The Improving State of the World

The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives On a Cleaner Planet (ISBN 1930865988) is a 2007 book by Indur M. Goklany, published by the Cato Institute. As per the title, it argues that the state of the world and humanity is rapidly improving.

Contents

The book lists many supporting statistics:

A common perception is that such progress from economic growth and technology is unsustainable due to worsening environmental problems. The book argues that this is wrong. In the early stages of economic and technological development environmental impact does increase. Improving access to factors such as food, shelter, and electricity is seen as more important than the environment. As development continues and these problems are tackled, the environmental impact becomes a higher priority, and then steps are taken to reduce it. This pattern can be seen for many environmental indicators, such as air quality, availability of safe water, sanitation, and DDT and PCB residues in human tissues, which initially declined with increasing development but have more recently improved.

On the other hand, "The reality ... is that the fight over environmental regulation, at least in the United States, was -- and remains -- a fierce one and that environmental skeptics and businesses have done their best to prevent regulations such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts from ever becoming law. It is also the case that without those regulations, the 'cleaner planet' Goklany sees today would not exist.... The point is that far from being the inevitable product of a strong economy, environmental improvement is often the result of political struggles that could very easily have gone the other way." says James Surowiecki in his review of the book.

Goklany in a reply stated "I am no more convinced than he is about the inevitability of progress" and that the book had stated "a democratic society, because it has the political means to do so, will translate its desire for a cleaner environment into laws, either because cleanup is not voluntary or rapid enough, or because of sheer symbolism. The wealthier such a society, the more affordable -- and more demanding -- its laws."

See also

External links

Interviews

Reviews