The Crowded Greenhouse
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Population, Climate Change, and Creating a Sustainable World
John Firor and Judith E. Jacobsen
A revolutionary vision of how we can create a sustainable planet
This book focuses on two critical global issues—rapid population growth and a human-induced climate change. John Firor and Judith Jacobsen summarize the current status of these two issues, show how they are related to one another, and prescribe steps that governments, economies, societies, and individuals can adopt to stabilize both population and climate.
Firor and Jacobsen argue that two revolutions are necessary to achieve a stable population and freedom from human-induced climate change: a social revolution that improves equity, particularly the status of women, and a technical revolution that yields vastly greater efficiency in energy and materials use than we have today. They offer a vision that incorporates these changes, and they urge professionals and activists to work to achieve them, even in the face of great odds.
This book focuses on two critical global issues—rapid population growth and a human-induced climate change. John Firor and Judith Jacobsen summarize the current status of these two issues, show how they are related to one another, and prescribe steps that governments, economies, societies, and individuals can adopt to stabilize both population and climate.
Firor and Jacobsen argue that two revolutions are necessary to achieve a stable population and freedom from human-induced climate change: a social revolution that improves equity, particularly the status of women, and a technical revolution that yields vastly greater efficiency in energy and materials use than we have today. They offer a vision that incorporates these changes, and they urge professionals and activists to work to achieve them, even in the face of great odds.
John Firor is a senior scientist and director emeritus at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Judith E. Jacobsen is a writer, lecturer, and consultant on world population issues.
“This book is comprehensive and even handed, written with clarity and precision throughout by two skilled professional scholars. I read it with admiration, pleasure and profit.”—George M. Woodwell, director, Woods Hole Research Center
"John Firor and Judy Jacobsen build a credible, clear and productive marriage between global population and climate change problems. Sobering, yet optimistic, The Crowded Greenhouse is a balanced account of the environmental challenges that must be met in the next few decades."—Stephen H. Schneider, Stanford University; author Laboratory Earth
“The Crowded Greenhouse is simultaneously accessible and sophisticated, replete with politically sensible approaches to a sustainable world.”—Michael Oppenheimer, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
“Firor and Jacobsen bring a remarkable wealth of understanding to the most pressing issue of the century, population; and the most consequential impact of that growth, global warming.”—Peter H. Kostmayer, former U.S. congressman and president, Population Connection
“The reality of the challenges to our globe, driven by population growth and climate change, is daunting and well understood. But solutions are much less clear. Judy Jacobsen and John Firor help us to chart a future in which these trends reverse and the global outlook is more optimistic.”—Timothy E. Wirth, president, The United Nations Foundation
"A slender book at 256 pages defies the odds in tackling two enormously complex problems, marrying them and proposing solutions. Anyone discouraged by the seeming inevitable destruction of our planet through neglect would do well to step into The Crowded Greenhouse."—Boulder Sunday Camera
"An accessible and readable text, The Crowded Greenhouse is written for a broad audience. . . . Their book provides a valuable look at population policy, environmental science and economic planning—and the ways they are connected."—Zachary Patton, National Journal
“The Crowded Greenhouse will be primarily of interest to general readers. . . . It may also be a valuable resource for specialists who interact with policymakers or the general public, particularly those who must explain connections between climate and demographic change.”—Frederick A. B. Meyerson, Population and Development Review
ISBN: 9780300093209
Publication Date: August 11, 2002
Publication Date: August 11, 2002
258 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
3 b/w illus.
3 b/w illus.