Earth Policy Institute was an independent non-profit

environmental organization An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environme ...

based in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, in the United States. It was founded by

Lester R. Brown Lester Russel Brown (born March 28, 1934) is an American environmental analysis, environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and former president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit rese ...

in 2001 and functioned as an environmental

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

, providing research and analysis on environmental indicators and making policy and lifestyle recommendations aimed at promoting environmental and economic sustainability. Cited by environmental advocates, as well as policymakers and journalists, the institute was a nonprofit that still provides articles, data resources, and select free downloads of their books on their website. In June 2015, the Institute announced that, with Brown's retirement, it would close its doors. Its website is archived by Rutgers University.

Description

The Earth Policy Institute functioned as a think-tank, providing policy research and recommendations on

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

and living, as well as on

environmental issues Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans (human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recov ...

. EPI's goals were # to provide a global plan for moving the world onto an environmentally and economically sustainable path, # to provide examples demonstrating how the plan would work, and # to keep the media, policymakers, academics, environmentalists, and other decision-makers focused on the process of building a Plan B economy.

Publications and releases

The Institute sent out articles called Updates, Eco-Economy

Indicators Indicator may refer to: Biology * Environmental indicator of environmental health (pressures, conditions and responses) * Ecological indicator of ecosystem health (ecological processes) * Health indicator, which is used to describe the health ...

, Book Bytes, Data Highlights, and Press Releases to the media and the general public on a free low-volume e-mail listserv and also posted them on its website along with supporting data and sources for additional information.

Publications

Publications were released in several languages. International publishers for books can be found on the website, as well as links to other organizations who publish the translations of articles.

Books

The Institute released the following books: * ''Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth''. * ''The Earth Policy Reader'' * ''Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures'' * ''Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble'' * ''Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble'' * ''Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization'' * ''Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization'' * ''World On The Edge'' * ''Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity'' * ''Breaking New Ground: A Personal History'' * ''The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy''

Releases

Updates

Earth Policy Institute stated that Plan B Updates are original, four-page analyses of environmental issues ranging from worldwide advances in renewable energy to deaths from heat waves to new flows of environmental refugees.

Eco-Economy Indicators

Earth Policy Institute stated that eco-Economy Indicators consist of the 12 trends EPI used to measure progress toward building a Plan B world. The 12 trends are (

Overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance is a state in which the population of a species is larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale migr ...

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 ...

, Grain Harvest, Fish Catch,

Forest Cover Forest cover is the amount of trees that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/ square miles). Nearly a third of the world's land surface is covered with forest, with clos ...

Water Resources Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. These resources can be either Fresh water, freshwater from natural sources, or water produ ...

Carbon Emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

Global Temperature Global surface temperature (GST) is the average temperature of Earth's surface. More precisely, it is the weighted average of the temperatures over the ocean and land. The former is also called sea surface temperature and the latter is called ...

, Ice Melting,

Wind Power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

Bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

Production,

Solar Power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

Book Bytes

Book Bytes were highlights and adaptations from EPI's books and researc

EPI regularly contributed releases to other websites, including: * Sustainablog * Care2Earth Policy's Shareboo
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/sharebook/576038753&tag=brown
Accessed September 21, 2010.

Closing

The institute's June 2015 announcement of its closing began:

All good things must come to an end, and we at the Earth Policy Institute (EPI) find ourselves sadly at the end of a road filled with many successes. With our president and founder, Lester Brown, stepping down at the age of 81, we are closing our doors on June 30, 2015. Our awesome staffers are finding new posts to continue their work, and we are certain that they will be able to further the issues EPI has pursued.

The announcement added:

We are delighted to say that our website and all of its information, data, and research publications will remain available to you. The Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
has agreed to keep our site available as a legacy website.

References

{{Authority control 2001 establishments in Washington, D.C. 2015 disestablishments in Washington, D.C. Environmental organizations based in Washington, D.C. Human overpopulation think tanks Population concern advocacy groups Population concern organizations