Worldwatch Institute,  State of the World: 2007
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2007, 250pp.)

When international development efforts began in the late 1940s sparked by President Truman’s “Point Four” program of technical assistance, the general image of the world’s poor were the villages of India, China, Africa, and Latin America. Many development activities were linked to increased rice and wheat crops. Irrigation and better water use were issues high on the development agenda. Awareness of the growth of cities has been slow.  read more »

Johan Pottier, Alan Bicher, Paul Sillitoe (Eds)
Negotiating Local Knowledge : Power and Identity in Development
(London: Pluto Press, 2003, 332 pp.)

Dario Novellino sets out clearly the framework of this collection of anthropological essays on the role of local knowledge in conditions of social change.  "While the involvement of local communities in developing projects is today recognised as a necessity, there is still a tendency to underestimate the role of the factors that jeopardise successful communication between development workers and local people.   read more »

David W. Orr
The Last Refuge : Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror
(Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004, 172pp.)

"Genuine politics - politics worthy of the name - is simply a matter of serving those around us: serving the community, and serving those who will come after us.  Its deepest roots are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole."   Vaclav Havel

David Orr is professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College in Ohio, and many of these short essays on the relationship between ecological action and politics were first published in the journal Conservation Biology.  He does not underestimate the challenges which face us if we are to protect the planet, and through ecologically-sound development raise the living standards of those caught in persistent poverty throughout  the world.  read more »

Hilary French
Vanishing Borders : Protecting the Planet in the Age of Globalization
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2000, 257 pp.)


It is obvious that globalization and interconnectedness are more than fashionable semantics, for they point to the increasing significance of the external world context for many issues that were formerly thought of as 'national issues.'  Now a state is no longer able to control activities whose origins are external - thus the vanishing of  borders which were thought to mark the limits between foreign and domestic concerns.
 read more »

State of the World 2006
WorldWatch Institute
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2006, 244pp.)

“He who takes no thought about what is distant shall find sorrow near at hand”- Confucius  read more »

Plan B : Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble
Lester R. Brown
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2003, 275pp.)

Lester Brown, who founded the Worldwatch Institute in Washington DC in 1974 and who more recently created the Earth Policy Institute, has been warning of ecological dangers and the misuse of natural resources for many years.  There must be moments when he feels like Casandra - fated to see the future and not be believed by those whom she warns.  Brown warns that "We are cutting trees faster than they can be regenerated, overgrazing rangelands and converting them into deserts, overpumping aquifers, and draining rivers dry.  On our croplands, soil erosion exceeds new soil formation, slowly depriving the soil of its inherent fertility.  We are taking fish from the ocean faster than they can reproduce."  read more »

The Great Work:  Our Way into the Future
by Thomas Berry (New York : Bell Tower, 1999)

"As we enter the 21st century, we observe a wide-spread awakening to the wonder of the Earth.  This we can observe in the writing of naturalists and environmental organizations dedicated to preserving the integrity of the planet. The human venture depends absolutely on this quality of awe and reverence and joy in the Earth.  As soon as we isolate ourselves from these currents of life and from the profound mood that these engender within us, then our basic life-satisfactions are diminished."  read more »