Ecological Debt

Have you ever wondered what you can do to help stop global warming? To live in a way that is more beneficial to our planet? This book shows you how, in small but significant ways, you can make changes to the way you live that will help to preserve the balance of the environment and protect it for future generations. The author, Andrew Simms, is an expert in environmental policy, based at one of the world's leading think-tanks. In this short, accessible book, he illustrates the deeply harmful consequences of the West's totally unsustainable consumption patterns. He reviews the ecological consequences of climate change and the effect of global warming on developing countries. And he argues that the West has a huge ecological debt towards developing countries, much bigger than the financial debt of developing countries towards industrialised nations.He shows how, in order both to adapt to changing climate conditions and to pay back our debt to developing countries, we can rethink our lifestyles and how we think about 'progress' in a way that will sustain our environment and create a more balanced global society. 'Creative and compelling.' Guardian 'Essential reading.' --Head of the IPCC 'A new phrase has entered the language.' --Anita Roddick1. A short walk to Venus; 2. The chemist's warning - A short history of global warming; 3. The Heaven bursters - Tuvalu and the fate of nations; 4. The great reversal of human progress; 5. Ecological debt; 6. The carbon debt; 7. Rationalising self-destruction (or why people are more stupid than frogs); 8. The car park at the end of the world; 9. Pay back time - the law, climate change and ecological debt; 10. Data for the doubtful - the lessons of war economies; 11. The new adjustment; 12. Minerva's Owl; Notes; Index