The Plundered Planet
How to Reconcile Prosperity With Nature
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
How can we help poorer countries become richer without harming the planet? Is there a way of reconciling prosperity with nature? World-renowned economist Paul Collier offers smart, surprising and above all realistic answers to this dilemma. Steering a path between the desires of unchecked profiteering and the romantic views of environmentalists, he explores creative ways to deal with poverty, overpopulation and climate change -showing that the solutions needn't cost the earth. The book proposes a radical rethinking of international policies and uniquely, offers real solutions backed up by real data from research Collier has spearheaded
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
How can poor countries escape the cycle of environmental degradation and poverty? Collier (The Bottom Billion) argues that technological innovation, environmental protection, and regulation are key to ensuring equitable development. Environmentalists and economists must work together so resources can be responsibly harnessed; if diamonds have sustained Sierra Leone s bloody feuds, Botswana s diamond industry has given it the world s fastest growing economy. Collier explores where and how corruption insinuates itself during the discovery and resource extraction processes, how taxation and royalty on extraction may redistribute wealth to society, how to reinvest this wealth for the future, and how to use renewable resources sustainably. Despite the narrow treatment of nature as commodity and some questionable contentions that organic farming is antiquated, and that factory farming and genetically modified crops are the only way to alleviate hunger claims easily challenged by more seasoned agronomists Collier s arguments are compassionate and convincing, and his straightforward explanations of economic principles are leavened with humor and impressively accessible.
