The State of the Planet, 1995-1996 (Worldwatch Institute) There is no hesitation in the success of this yearly publication, now translated into 27 languages. This year, we are offered a range of in-depth studies, some extremely useful, others less so, on the exploitation of the sea (P. Weber), the human and ecological equilibrium of mountain regions (D. Denniston), renewable energy (C. Flavin), raw materials and recycling (J. E. Young and A. Sachs), building (N. Lenssen and D Malin), China (M. Ryan and C. Flavin), population shifts and refugees (H. Kane), arms production (M. Renner) and international institutions (H.P. French). The introductory chapter on the limits of nature is signed by WorldWatch Institute patron Lester Brown, who tries to advance a synthesis between ecological and economic concerns. He strikes one nail firmly on the head: the ecological crisis is an integral part, a direct factor of the socio-economic crisis. But he also avoids any radical criticism of the productivist logic of the dominant system. It is almost as if he saw this system we live under as an invariable historical "given" fact. This obliges him to simplify, even reverse the links between cause and effect. He ends up identifying demography as the main cause of disorder in the world, up to and including Rwanda. In consequence, demography becomes also the main field in which "we" can "act". Brown opens with a discussion of the Cairo UN conference on population, and closes with some comments on the "China [demographic] factor". But what about the dictatorship of the market? Or the "World Trade Organisation Factor"? Brown's introductory chapter reveals the limits of the WorldWatch Institute. The level of their theoretical analysis seems to be slipping back. Nevertheless, this book is an indispensable source of information and arguments, even if they are rather fragmented. Reviewed by Pierre Rousset (editor of the French weekly Rouge)
The State of the Planet, 1995-1996, by the Worldwatch Institute
Where this article begins and ends was corrected by hand; the text itself is still machine-read: on 4 November 2026 the Book Notes page of no.273 was split into 4 records, one per review or notice, cut from the machine reading at the scan's headings; Pierre Rousset's two reviews (the first signed 'Reviewed by Pierre Rousset (editor of the French weekly Rouge)', the second '[reviewed by P. Rousset]'), the 'Just published' notice of the LCR pamphlet with the section's order note, and the unsigned IIRE appeal for the Ernest Mandel Study Centre on the back cover (p.36), whose column lines and donation box the machine reading had interleaved and are here put back in reading order
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