Lester Brown is a man on a mission. From his humble beginnings as a tomato farmer during high school, food and our dependency on the natural environment to provide it have been at the core of his life's work. In 1955 after earning a degree at Rutgers University in agricultural science he went to India where he saw in rural communities the deep interdependencies between food, population and the natural environment. In 1974 he founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to global environmental issues, and aimed to turn public attention to the pressing environmental problems of the day. Now, some 35 years later, we still face many of the same problems and a host of new ones. Yet, Lester Brown remains unflappable and continues to hope that humanity has a chance of changing "business as usual" in time to save ourselves from what he believes to be the pending deterioration of civilization.
In 2001, leaving the Worldwatch Institute to found the Earth Policy Institute, Brown penned his core mantra in the publication Plan B ¨ Mobilizing to Save Civilization. Now in its fourth iteration, Plan B 4.0 is a data rich, pointed and scientifically based examination of the state of the modern world. In this manifesto, which is a constant work in progress, challenges to humanity including food and water scarcity, population pressures and climate change are explored and studied responses to them are offered. Broken up into three parts: The Challenge, The Response and The Great Mobilization, Brown explains, "Plan B is the alternative to business as usual. Its goal is to move the world from the current decline and collapse path onto a new path where food security can be restored and civilization can by sustained." Developed through careful review of current scientific information, it is his hope that by following this plan we have a chance to save human society from collapse and/or extinction.
Brown's ordained role as prophet of the environmental movement, his deeply held belief in the transformative power of information and his faith in the generally good intentions of people propel him forward on his mission, allowing him to maintain optimism in the face of a ceaseless barrage of scientific bad news. Leading the way, Brown hopes to usher in a worldwide evolution from disposable consumer culture to a sustainable, ecologically harmonious future.
Deep down, Lester Brown fears that this current litmus of converging crises may be our final test. "The real question is whether we cross the tipping point in social behavior, attitudes, first or... the climate thresholds first." In the case of climate change, waiting for a catastrophic event to change behaviors will be too little, too late. Social change will have to come from information if we are to save civilization. Herein lies the motivation for his tireless mission.
Download Plan B 4.0 for free at: earthpolicy.org