This new book 'Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: A Contemporary Approach' by Jonathan M. Harris, introduces the students to the expanding field of ecological economics and balances coverage of standard environmental economics topics with a global perspective on current ecological issues, such as population growth, global climate change, green national income accounting, and the relationship between trade and the environment.

This second edition of the book has been been updated in response both to developments in the world of environmental policy and to comments and suggestions based on classroom use. New material in the second edition includes:

• An expanded treatment of economic valuation techniques, with more practical examples;
  
  
• More in-depth discussion of “green” national income accounting, including the adoption of green accounting in China;
  
  
• New sections on the impact of AIDS and declining fertility rates on population growth;
  
  
• Topic boxes on controlling agricultural pollution and the development of organic agriculture;
  
  
• New data on mineral price trends and energy subsidies;
  
  
• Updated discussion of fisheries policies, “Clear Skies” air pollution policy, and toxic waste management;
  
  
• New data and discussion on global climate change, including new scientific evidence and policy developments.

The Worldwatch Report titled “Low-Carbon Energy: A Roadmap”, isauthored by Christopher Flavin.

Technologies available today, permit a rapid decarbonization of the global energy economy. New renewable energy technologies, combined with a broad suite of energy-efficiency advances, will allow global energy needs to be met without fossil fuels and by adding only minimally to the cost of energy services. The world is now in the early stages of an energy revolution. Double-digit market growth, annual capital flows of more than $100 billion, sharp declines in technology costs, and rapid progress in the sophistication and effectiveness of government policies, all herald a promising new energy era.

Advanced automotive, electronics, and buildings systems will allow a substantial reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, at negative costs once the savings in energy bills is accounted for. The savings from these measures can effectively pay for a significant portion of the additional cost of advanced renewable energy technologies to replace fossil fuels.

Resource estimates indicate that renewable energy is more abundant than all of the fossil fuels combined, and that well before mid-century it will be possible to run most national electricity systems with minimal fossil fuels and only 10 percent of the carbon emissions they produce today. The development of smart electricity grids, the integration of plug-in electric vehicles, and the addition of limited storage capacity will allow power to be provided without the present baseload.

Recent climate simulations conclude that CO2 emissions will need to peak within the next decade and decline by at least 50 to 80 percent by 2050.

The only chance of slowing the buildup of CO2 concentrations soon enough to avoid catastrophic climate change that could take centuries to reverse is to transform the energy economies of industrial and developing countries almost simultaneously. This would have seemed nearly impossible a few years ago, but since then, the energy policies and markets of China and India have begun to change—more rapidly than those in many industrial countries. Renewable and efficiency technologies will allow developing countries to increase their reliance on indigenous resources and reduce their dependence on expensive and unstable imported fuels.