This is a book containing very good, recent information about what has been happening worldwide in recent years. That's important because many things are changing on an exponential level, so if you're basing decisions and ideas on information from 2003, you're far out of date. It covers the cons and pros of biofuels (reference order based on my biases), affects of changing temperatures on climate, sea levels and societies. It is well-written. If you like to process information from figures and graphs, and want lots of pretty, colour pictures, then this book isn't for you. If you process information well from the written word, then it's an excellent choice to learn more about the state of the world and the environment. The focus is in presenting alternatives to the status quo with technologies that we currently have. Reading it, you can get depressed and hopeful in turns. It's written in a smooth, engagin style, and is cited with extensive references listed at the end of the text and a good index. Printed on recycled paper and produced by the Earth Policy Institute (www.earthpolicy.org), a nonprofit environmental research organization that aims to publish downloadable updates on the book's subject matter.