State of the World 2008: Toward a Sustainable Global Economy (State of the World)

These books are amazing, I get them every year and read the important data. Well explained and thorough, especially for analytical minds like me, you'll enjoy watching the progress (or regress) of the state of our planet. Highly recommended to anyone who loves to know what happens to our planet and why it changes in such ways. Environmental issues were once regarded as irrelevant to economic activity, but today they are dramatically rewriting the rules for business, investors, and consumers. Around the world, innovative responses to climate change and other environmental problems are affecting more than $100 billion in annual capital flows as pioneering entrepreneurs, organizations, and governments take steps to create the Earth's first sustainable global economy. This volume examines new technologies and advances from around the world that show promise as a means to create a sustainable global economy and stop the depletion of natural resources and the environment. Featuring chapters on renewable energy, innovations in clean production, commons resources, trade policy, finance for sustainability, new economic yardsticks, and many other topics, [this book] is [a] global-level publication to showcase a wide range of diverse innovations and to demonstrate their near-term potential to put whole societies on a sustainable path. Common to these innovations is a rethinking of key economic assumptions and business practices to create economies that meet people's needs while protecting the planet. --From back cover Seeding the sustainable economy -- Gary Gardner and Thomas Prugh New bottom line for progress -- John Talberth Rethinking production -- L. Hunter Lovins Challenge of sustainable lifestyles -- Tim Jackson Meat and seafood: the global diet's most costly ingredients -- Brian Halweil and Danielle Nierenberg Building a low-carbon economy -- Christopher Flavin Improving carbon markets -- Zoe Chafe and Hilary French Water in a sustainable economy -- Ger Bergkamp and Claudia W. Sadoff Banking on biodiversity -- Ricardo Bayon Parallel economy of the commons -- Jonathan Rowe Engaging communities for a sustainable world -- Erik Assadourian Mobilizing human energy -- Jason S. Calder Investing for sustainability -- Bill Baue New approaches to trade governance -- Mark Halle. Growing evidence suggests that the global economy, rooted in ideas and assumptions that were progressive two hundred years ago, is now destroying its own ecological base and offering little to billions of impoverished people. In response, pioneers are creating the architecture of sustainable economies, one innovation at a time. State of the World 2008 describes these innovations—from microfinance to closed-loop manufacturing and the use of trusts to protect common resources—as well as identifying the obstacles that prevent a critical mass of people and organizations from moving toward sustainability, and rallying coalitions of stakeholders that can produce win-win solutions and strategies for achieving specific sustainability goals. Growing evidence suggests that the global economy, rooted in ideas and assumptions that were progressive two hundred years ago, is now destroying its own ecological base and offering little to billions of impoverished people. In response, pioneers are creating the architecture of sustainable economies, one innovation at a time. State of the World 2008 describes these innovations from microfinance to closed-loop manufacturing and the use of trusts to protect common resources as well as identifying the obstacles that prevent a critical mass of people and organizations from moving toward sustainability, and rallying coalitions of stakeholders that can produce win-win solutions and strategies for achieving specific sustainability goals. Explains why the belief systems of 200 years ago are threatening today's global economy, outlining pioneering solutions to the establishment of sustainable economies through such innovations as micro-financing, closed-loop manufacturing, and the use of trusts to protect common resources. Original. 15,000 first printing. Published annually in 28 languages, each edition draws on the breadth of expertise of the Worldwatch Institute's team of writers and researchers. It is essential for anyone concerned with building a positive, global future