Vital Signs

Just as people schedule regular check-ups with physicians, our planet needs regular check-ups to catch issues as early as possible, before they become more serious and harder to heal. That is the much-needed service provided on a global scale by the Worldwatch Institute in this new book, Vital Signs 2012. By taking stock of global consumption, Vital Signs 2012 offers the facts that need to guide our stewardship of the Earth's resources-and some of these facts are shocking. The report covers topics from obesity to ecosystem services, from grain production to nuclear power. Taken as a whole, it paints a picture of skyrocketing population, disappearing forests, and increasing consumption peppered with bright spots like growing investment in high-speed trains and other efficient transportation systems. Vital Signs 2012 is based on Worldwatch's online project of the same name, which provides up-to-date figures on important global concerns, as well as the Institute's own additional research. The book compiles the most important of these into an accessible, informative resource for policymakers and anyone who wants a realistic look at the state of our planet. "Each trend report is concise, using quantitative metrics and graphs to assess and present the trend in a few pages." "These lines that tie the world together are surreptitiously hidden just beyond our field of view, but Vital Signs does an amazing job of bringing everything into focus."

This seventeenth edition of the Worldwatch Institute series shows that climate change continues to cast a long shadow over the world's leading economic, social, and environmental trends.

With Vital Signs 2003, you'll have the cogent analysis you need to prepare for tomorrow's challenges.

This report tracks and analyzes 44 trends that are shaping our future, and includes graphs and charts to provide a visual comparison over time. Categories of trends include: Food, Agricultural Resources, Energy and Climate, Global Economy, Resource Economics, Environment, Conflict and Peace, Communications and Transportation, Population and Society, and Health and Disease.

This sixteenth volume of Worldwatch's Vital Signs series makes it clear that climate change is both a growing driver of and an increasingly important motivator behind the world's leading economic, social, and environmental trends.

This much-anticipated edition of Vital Signs covers 35 global trends that are shaping our future. From carbon emissions to loss of wetlands, each trend provides a brief status report on the topic plus graphs and charts that offer a visual comparison over time. Categories include Food, Economics, Transportation, Health, Governance, Energy and Climate, and Conflict and Peace.

The new Vital Signs 1998 gives you more than 100 charts, graphs and tables that show you the worldwide trends that are changing our lives, for better and for worse. It includes the latest data on critical global trends, presented in simple but compelling graphics, along with concise, thoughtful analysis.

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.

From meat consumption to automobile production to hydropower, Vital Signs, Volume 20 documents over two dozen trends that are shaping our future in concise analyses and clear tables and graphs. The twentieth volume of the Worldwatch Institute series demonstrates that while remarkable progress has been made over the past year, much remains to be done to get the planet on a more sustainable track. Worldwide, people are waking up to the realities of a resource-constrained planet: investments and subsidies for renewable energy have reached new heights, consumers are slowly shifting away from meat-heavy diets, and new employment structures like co-operatives are democratizing the global economy. Yet with over 1 billion people lacking access to electricity, natural disasters that are more costly than ever before, and an adherence to the factory farm model of food production, it is clear that many obstacles loom on the horizon. Covering a wide range of environmental, economic, and social themes, Vital Signs, Volume 20 is the go-to source for straightforward data and analyses on the latest issues facing an increasingly crowded planet. By placing each trend within a global framework, Vital Signs, Volume 20 identifies the solutions we need to transition toward a more sustainable world. This book will be especially useful for policymakers, environmental nonprofits, and students of environmental studies, sustainability, or economics. "For anyone looking for the most recent data describing global trends from the Worldwatch point of view, Vital Signs is an excellent resource. For those aiming more broadly, Vital Signs presents a stimulating jumping off point for further research."

This report tracks and analyzes 44 trends that are shaping our future, and includes graphs and charts to provide a visual comparison over time. Categories of trends include: Food, Agricultural Resources, Energy and Climate, Global Economy, Resource Economics, Environment, War and Conflict, Communications and Transportation, Population and Society, and Health and Disease.

This eighteenth volume of the Worldwatch Institute series makes it clear that the Great Recession affects many of the world's leading economic, social, and environmental trends-but that the impact can be very different by country.

What we make and buy is a major indicator of society's collective priorities. Among twenty-four key trends, Vital Signs Volume 22 explores significant global patterns in production and consumption. The result is a fascinating snapshot of how we invest our resources and the implications for the world's well-being. The book examines developments in six main areas: energy, environment and climate, transportation, food and agriculture, global economy and resources, and population and society. Readers will learn how aquaculture is making gains on wild fish catches, where high speed rail is accelerating, why plastic production is on the rise, who is escaping chronic hunger, and who is still suffering. Researchers at the Worldwatch Institute not only provide the most up-to-date statistics, but put them in context. The analysis in Vital Signs teaches us both about our current priorities and how they could be shaped to create a better future.

The 2002 edition features more than 50 key indicators of long-term trends-from the growth of fish farms and bicycle production to the increase in solar cell and Internet use.

The global trends documented in Vital Signs 1999-from a decline in nuclear power generating capacity to the proliferation of genetically modified crops-will play a large part in determining the quality of our lives and our children's lives in the next decade.

The global trends documented in Vital Signs 2001-from the rapid increase in the use of wind power to the continued warming of the planet-will play a large role in determining the quality of our lives and our children's lives in this new century.

The global trends documented in Vital Signs 2000-from the rapid rise in the sales of energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps to the worldwide overpumping of growndwater-will play a large role in determining the quality of our lives and our children's lives in the next decade.