Vital Signs Volume 21

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

The Worldwatch Institute

• Publisher: Island Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781610915397
• eBook ISBN:
  9781610915403
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Science
• Index: Biological Sciences

Vital Signs Volume 21 is all about growth. From natural disasters to cars to organic farming, the two dozen trends examined here indicate both increasing pressure on natural resources and scaled up efforts to live more sustainably.
 
In 2012, world auto production set yet another record with passenger-car production rising to 66.7 million. That same year, the number of natural disasters climbed to 905, roughly one hundred more than the 10-year annual average, and 90 percent were weather related. Alongside these mounting pressures come investments in renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. The number of acres of land farmed organically has tripled since 1999, though it still makes up less than 1% of total farmland.
 
Not all the statistics are going up. Key measures of development aid have fallen, as have global commodity prices. Yet the overall trend is expansion, both for the good and ill of the planet. Vital Signs provides the latest data available, but its value goes beyond simple numbers. Through insightful analysis of global trends, it offers a starting point for those seeking solutions to the future’s intensifying challenges.

Notes

Introduction: A Global Disconnect (pages xi–xii)

1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, three volumes (Geneva: 2013 and 2014).

2. U.S. Global Change Research Program, National Climate Assessment: Climate Change Impacts in the United States (Washington, DC: 2014).

3. Justin Gillis, “U.S. Climate Has Already Changed, Study Finds, Citing Heat and Floods,” New York Times, 7 May 2014.

4. Naomi Klein, “The Change Within: The Obstacles We Face Are Not Just External,” The Nation, 21 April 2014.

Fossil Fuels Dominate Primary Energy Consumption (pages 2–5)

1. BP, Statistical Review of World Energy 2013 (London: 2013).

2. Ibid.

3. International Energy Agency, “Coal’s Share of Global Energy Mix to Continue Rising, with Coal Closing In on Oil as World’s Top Energy Source by 2017,” press release (Paris: 17 December 2012).

4. Russell Gold and Daniel Gilbert, “U.S. Is Overtaking Russia as Largest Oil-and-Gas Producer,” Wall Street Journal, 2 October 2013.

5. BP, op. cit. note 1.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), International Energy Outlook 2013: Natural Gas (Washington, DC: July 2013).

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. BP, op. cit. note 1.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. EIA, “Multiple Factor Push Western Europe to Use Less Natural Gas and More Coal,” Today in Energy, 27 September 2013.

21. BP, op. cit. note 1.

22. Ibid.

23. EIA, “Monthly Coal- and Natural Gas-Fired Generation Equal for First Time in April 2012,” Today in Energy, 6 July 2012.

24. EIA, “Natural Gas Generation Lower than Last Year Because of Differences in Relative Fuel Prices,” Today in Energy, 25 September 2013.

25. BP, op. cit. note 1.

26. Ibid.

27. Ibid.

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Ibid.

32. Ibid.

33. Ibid.

34. Ibid.

35. Ibid.

36. Ibid.

37. Ibid.

38. Ibid.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.

41. Ibid.

42. Ibid.

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid.

45. EIA, Analysis Briefs: Sudan and South Sudan, at www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=SU, updated 5 September 2013.

46. Ibid.

47. Ibid.

48. Ibid.

49. Shakuntala Makhijani, “Growth in Global Oil Market Slows,” in Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs: Volume 20 (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2013), pp. 2–5.

50. BP, op. cit. note 1.

51. Ibid.

52. Ibid.

53. Ibid.

54. EIA, Petroleum & Other Liquids: Prices, at www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=RWTC&f=D,viewed 8 October 2013.

55. BP, op. cit. note 1.

56. Ibid.

57. Ibid.

58. EIA, “China Poised to Become the World’s Largest Net Oil Importer Later This Year,” Today in Energy, 9 August 2013.

Nuclear Power Recovers Slightly, But Global Future Uncertain (pages 6–9)

1. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nuclear Power Reactors in the World, 2013 Edition (Vienna: 2013). Other IAEA sources report slightly different numbers.

2. Ibid.

3. “China,” in IAEA, Power Reactor Information System, 2013, at www.iaea.org/pris.

4. IAEA, op, cit. note 3; Denis Langlois, “Bruce Power’s Rebuilt Unit 1 Reactor Back Online,” Toronto Sun, 21 September 2012.

5. Earth Policy Institute, “World Cumulative Installed Nuclear and Wind Power Capacity and Net Annual Additions, 1950–2008,” at www.earth-policy.org/datacenter/xls/update78_3.xls; IAEA, op. cit. note 1.

6. BP, Statistical Review of World Energy 2012, Historical Data Excel Workbook (London: 2012).

7. IAEA, op. cit. note 3.

8. IAEA, op. cit. note 1; “United States,” in IAEA, op. cit. note 3.

9. “France,” in IAEA, op. cit. note 3.

10. “United States,” op. cit. note 8; see other countries’ pages in IAEA, op. cit. note 3, for their nuclear shares of electricity generation.

11. IAEA, op. cit. note 3.

12. “Russia,” in IAEA, op. cit. note 3.

13. IAEA, op. cit. note 1; “China,” op. cit. note 3.

14. “Republic of Korea,” in IAEA, op. cit. note 3.

15. “As...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: A Global Disconnect, by Michael Renner
• Energy Trends
• Environment and Climate Trends
• Transportation Trends
• Food and Agriculture Trends
• Global Economy and Resources Trends
• Peace and Conflict Trends
• Population and Society Trends
• Notes
• The Vital Signs Series