THE STATE OF THE WORLD: A Worldwatch...

THE STATE OF THE WORLD: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society, edited by Lester R. Brown (W.W. Norton: $10.95). Compiled by the staff of the Worldwatch Institute, the articles in this collection document the sorry state of the planet and offer some timely suggestions for improvements. The authors discuss the threats represented by the growing stockpile of nuclear waste and the accelerating destruction of the Earth’s biodiversity. They call for the adoption of less wasteful life styles and stress the need to reform “the livestock economy” (in 1990, animals consumed 70% of the grain produced in the United States). Although the essays are generally interesting, many of them seem incomplete. A discussion of hydrogen as an alternative fuel ignores the possible danger of explosions; AIDS is mentioned only as one of the issues menacing women’s reproductive health--health problems facing men (or humanity in general) aren’t even mentioned.