''Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit'' (, paperback ) is a 1992 book written by

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

, published in June 1992, shortly before he was elected

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

in the 1992 presidential election. Known by the short title ''Earth in the Balance'', the book explains the world's ecological predicament and describes a range of policies to deal with the most pressing problems. It includes a proposed " Global Marshall Plan" to address current ecological issues. Written while his son was recovering from a serious accident, ''Earth in the Balance'' became the first book written by a sitting U.S. Senator to make the ''New York Times'' bestseller list since John F. Kennedy's 1956 '' Profiles in Courage''. In 1993, ''Earth in the Balance'' was released in paperback and

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

format on audio

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

. It received the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights 1993 Book award given annually to a book that "most faithfully and forcefully reflects Robert Kennedy's purposes - his concern for the poor and the powerless, his struggle for honest and even-handed justice, his conviction that a decent society must assure all young people a fair chance, and his faith that a free democracy can act to remedy disparities of power and opportunity." The book was followed by '' An Inconvenient Truth'', a book that was the companion for a movie narrated by Al Gore, shown at the 2006

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and released on 24 May 2006. In the 2002 ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central, and then Hulu. The series follows Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1 ...

'' episode "

Crimes of the Hot "Crimes of the Hot" is the eighth episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series '' Futurama'', and the 62nd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 10 ...

", Al Gore himself references the book and its "far more popular" fictional future sequel, ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

and the Balance of Earth''.

Global Marshall Plan

The Global Marshall Plan is a plan first devised by former American

Vice-President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

in his bestselling book ''Earth in the Balance'', which gives specific ideas on how to save the global environment. Gore states: "The model of the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in economic recovery pr ...

can be of great help. For example, a Global Marshall Plan must focus on strategic goals and emphasize actions and programs that are likely to remove the bottlenecks presently inhibiting the healthy functioning of the

global economy The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans in the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities conducted both within and between nations, including production, consumption, econ ...

. The new global economy must be an inclusive system that does not leave entire regions behind. The new plan will require the wealthy nations to allocate money for transferring environmentally helpful technologies to the

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

and to help impoverished nations achieve a stable population and a new pattern of sustainable economic progress. To work, however, any such effort will also require wealthy nations to make a transition themselves that will be in some ways more wrenching than that of the Third World." Source: Earth in the Balance, page 297-301 Global Marshall Plan: Five strategic goals "In my view, five strategic goals must direct and inform our efforts to save the global environment": * stabilizing of

world population In demographics of the world, world demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently alive. It was estimated by the United Nations to have exceeded eight billion in mid-November 2022. It took around 300,000 years of h ...

* the rapid development of environmentally appropriate technologies * a comprehensive change in the economic "rules of the road" by which we measure the impact of our decisions on the environment * negotiation & approval of a new generation of international agreements * a cooperative plan for educating the world's citizens about our global environment. The idea is based on the post-

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

that saw the United States send billions of dollars to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an nations to rebuild their war shattered economies. In order to further the idea of a GMP and to coordinate the various initiatives, NGOs, scientists, activists and groups in the field of development cooperation and global social justice the Global Marshall Plan Initiative was founded by members of the

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing list of global issues, global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in R ...

, the Club of Budapest, the Eco-Social Forum Europe, ATTAC and other organisations in Frankfurt, Germany in 2003. The two main objectives are to find new ways and sources of financing in development cooperation, predominantly pursuing the

Millennium Development Goals In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These w ...

of the UN and the worldwide propagation of the eco-social market economy, which is considered to be one of today's key strategies of initiative.

Opposition to adaptation

In the book Gore expresses opposition to adaptation to global warming, writing that adaptation represented a “kind of laziness, an arrogant faith in our ability to react in time to save our skins”.

Editions

*Gore, Al, ''Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit'', 1992, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA, hardcover, 416 pages, . *Gore, Al, ''Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit'', 2000-04-22, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA, hardcover, 416 pages, . *Gore, Al, ''Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit'', New edition, 2000-07-26,

Earthscan Earthscan is an English-language publisher of books and journals on climate change, sustainable development and environmental technology for academic, professional and general readers. History The Earthscan Publications imprint was founded by t ...

Publications Ltd., paperback, 440 pages, . *Gore, Al, ''Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit'', New foreword, 2006, Rodale, Inc., paperback, 408 pages, .

Notes

External links

''Booknotes'' interview with Gore on ''Earth in the Balance'', February 16, 1992''Earth in the Balance'' - Book, Routledge/EarthscanGlobal Marshall Plan InitiativePlant for the Planet InitiativeGMPI Regional Groups
{{Al Gore 1992 non-fiction books 1992 in the environment Books by Al Gore Environmental non-fiction books Political books Houghton Mifflin books

Global Marshall Plan

Opposition to adaptation

Editions

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links