Regional Environmental Policies, Techniques & Strategies in Environmental Conservation & Protection, General & Miscellaneous Environmental Policies, National Security, Environmental Conservation & Protection Policy, International Cooperation
Log in to track your reading progress.
Overview
As forty years of the impending possibility of nuclear war begins to fade away, it is being replaced by the threat of worldwide environmental ruin. In this insightful book, Norman Myers, one of the world's leading experts on the environment and the author of The Primary Source and The Long African Day, presents us with the dilemma which will surely dominate the next century: environmental breakdown. Ozone depletion, tropical forest destruction, topsoil erosion, cut-and-burn deforestation tactics, and farmland fertility decline are all having devastating effects on worldwide economies, health, and climate. These and a host of other environmental threats point us toward "ultimate security," for they tie in with associated problems such as overconsumption and wastefulness in the developed world. So great is the danger they pose that it has been described by many political leaders and military planners as, in fact, the greatest threat we face short of nuclear war. This unprecedented peril must be countered by unprecedented responses - responses altogether different from military measures. We cannot, writes Myers, dispatch battalions to turn back the deserts, we cannot launch a flotilla to resist the rising seas, we cannot send fighter planes to counter the greenhouse effect. Already wars have erupted and governments have toppled for primarily environmental reasons. The time has come when we can purchase more enduring all-around true security by safeguarding our environments than by engaging in military buildups. Environmental problems recognize no frontiers: winds carry no passports. Ultimate security will be security for us all or for none.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Just as the Cold War has dominated the last four decades, environmental conflicts will become the ``principle threat to security and peace'' in the years ahead, argues Myers ( Future Worlds ). In a provocative description of the new concept of environmental security, which he helped establish, the author offers much evidence that environmental factors--from deforestation and desertification to global warming and ozone depletion--will loom larger in world affairs. His book is chockablock with recent portents: how loss of topsoil in the Philippines pushed citizens to the guerrilla side; how Britain and Iceland nearly clashed over marine fisheries; how the threatened cut-off of water flows from rivers outside its borders helped cause Israel's 1967 war against the Arabs. Looking ahead, Myers examines major international regions and predicts loss of stability or out-and-out conflict over natural resource-related issues in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere. The number of ``environmental refugees'' alone could reach 400 million, he claims, as the greenhouse effect kicks in, causing higher sea levels and flooding. The author urges United States-led collective action by the world's nations. (Sept.)Book Details
Published
February 23, 1994
Publisher
New York ; W.W. Norton, c1993.
Pages
320
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780393035452