BREAKING NEW GROUND

I have read all Lester Brown's books over the last 20 years, and he has been a huge influence on my environmental and economic thinking. Here he shares the story of his own life and development, beginning with his austere farm upbringing in the late 1930s - he celebrates his 80th birthday this year. His enterprising nature and intellectual curiosity are apparent early on with his breeding of chickens, pheasants and later tomatoes. He managed to remedy a lameness in his pheasants with extra manganese. During one school year he read over 100 books, many of them biographies, and he was especially influenced by the Swiss Family Robinson. He also learned more than 400 verses of the Bible, earning a new Bible for this feat. The family bought its first tractor in 1949 as a result of picking 2,000 baskets of tomatoes for other farmers. By 1958, they had 280,000 plants on 70 acres.

He then went on to study agricultural science at Rutgers University and immediately adopted an interdisciplinary approach that was to be the hallmark of his future work. This helped him integrate ideas across different fields of knowledge. It is fascinating to read about his early career and some of the papers he wrote without being asked to do so that later proved extremely useful. He made a formative visit to India where he also competed with local wrestlers - more recently he has been ranked in the top 10 75 to 80 year-olds for 10 mile runs. He reached early prominence in 1963 when a summary of his article Man, Land and Food: Looking Ahead at World Food Needs appeared in US News and World Report. He forecast the rapid expansion of Indian population in relation to its agricultural base and was also able to make an accurate assessment of grain shortfall caused by monsoon failure in 1965. This led to contact with the highest levels of government and an immediate summons to Rome to meet the US agriculture secretary.

Brown spent some time at the Overseas Development Council at the time when environmental issues were coming onto the radar in the early 1970s and especially with the publication of The Limits to Growth in 1972. This encouraged him to look in more detail at the relationship between the economy and ecosystems as well as world population. The Worldwatch Institute was set up in 1974 with support from the Rockefeller and marked a new departure in think tanks and their output. Their publications immediately made headlines and it is astonishing to learn that 658 editions of his books have appeared worldwide. These publications made a significant contribution, along with speaking fees, to the overall budget of the Institute. The State of the World reports began to appear in 1984 and were immediately enormously influential. By 1991, 1,379 professors were using the publication in their courses at 633 US colleges and universities. This was later joined by Vital Signs. He was once briefing President Mitterrand when he was interrupted by a call from President Bush and said he would call him back in 15 minutes.

In 1994 he wrote an article and later a book entitled 'Who Will Feed China?', which unleashed a political firestorm in Beijing as the Chinese were very sensitive to the analysis that they would one day have to import large quantities of grain. Many Chinese thinkers argued against him but his forecast has been borne out. However, it did concentrate minds and led to some interesting debates in international forums as well as radical action in China itself. It now imports 60% of soya beans entering world trade. He has also been right in predicting that we need more than technology and market responses to respond to the environmental challenges we face.

In 2001, he founded the Earth Policy Institute and published Eco- Economy in an edition of 40,000 copies. Since then he has developed and refined the concept of Plan B as a realistic way forward that costs less than $200 billion or a small fraction of annual military expenditure. So far, the political will to implement such measures has not come about, mainly due to short-term focus in politics and economics as well as a lack of a sense of urgency that such a regenerative programme is necessary. More recently, he has written about the geopolitics of food and the need for a war-footing mobilisation.

On a personal basis, we learn about his simple and healthy lifestyle, including not owning a car. He devotes his mornings to reading and then writing seven days a week and runs three times a week as well as doing other forms of exercise. He has channelled millions of dollars in speaking fees and prizes into his work. When asked for suggestions about life from students, he urges them to pursue their dreams, set standards high and keep raising the bar. We should not fear failure since this is how we learn. He quotes Goethe as saying 'Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.' The reader can also appreciate how important interdisciplinary analysis and understanding is in our attempts to move civilisation onto a sustainable path. We can expect to hear more from Lester Brown in the future as he has no plans to retire. The book is a testament to the effect that one person with a single-minded focus can have on world opinion.