Only One World: Our Own to Make and to Keep

Examines how population control resulting from economic development acts as an important environmental protection measure and discusses how this theory needs to be acted upon in the poorer nations of the world

Only if the world's poor, preindustrial nations restart their industrial revolutions will they be able to eradicate poverty and stabilize population growth, in Piel's judgment. To aid in this task, the chairman emeritus of Scientific American urges the wealthy, industrialized nations to support massive economic aid and technology transfer to the Third World. His careful, scientific discussion of ozone depletion, acid rain and other damage to the biosphere and its ecosystems leads him to make various policy recommendations, which include intensive research into solar and other alternative forms of energy. This levelheaded developmental primer includes a country-by-country survey of what is needed to trigger economic growth. Piel's pragmatic vision for a new partnership between rich and poor nations makes urgent reading for policymakers, economists, politicians, environmentalists and concerned citizens. Illustrations.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Saturated with facts but consistently engaging and readable, Piel's prescription for global salvation marshals history, anthropology, economics, and ecology to demonstrate the measures necessary to create an equitable and sustainable economy--one that's capable of absorbing a final doubling of the world's human population. While not quite starry-eyed, Piel, Chairman Emeritus of Scientific American, is more optimistic than might seem justified. Applying the observation that high birth-rates drop as a society achieves lower child-mortality rates (one of the first results of the increased wealth of industrialization), Piel believes that the next doubling of human population, from five billion to ten billion, can be the last. As the Western industrialized nations have stabilized at zero or near-zero population growth, it will, he says, take only the redistribution of wealth and techniques to the preindustrial world to bring the whole world into an Earth- friendly, sustainable economy. Piel argues that the Industrial Revolution, which required centuries of misery to run its course in Western Europe, has required progressively less time and hardship in each of its successive incarnations; and he believes that the preindustrial world can be brought aboard in the next 50 to 75 years. Thus united, its population leveled off, the world can face the task of preserving itself. Published in conjunction with the UN Conference on Environment and Development, Piel's scenario depends on much human goodwill and longer-range self-interest--and wouldn't that be nice? -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Distributed to delegates at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Only One World contributes to the debate on the crises of poverty and the environment. Piel is publisher of Scientific American and with quiet eloquence presents an impressive array of scientific, social, and economic detail on these crises. He argues for greater economic development to limit Third World population growth, enhance the quality of life, and achieve environmental stability. However, some of his data are either dated or grossly exaggerated (Piel's figures on annual tropical forest losses exceed by a factor of 25 those of other authorities), while little reference is made to Third World thinking and realities. The book should be used in conjunction with others, such as Paul Harrison's The Third Revolution ( LJ 6/15/92). Recommended for larger libraries. Previewed in "Sources for Sustaining the Earth," LJ 5/15/92, p. 116-17.
- Bill Rau, Takoma Park, Md.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.