As I have said before, if it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes the entire world to do a book. It begins with the work of thousands of scientists and research teams in many fields whose analyses we draw on. The process ends with the teams who translate the book into other languages. We are indebted to the thousands of researchers, all the translation teams, and countless others.
Our research team, led by Janet Larsen, went through literally thousands of research reports, articles, and books—gathering, organizing, and analyzing information for the book. Janet also helped conceptualize Plan B 3.0. In research and writing, Janet is my alter ego, my best critic, and a sounding board for new ideas.
Elizabeth Mygatt and Joseph Florence helped launch the research for Plan B 3.0. As Liz and Joe went on to a new job and graduate school, respectively, we were joined by Jonathan G. Dorn, Frances Moore, and J. Matthew Roney. The research team for Plan B 3.0 of Jonathan, Fran, and Matt, led by Janet, is one of the most talented and hard-working teams I have ever been associated with. I am deeply grateful to each of them.
Some authors write, but this one dictates. Thanks to Gina Mathias who transcribed the early drafts, and Consuela (Sway) Headrick who transcribed the later drafts. Yes, there were many drafts.
Reah Janise Kauffman, our Vice President, not only manages the Institute, thus enabling me to concentrate on research, but she also directs the Institute’s outreach effort. This includes, among other things, coordinating our worldwide network of publishers, organizing book tours, and working with the media. Reah Janise’s productivity and versatility are keys to the Institute’s success. Her value to me is evidenced in our 21 years of working together as a team.
Millicent Johnson, our Manager of Publications Sales, handles our publications department and serves as our office quartermaster and librarian. Millicent, who cheerfully handles the thousands of book orders, takes pride in her one-day turnaround policy.
Reviewers who helped shape the final product include my colleagues at the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), each of whom reviewed the manuscript at least twice, and more than a dozen talented individuals from outside the Institute. Peter Goldmark, for many years publisher of the International Herald Tribune, used his rich experience to help us identify the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript. Peter is simultaneously one of the book’s strongest supporters and one of its most able critics.
Edwin (Toby) Clark, an engineer and economist by training, brought his decades of environmental experience as an environmental analyst at the Council on Environmental Quality and as an administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to bear on the manuscript, providing both broad structural suggestions and detailed page-by-page commentary.
William Mansfield, a member of the EPI board who has a wealth of environmental experience, including several years as Deputy Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, provided many useful suggestions.
Doug and Debra Baker contributed their wide-ranging scientific knowledge, from physics to meteorology, to chapter-by-chapter critiques that were both constructive and encouraging. Maureen Kuwano Hinkle drew on her 26 years of experience working on agricultural issues with Environmental Defense and the Audubon Society to review the book twice, providing valuable comments and encouragement along the way.
Among those who reviewed particular chapters are energy analyst William Brown, who was particularly helpful with Chapter 2, and Randall Swisher, Executive Director of the American Wind Energy Association, who helped sharpen Chapter 12. Others who reviewed all or part of the manuscript and provided useful comments were Brian Brown, Joseph Florence, Gail Gorham, and Hadan Kauffman.
My thanks also to individuals who were particularly helpful in providing specific information: Alan Berg, Lisa Braithwaite, Colin J. Campbell, Martha M. Campbell, Soh Koon Chng, Ken Creighton, John Crenshaw, Christie R. Dawson, Rolf Derpsch, James Duffield, Junko Edahiro, Mark Ellis, Reed Funk, Nathan Glasgow, Bill Heenan, Ryde James, Dale Kemery, Felix Kramer, Rattan Lal, Marjorie Lallemand, Alberto Del Lungo, Eric Martinot, Mark McHenry, Kyle Nickel, Richard Register, William Ryerson, Adam Schafer, Richard Schimpf, John E. Sheehy, Jonathan Sickmann, J. Joseph Speidel, James Spotila, Jeff Tester, Jasna Tomic, Peter Vanderborght, Martin Vorum, Brian P. Wallace, Wang Tao, Sarah Williams, Robert Wisner, and Walter Youngquist.
As always, we are in debt to our editor, Linda Starke, who brings nearly 30 years of international experience in editing environmental books and reports to the table. She has brought her sure hand to the editing of not only this book, but all my books during this period.
The book was produced in record time thanks to the efforts of Elizabeth Doherty, who prepared the page proofs. The index was ably prepared under a tight deadline by Kate Mertes.
We are supported by a network of dedicated publishers for our books and Plan B Updates in some 23 languages—Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, English, Danish, French, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Marathi, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and Ukrainian. There are three publishers in English (U.S.A./Canada, U.K./Commonwealth, and India/South Asia), two in Spanish (Spain and Latin America), and two in Chinese (mainland and Taiwan).
