The third revolution : environment, population, and a sustainable world / Paul Harrison.

Abstract: "Every European leaves a lifetime's waste one thousand times his or her bodyweight. For every person in the Third World, two thousand square meters of rainforest are destroyed each year. Our habits, and our numbers, are wrecking the planet." "In his most challenging book to date, Paul Harrison, author of the classic bestseller, Inside the Third World, shows how population growth, rising consumption and damaging technologies combined to trigger the biggest environmental crisis in human history." "Crisis spurred the agricultural and industrial revolutions. It may now speed the third revolution--the transition to sustainable development. The race is on between our power to damage, and our power to achieve balance with the environment." "Can we act before circumstances force our hand? Hamlet had less than half an hour to live when he finally killed Claudius. Can we break the Hamlet syndrome? In a blend of authoritative analysis and powerful reporting from the world's most vulnerable places, Harrison shows what is wrong and why, and what we can do about it."--Jacket.

Contents: Prologue in the forest: Musoh, Malaysia -- 1. One part wisdom: the great debate -- 2. The o'ergrowth of some complexion: three billion years of environmental crisis -- 3. Bounded in a nutshell: the new limits to growth -- 4. The fall of a sparrow: the passing of biological diversity -- 5. The paragon of animals: Ranomafana, Madagascar -- 6. The grinding of the ax: deforestation -- 7. Abatements and delays: forest adjustments -- 8. A sterile promontory: land degradation -- 9. A little patch of ground: living on the margin -- 10. Quintessence of dust: Kalsaka, Burkina Faso -- 11. The interim is mine: Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire -- 12. The quick of the ulcer: the environmental impact of cities -- 13. The drossy age: monuments in solid waste -- 14. A sea of troubles: polluted waters -- 15. A congregation of vapors: air pollution and climate change -- 16. Sorrows come not single spies: Hatia Island, Bangladesh -- 17. Towards a general theory -- 18. Particular faults: sharing the blame -- 19. We defy augury: options for action -- 20. If it be not now, yet it will come: towards the third revolution -- Appendix: measuring population impact -- Hamlet sources.

English