Publisher's Synopsis
Is it possible to maintain reliable energy supplies, to feed the world's growing population, and to conserve a global environment which is fit to live in? The author maintains that not only the mass media but even many scientists have treated these topics in a sensational and uncritical manner so that a large number of myths and fallacies now surround these serious but far from insurmountable challenges. In this book the author makes an inter-disciplinary examination of many of the major issues involved in these debates. He devotes the first three chapters to a detailed look at the major controversies which have arisen over energy, food and the environment. These range from a miscalculation about the strength of OPEC, through the surprising ignorance of what constitutes the basic requirements for human nutrition, to the startling way in which previous environmental crises have tended to disappear. Finally there is a weighing of the evidence presented in recent writings about future global prospects in an effort to bring some common sense to understanding how abundant energy, sufficient food, and a habitable environment can be provided.
