Research Catalog

Title

Ultimate security : the environmental basis of political stability / Norman Myers.

Author

Myers, Norman

Publication

New York : W.W. Norton, c1993.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xi, 308 p. : ill.; 22 cm.

Summary

As forty years of the impending possibility of nuclear war begins to fade away, it is being replaced by the threat of worldwide environmental ruin. In this insightful book, Norman Myers, one of the world's leading experts on the environment and the author of The Primary Source and The Long African Day, presents us with the dilemma which will surely dominate the next century: environmental breakdown. Ozone depletion, tropical forest destruction, topsoil erosion, cut-and-burn deforestation tactics, and farmland fertility decline are all having devastating effects on worldwide economies, health, and climate. These and a host of other environmental threats point us toward "ultimate security," for they tie in with associated problems such as overconsumption and wastefulness in the developed world. So great is the danger they pose that it has been described by many political leaders and military planners as, in fact, the greatest threat we face short of nuclear war. This unprecedented peril must be countered by unprecedented responses - responses altogether different from military measures. We cannot, writes Myers, dispatch battalions to turn back the deserts, we cannot launch a flotilla to resist the rising seas, we cannot send fighter planes to counter the greenhouse effect. Already wars have erupted and governments have toppled for primarily environmental reasons. The time has come when we can purchase more enduring all-around true security by safeguarding our environments than by engaging in military buildups. Environmental problems recognize no frontiers: winds carry no passports. Ultimate security will be security for us all or for none.

Uniform Title

Peter S. Thacher Environment Collection

Subject

• National security > Environmental aspects > United States
• Environmental protection > International cooperation
• Environmental policy > Case studies
• Security, International > Case studies
• Environmental policy > United States
• United States > Environmental aspects

Genre/Form

Case studies

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-298) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

What it's all about. Environmental security: how it works -- CASE STUDIES: REGIONAL EXAMPLES: The Middle East. Ethiopia. Sub-Saharan Africa. The Philippines. The Indian Subcontinent. El Salvador. Mexico -- CASE STUDIES: GLOBAL EXAMPLES: Population. Ozone-layer depletion and global warming. Mass extinction of species. Environmental refugees. THe synergistic connection -- THE NEW SECURITY: Trade-offs with military security. The policy fallout. Finale: A personal reflection.

ISBN

039303545X

LCCN

^^^92043499^

OCLC

• 27434599
• SCSB-12126767

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library