True State of the Planet

In the 25 years since the first Earth Day in 1970, the environmental movement has spawned a new generation of scientists asking vital questions about the true state and fate of the planet. But, surprisingly, some of their answers -- and even the questions themselves -- contradict the movement's deepest beliefs. Why are reserves of oil, precious metals, and other natural resources more plentiful than ever before? Why has the population growth of the twentieth century broughtrisingstandards of living for nearly all? InThe True State of the Planetten premier scholars shatter the myths of overpopulation, food, global warming, and pesticides, while redirecting environmentalists' concerns to the far more urgent problems of fisheries, fresh water, and third-world pollution -- and the political causes behind them.

Ronald Bailey is producer of the national weekly public television series Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg and author of Eco-Scam: The False Prophets of Ecological Apocalypse.