The Vulnerable Planet: A Short Economic History of the Environment

In this clearly written and accessible book, John Bellamy Foster grounds his discussion of the global environmental crisis in the inherently destructive nature of our world economic system. Rejecting both individualistic solutions and policies that tinker at the margins, Foster calls for a fundamental reorganization of production on a social basis so as to make possible a sustainable and ecological economy.

The Vulnerable Planet has won respect as the best single-volume introduction to the global environmental crisis. This edition includes a new afterword by the author.

John Bellamy Foster is associate professor of sociology at the University of Oregon. He is author of Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature (2000) and co-editor of Hungry for Profit (2000), Capitalism and the Information Age (1998), and In Defense of History (1996).