Plan B: Building a new future

This is part two of an edited excerpt from Lester Brown’s new book, Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, published by the Earth Policy Institute. To read part one, click here.

By Lester Brown

posted January 13, 2006

Mobilizing to save civilization means restructuring the economy, restoring the economy’s natural support systems, eradicating poverty, and stabilizing population. We have the technologies, economic instruments, and financial resources to do this. The United States, the wealthiest society that has ever existed, has the resources to lead this effort.

It is not possible to put a precise price tag on the changes needed to move our 21st-century civilization off the overshoot-and-collapse path and onto a path that will sustain economic progress. What we can do, however, is provide some rough estimates of the scale of effort needed.

The additional external funding needed to achieve universal primary education in the more than 80 developing countries that require help, for instance, is conservatively estimated by the World Bank at $12 billion per year. Funding for an adult literacy program based largely on volunteers will take an estimated additional $4 billion annually. Providing for the most basic health care in developing countries is estimated at $33 billion by the World Health Organization. The additional funding needed to provide reproductive health care and family planning services to all women in developing countries is less than $7 billion a year.

Click here for the full text of this story in our subscriber's area.