The Crowded Greenhouse: Population, Climate Change and Creating a Sustainable World

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.

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.