Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World 2003

Monday, January 27, 2003
2-3:30 p.m., 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

     The Environmental and Energy Study Institute held a Congressional briefing on Worldwatch Institute’s just released State of the World 2003.  State of the World is published in more than 25 languages and is used as a textbook and research tool in classrooms around the world.  In this historic 20th edition, the Worldwatch Institute finds that “building a world where we meet our own needs without denying future generations a healthy society is not impossible, as some would assert.”  Rather, the report asserts that scaling up recent successes in curbing infectious disease, increasing the income of the poor, and advancing the use of renewable energy, among other actions, would soon put the world’s economy on a more sustainable path.  To outline the major findings of the report the briefing featured Worldwatch Institute’s President, Chris Flavin, as well as the book’s other leading authors. 

 Briefing Panel:

 Ø   Christopher Flavin, President, Worldwatch Institute
 Ø   Gary Gardner, Project Director and author Engaging Religion in the Quest for a Sustainable 
        World (Chapter 8)
Ø   Janet Sawin, author of Charting a New Energy Future (Chapter 5)

 Rather than focusing solely on our planet’s ills, the report’s expert research team documents a host of successes that prove humanity is capable of reinventing the world so that the needs of all are met with minimal harm to the Earth and to future generations.

            “The question is where societies choose to put their creative efforts,” says Worldwatch Institute President Christopher Flavin.  “If we can build spacecraft powered by clean fuel cells, we can build cars that run the same way. If we can mine copper and other metals from the Earth, we can mine them from landfills and abandoned buildings. And if we can protect tourists from contracting malaria, we can do it for people who live with the threat everyday.”  Examples of successes outlined in the report include the growth in solar and wind energy production, the global effort to reduce the use of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons, the World Health Organization’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and the Netherlands achievement of an 86 percent recycling rate for cars. 

             The challenge now, reports State of the World 2003, is to mobilize governments, businesses, and civil society to construct economies that are healthy for both people and the planet.  Many challenges exist, according to the report, including climate change, malaria outbreaks, and the premature death of 5,500 children a day because of polluted air, water, and food.  But according to briefing panelist Gary Gardner, “We have seen many times in human history that societies are able to learn quickly from experience, and to then act.  The growing interest in sustainability among diverse sectors of society could provide the energy needed to boost pilot innovations to a global scale.”   

             For more information about the briefing, please contact JR Drabick at EESI at 202-662-1886 or jrdrabick@eesi.org.