
It looks at the planet's limits while still searching for choices ahead.
Built from global reporting, it connects population growth, sustainability, and the scale of environmental change.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Little, Brown and Company
- Published
- 2013-09-24
- Pages
- 528 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 16.19 x 4.13 x 24.45 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780316097758
- ISBN-10
- 0316097756
- Price
- 2599 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Politics & Social Sciences/Politics & Government/Public Affairs & Policy/Environmental Policy
A powerful investigation into the chances for humanity's future from the author of the bestseller The World Without Us . In his bestselling book The World Without Us , Alan Weisman considered how the Earth could heal and even refill empty niches if relieved of humanity's constant pressures. Behind that groundbreaking thought experiment was his hope that we would be inspired to find a way to add humans back to this vision of a restored, healthy planet-only in harmony, not mortal combat, with the rest of nature. But with a million more of us every 4 1/2 days on a planet that's not getting any bigger, and with our exhaust overheating the atmosphere and altering the chemistry of the oceans, prospects for a sustainable human future seem ever more in doubt. For this long awaited follow-up book, Weisman traveled to more than 20 countries to ask what experts agreed were probably the most important questions on Earth -- and also the hardest: How many humans can the planet hold without capsizing? How robust must the Earth's ecosystem be to assure our continued existence? Can we know which other species are essential to our survival? And, how might we actually arrive at a stable, optimum population, and design an economy to allow genuine prosperity without endless growth? Weisman visits an extraordinary range of the world's cultures, religions, nationalities, tribes, and political systems to learn what in their beliefs, histories, liturgies, or current circumstances might suggest that sometimes it's in their own best interest to limit their growth. The result is a landmark work of reporting: devastating, urgent, and, ultimately, deeply hopeful. By vividly detailing the burgeoning effects of our cumulative presence, Countdown reveals what may be the fastest, most acceptable, practical, and affordable way of returning our planet and our presence on it to balance. Weisman again shows that he is one of the most provocative journalists at work today, with a book whose message is so compelling that it will change how we see our lives and our destiny.
Alan Weisman is the author of several books, including The World Without Us , which is a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, winner of the Wenjin Book Prize of the National Library of China, and an international bestseller translated in 34 languages. His work has been selected for many anthologies, including Best American Science Writing . An award-winning journalist, his reports have appeared in Harper's , the New York Times Magazine , the Atlantic Monthly , Discover , Vanity Fair , Wilson Quarterly , Mother Jones , and Orion , and on NPR. A former contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times Magazine , Weisman is a senior radio producer for Homelands Productions. He lives in western Massachusetts.
Reviews
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This book is brilliant. Thoroughly researched, providing rich, historical background for its findings. Definitely a lesson in history, ecology, biodiversity and current knowledge. Thoroughly recommended.
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Jeder der über dieses Thema mitreden will sollte dieses Buch gelesen haben. Ein umfassendes Werk mit den aktuellsten Fakten. Und: Es liest sich wie ein Krimi !
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¿Cómo es posible que el tema del exceso de habitantes en el planeta tierra y su descontrolado crecimiento, con las graves consecuencias ecológicas que ello implica, sea un tema del que apenas se habla en los medios de comunicación ?
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Carrying on from "The world wothout us", the author presents a simple solution to the world's increasing population explosion; which is by educating women, especially in non developed countries, they will see that by having less children, will give them a better life. Sounds simple and it could be, if religion and politics allow!! In all developed countries birth rates are falling, it's only in non developed countries that the birth rate is rising - and they are the very ones that cannot support and educate their increasing populations. There could be hope for the future if the population growth is slowed; there would be less demand for resources. However another big obstacle is economics and the fact that most economists want a bigger population for more demand for products. I think that the first objective (more education for women) is attainable, but to overcome the greed of multinationals will be very hard to achieve.
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450 pages de pur bonheur intellectuel pour un tout petit prix. Merci ! Le sujet reste un tabou qui perdra l'espèce humaine