Yet, if humanity is to deal successfully with issues of population, consumption, and power, the governance of the world clearly needs to be reorganized. Impractical? Not at all; nothing could be more practical to do. Unrealistic or even politically impossible? Maybe. Once again, nothing is bound to prove ultimately more impractical than ignoring the global maldistribution of power, since it is one of the main driving forces of the human predicament. Corporate behavior, we have seen, is directly responsible for much of the deterioration of the human environment, has played a major role in the generation of resource wars, and is indirectly responsible for many of the world’s consumption patterns.  Corporations have begun to slip out of civilization’s control. These fictional individuals, functioning as the tools of very real individuals and the governments they often control, are becoming a law unto themselves in their effects on Earth’s environmental systems.  Those who worry about the world being taken over by computer robots actually should have a more immediate concern.
     Paul Ehrlich
     Bing Professor of Populations Studies, Department ofÂÂ
     Biological Sciences, Stanford University
The thing that most characterizes the Ehrlich’s book for me is their balance and depth, in that they touch on virtually every issue I’ve listed in the issues section. They tackle all of the major issues and trace each to their causal roots with unblinking clarity. Paul Ehrlich has been involved with these issues since he wrote The Population Bomb in 1968 and his long years of familiarity with the subject matter show in the completeness of this book.
The Ehrlichs begin by comparing where we are now in history with where Mesopotamia was just before it imploded from abuse of its formerly abundant natural resources. Today, the area is a wasteland and we have a lot to learn from their hubris.
To my full review: ➡
To the book at Amazon: ➡
ÂÂ