Vital Signs 2003: The Trends that Are Shaping Our Future - Book Review

Science News, June 7, 2003

THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE

This annual produced by the environmental watchdog organization the Worldwatch Institute isolates trends affecting the planet's environmental health. This year, the focus is on the differences between the world's richest and poorest citizens. The volume reports that while the global economy has increased sevenfold since 1950, the disparity in per capita income between the 20 richest and the 20 poorest nations more than doubled between 1980 and 1995. Worldwatch asserts that this imbalance is contributing to global instability in the form of terrorism, war, and disease. Among the trends the authors isolate are the rise of infectious diseases, armed conflicts over natural resources, the harvesting of illegal-drug crops, and the displacement of an estimated 50 million environmental refugees from their homes by dam building, drought, and flooding. The report defines some progress toward solutions to these problems: widespread treatment for AIDS in Botswana, Brazil, and Costa Rica; increased use of mobile phones in rural areas; and developments in clean energy. Norton, 2003, 153 p., b&w photos/illus., paperback, $14.95.