Beyond interdependence: the meshing of the world's economy and the earth's ecology

Many fine books were written in preparation for the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero in June 1992. Among the best of them is Beyond Interdependence, prepared under the sponsorship of the trilateral commission and principally authored by Jim MacNeill. The book is solid, factual, and clear in structure and format. As most readers would now expect, a central thesis is the imperative of sustainable development. The authors happily avoid any detailed discussion of the range of alternative meanings of sustainability or sustainable development, but that is no loss since the broader that umbrella term is, the more effective it will be in recruiting an advocacy base. The authors advocate changes that are primarily institutional. Another key point is that environmental issues often arise or are first detected locally and tend to be seen at first as small-scale pollution problems. Another of the authors` interesting conclusions is that the concept of national security needs to be broadened to include environmental degradation, resource depletion, and access to reserves of energy and other raw materials. There are weaknesses in the report, however. It is fundamentally an institutional report to other institutions, and therefore it offers nothing by way of radical solutions. Theymore » are inattentive to the core problem underlying all global economic and ecological issues, and that is population. The authors treat it as almost incidental rather than as core to a troubled future. Nevertheless, these shortcomings are by no means crippling. This outstandingly well-written and illustrated book should inform many people about the broad outlines and in some engaging detail of the emerging crises that we face should we fail to bring the economy and ecology into symbiosis.« less