Lester Brown
by Dan Bloom, producer
For as calm as he appears to be, Lester Brown is a driven man with a fire in his belly. Traveling across the globe, Brown has delivered this stark message far and wide: we as a human species must realize the error of our over-industrializing ways or face terrible consequences, including the possibility of our own extinction.
It’s a credit to Brown that even as he describes seemingly intractable problems, he is constantly developing solutions like increased access to family planning, the eradication of poverty and investment in renewable energy.
Lester Brown has written or co-written dozens of books, and he’s best known for the “Plan B” series, now revised to “Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.” Tonight, the PBS program “Journey to Planet Earth” presents a special feature on Lester Brown and follows him along his world travels advocating for environmental protection.
Find your local PBS station’s listings here.
In 1974, Lester Brown founded the Worldwatch Institute, and in 2001, he created the Earth Policy Institute, an organization he still leads today.
Lester Brown is to environmentalism what Howard Zinn was to social justice. Good on you for sharing him and his ideas with us.