Plan B 2.0 Impressions
I just finished reading Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble by Lester R. Brown. The entire book is available to download at the www.earthpolicy.org website or, you can do what I did, and purchase a copy at a bookstore. This book deserves high praise and it is a must-read environment book.
I agree with much of what is presented in this fact-filled book. It is a very comprehensive environment book that covers more than just global warming. The first part of the book discusses a wide range of environmental problems: the decline of oil, water shortages, food shortages, the effects of global warming, shrinking forests, desertification, soil erosion, population growth, and HIV. The second part of the book describes the Plan B solutions to these environmental problems such as protecting existing forests, feeding the world population well, and providing a budget to accomplish the goals.
A critical environmental issue is the decrease in water supply and the resulting progressive lowering of the water table in many areas. Agriculture requires a lot of water and when the aquifers run dry, the food productivity of the land goes way down. In some areas, the productivity goes down to essentially zero food output when this happens. Previously bountiful agricultural land becomes wasteland. As a result, food productivity is going down in some areas at a time when the world population is still increasing. This scenario needs to be avoided to prevent ever more dire consequences with the worldwide food supply. One helpful solution to this problem, described by the author, is to make drip irrigation more widespread. Desalination plants may also be an option to irrigate dry land near the world's oceans. Closely related to this problem, it is crucial that global warming and the resulting desertification be addressed aggressively now.
An interesting idea, presented by the author, is the use of compost toilets, which do not require any water. In areas of the world where there have been water restrictions/shortages, the compost toilet should be considered. In the southwestern U.S., I believe a feasibility study should be done for compost toilets. If compost toilets are implemented in this area, there is the potential savings of many millions of gallons of water per year. This may decrease the number of water shortages in the Southwest and also allow agriculture to flourish in this area.
An important conflict described in the book is the competition between the use of agricultural land for biofuels, such as sugarcane in Brazil, with some of the foods we consume such as rice, corn, and wheat. Biofuels are not such a great idea because they use agricultural land that could be producing food for the hungry. Unfortunately, because of the high cost of fuel, the market forces have been pushing growers to produce biofuels. In my opinion, if there are hungry people in the world (and there are many millions who are chronically hungry according to the author), they should be fed. Also of concern, Brazil probably should not be clearing precious Amazon rainforest to produce the sugarcane ethanol. This activity is exacerbating the global warming problem by decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide our forests can absorb. In my opinion, biofuels should be downscaled dramatically, or eliminated entirely, in order to feed the world population. In the case of Brazil's sugarcane biofuel production, its production should be stopped to prevent the negative consequences of Amazon forest deforestation (and to use already cleared land in Brazil for agriculture to feed the world). Another option in Brazil would be to reforest the land cleared for farming, which would help out with the global warming problem.
The world needs to get away from power generation from coal and oil. In the western U.S. geothermal powerplants should be expanded markedly. There are other areas of the world where geothermal is a highly attractive option. Wind and solar power are also highly viable energy options in the 21st century. One feature that is very promising with wind power is that in the evening hours when power usage is lower, the extra electricity from wind power can be used to make hydrogen fuel. This fuel can then be used in powerplants during periods of low wind. This seems like an excellent idea to me. As I have stated in a previous blog entry, government needs to make these cleaner forms of energy fiscally advantageous—not just for large energy corporations, but also for individual home owners. We really need to greatly increase the number of solar panels and wind farms in the U.S. and we need to do it rapidly.
Near the end of the book, the author adds up a budget for the Plan B solutions. The worldwide costs of Plan B could easily be taken from the U.S. military budget, which is grossly inflated. I very much support the author's Plan B. It is far better than the "Plan A," business as usual. The serious environmental problems described in the book that are facing mankind are solveable. However, they do require that we take action and take action quickly.
I agree with much of what is presented in this fact-filled book. It is a very comprehensive environment book that covers more than just global warming. The first part of the book discusses a wide range of environmental problems: the decline of oil, water shortages, food shortages, the effects of global warming, shrinking forests, desertification, soil erosion, population growth, and HIV. The second part of the book describes the Plan B solutions to these environmental problems such as protecting existing forests, feeding the world population well, and providing a budget to accomplish the goals.
A critical environmental issue is the decrease in water supply and the resulting progressive lowering of the water table in many areas. Agriculture requires a lot of water and when the aquifers run dry, the food productivity of the land goes way down. In some areas, the productivity goes down to essentially zero food output when this happens. Previously bountiful agricultural land becomes wasteland. As a result, food productivity is going down in some areas at a time when the world population is still increasing. This scenario needs to be avoided to prevent ever more dire consequences with the worldwide food supply. One helpful solution to this problem, described by the author, is to make drip irrigation more widespread. Desalination plants may also be an option to irrigate dry land near the world's oceans. Closely related to this problem, it is crucial that global warming and the resulting desertification be addressed aggressively now.
An interesting idea, presented by the author, is the use of compost toilets, which do not require any water. In areas of the world where there have been water restrictions/shortages, the compost toilet should be considered. In the southwestern U.S., I believe a feasibility study should be done for compost toilets. If compost toilets are implemented in this area, there is the potential savings of many millions of gallons of water per year. This may decrease the number of water shortages in the Southwest and also allow agriculture to flourish in this area.
An important conflict described in the book is the competition between the use of agricultural land for biofuels, such as sugarcane in Brazil, with some of the foods we consume such as rice, corn, and wheat. Biofuels are not such a great idea because they use agricultural land that could be producing food for the hungry. Unfortunately, because of the high cost of fuel, the market forces have been pushing growers to produce biofuels. In my opinion, if there are hungry people in the world (and there are many millions who are chronically hungry according to the author), they should be fed. Also of concern, Brazil probably should not be clearing precious Amazon rainforest to produce the sugarcane ethanol. This activity is exacerbating the global warming problem by decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide our forests can absorb. In my opinion, biofuels should be downscaled dramatically, or eliminated entirely, in order to feed the world population. In the case of Brazil's sugarcane biofuel production, its production should be stopped to prevent the negative consequences of Amazon forest deforestation (and to use already cleared land in Brazil for agriculture to feed the world). Another option in Brazil would be to reforest the land cleared for farming, which would help out with the global warming problem.
The world needs to get away from power generation from coal and oil. In the western U.S. geothermal powerplants should be expanded markedly. There are other areas of the world where geothermal is a highly attractive option. Wind and solar power are also highly viable energy options in the 21st century. One feature that is very promising with wind power is that in the evening hours when power usage is lower, the extra electricity from wind power can be used to make hydrogen fuel. This fuel can then be used in powerplants during periods of low wind. This seems like an excellent idea to me. As I have stated in a previous blog entry, government needs to make these cleaner forms of energy fiscally advantageous—not just for large energy corporations, but also for individual home owners. We really need to greatly increase the number of solar panels and wind farms in the U.S. and we need to do it rapidly.
Near the end of the book, the author adds up a budget for the Plan B solutions. The worldwide costs of Plan B could easily be taken from the U.S. military budget, which is grossly inflated. I very much support the author's Plan B. It is far better than the "Plan A," business as usual. The serious environmental problems described in the book that are facing mankind are solveable. However, they do require that we take action and take action quickly.
posted by Raz at
7:42 PM
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