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Articles by Lester Brown

Lester R. Brown is founder and president of Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Follow EPI: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn

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  • The good news about coal

    Big Coal faces a powerful new enemy in its quest to build new plants: you.

  • Turning toward the sun for energy

    One key component of the Plan B climate stabilization strategy is solar energy. Solar is even more ubiquitous than wind energy and can be harnessed with both solar photovoltaics (PV) and solar thermal collectors. Solar PV — both silicon-based and thin film — converts sunlight directly into electricity. The growth in solar cell production climbed […]

  • When the Nile runs dry

    A new scramble for Africa is under way. As global food prices rise and exporters reduce shipments of commodities, countries that rely on imported grain are panicking. Affluent countries like Saudi Arabia, South Korea, China and India have descended on fertile plains across the African continent, acquiring huge tracts of land to produce wheat, rice […]

  • Water shortages threaten food future in the Middle East

    A water tower in Al-Muzahimiyah, Saudi Arabia.Photo: Andrew A. ShenoudaThis piece originally appeared in The Guardian. Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many underlying challenges that are not now in the news will remain. Prominent among these are rapid population growth, spreading water shortages, and ever growing food insecurity. In […]