The Foreign Service Journal, February 2004

Not Easy Being Green Worlds Apart: Globalization and the Environment James Gustave Speth, Island Press, 2003, $22.50, paperback, 165 pages. R EVIEWED BY T AMERA F ILLINGER Large, sometimes violent demon- strations against the World Trade Organization and other global orga- nizations, in locales from Seattle and Washington, D.C. to Cancun, Davos, and Johannesburg, have periodically captured the world’s attention in the last few years. But that notoriety has not translated into much attention to the specific aims of the protesters and environmental nongovernmental organizations. Fortunately, Worlds Apart: Glo- balization and the Environment is an excellent primer on the highly charged issue of the impact of global- ization on the environment. Its author, James Gus Speth, is dean of Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and one of the world’s leading experts on international environmental policy. Here he brings together 10 articles by academics, business leaders and activists on the history of internation- al environmental summits and poli- cies, recent developments in the movement and current scientific information on global environmental change. The book also summarizes the current theories and next steps sought by environmental leaders to proceed toward sustainable resource use and greater international partici- pation in environmental manage- ment. The articles fall into two main groups: those examining the social and political dimensions of globaliza- tion and those assessing the scientific F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 69 B O O K S u ,