After an overview of dramatic climate change impacts including melting glaciers and expanding desertification, Brown described some of the political and social problems facing developing nations such as population growth and the pitfalls of the demographic transition. And as we reach the stage of peak oil [dwindling supplies] and with world food prices rising, for the first time the energy and food economies of the world are now tied closely to each other, Brown observed.
His solution to the crisis prescribes an 80 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2020, arguing that the 2050 target date of many other strategies is too long to wait given the environmental indicators we are witnessing today. His recommendations--which he describes in detail in Plan B 3.0--include greater energy efficiency, using renewable sources of energy, and expanding tree cover around the world.
This new energy economy would include a restructuring of the tax system to reflect the market failures described by Sir Nicholas Stern that contributed to the problem of climate change, so that prices reflect all of the indirect costs associated with various energy sources and lifestyle choices.
“This problem is a race between natural and political tipping points,” cautioned Brown, who uses the example of World War II to demonstrate that the