These translations are often the work of environmentally committed individuals. In Iran, the husband and wife team of Hamid Taravati and Farzaneh Bahar, both medical doctors, head an environmental NGO and translate EPI’s publications into Farsi. Their translation of Plan B earned them a national book award. The ministries of environment and agriculture regularly purchase copies in bulk for distribution to staff.
In China, Lin Zixin has arranged the publication of my books in Chinese for more than 20 years. Mr. Lin not only personally leads the team of translators, he also arranges outreach. The government of China pays attention to the books. Both Premier Wen Jiabao and Pan Yue, Deputy Minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration, have quoted Plan B 2.0 in public addresses and articles. The Chinese edition of Plan B received a coveted national book award in 2005 from the National Library of China.
In Japan, Soki Oda, who started Worldwatch Japan some 20 years ago, leads our publication efforts and arranges book promotional tours. He is indefatigable in his outreach efforts and is already planning outreach for the Japanese edition of Plan B 3.0.
Gianfranco Bologna, with whom I’ve had a delightful relationship for over 25 years, arranges for publication of our books in Italy. As head of WWF–Italy, he is uniquely positioned to assist in this effort.
In Romania, former President Ion Iliescu, who started publishing our books some 20 years ago when he headed the publishing house Editura Tehnica, not only arranges publication but often manages to publish simultaneously with the English edition. He is ably aided by Roman Chirila at Editura Tehnica.
In Turkey, TEMA, the leading environmental NGO, which works especially on reforesting the countryside, has for many years published my books. They are already planning the outreach for this edition.
In South Korea, Yul Choi, founder of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement and now head of the Korea Green Foundation, has published my books and oversees their launching through Doyosae publishing.
Most remarkable are the individuals who step forward out of seemingly nowhere to publish and promote Plan B. In Portugal, Antonio Cerveira Pinto, an artist, collaborated with Emanuel Pimenta of the European Environment Tribunal and Julio Sarmento, the mayor of Trancoso, to translate Plan B 2.0. They distributed 4,000 free copies to Portuguese government leaders, prominent academics, university libraries, and leaders in other Portuguese-speaking countries.
In France, the publication of Plan B 2.0 was spearheaded by Pierre-Yves Longaretti, an astrophysicist, in collaboration with Philippe Vieille, the founder of a biotech company. Pierre-Yves not only translated the book—a huge task in itself—but he added footnotes relating the analysis to the situation in France. Philippe, meanwhile, engaged Calmann-Lévy, one of France’s premier publishing houses. In addition, Pierre-Yves and Philippe founded the nonprofit Alternative Planetaire to work on implementing Plan B in France.
Bernd Hamm, a professor at the University of Trier, was so taken with our work that he personally arranged for a German publisher, Kai Homilius Verlag, to publish Plan B 2.0.
There are also those who take the Plan B message to another level. For instance, inspired by Plan B 2.0, Bill and Dave Mettler of Quiet Riot developed a new performance entitled “One Home, One Family, One Future.” This performing partnership uses story, physical comedy, sound effects, music, and audience interaction to awaken communities and organizations to the opportunities, benefits and increased quality of life of the new eco-economy.
Al and Anne Mielen founded Save Our Ship Environmental Institute (SOSE) in order to give presentations to local groups about Plan B. Although they had never been involved in environmental work, after reading Plan B 2.0 they were inspired to help get the message out. Their goal is to establish branches throughout the United States.
I would also like to thank personally the members of our Plan B team—the 1,600 or so individuals who have purchased five or more copies of Plan B 2.0 for distribution to friends, colleagues, and opinion leaders. We are particularly grateful to Ted Turner, captain of our Plan B team, who distributed over 3,600 copies to key individuals.
We are also indebted to our funders. Without their support this book would not exist. Among these are the United Nations Population Fund, the Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund, and several foundations including the Appleton, Farview, McBride Family, Laney Thornton, Shenandoah, Summit, and Wallace Genetic foundations. I’d like to especially thank the Lannan Foundation for its generous three-year grant.
Earth Policy is also supported by individual donors. I would like to particularly thank Fred Stanback, Andrew Stevenson, and an anonymous donor through the OppenheimerFunds Legacy Program for large personal gifts. Other personal donors include Ray Anderson, Doug and Debra Baker, Susan Beck, Junko Edahiro, William Foster, Judith Gradwohl, Paul Growald, Maureen Hinkle, Scott and Hella McVay, Rick Omlor, EcoWorks Foundation, and many others.
Finally, my thanks to the team at W. W. Norton & Company: Amy Cherry, our book manager; Andrew Marasia, who put the book on a fast-track production schedule; Ingsu Liu, Art Director for the book jacket; Bill Rusin, Marketing Director; and Drake McFeely, President, with special thanks for his support. It is a delight to work with such a talented team and to have been published by W. W. Norton for more than 30 years.
And thanks to you, our readers. In the end, the success of this book depends on you and your help in implementing Plan B.