Earthscan 2011, pp256, £80, ISBN 9781844079261

This book examines the challenges that humankind faces as it attempts to move away from a fossil fuel-based lifestyle and economy to a sustainable existence and considers some solutions. Renewable resource use is a key tenet of this process. The author sets the scene for the reader by not only exploring the limits that natural phenomena such as thermodynamics impose on our exploitation of resources, but also the human drivers such as exponential economic growth and its link to voracious resource consumption.

As is quite rightly pointed out, the hi-tech disposable world in which we live is hardly sustainable and by definition not conducive to sensible resource use. Ways of managing resources against this backdrop are examined, with human ingenuity driving innovation and technological advancement being highlighted as our best counter. However, a reliance on our own ingenuity may also be our own undoing, as a lesson from history in the form of the Jevons Paradox shows. The book looks at resources from strategic to rare earth metals, polymers to renewables such as timber, detailing what is being done to use these more responsibly from re-use to recovery, while maintaining their quality.

The second part of the book examines solutions. Unsurprisingly, a great deal of space is dedicated to the industrial ecology movement and, quite rightly, our failure to make use of embodied solar energy in materials. Despite the author’s assumed bias towards bio-resources, his treatment of natural feedstocks to meet our resource needs is fairly well balanced, particularly in regard to the conundrum of land-use for industrial crops and biofuels versus food production. The penultimate chapter on forestry is particularly enlightening. While most look upon forests as merely carbon sinks, in reality they offer many benefits, such as the prevention of soil erosion and flooding, and are a renewable supply of natural resources. The many applications of this bio-resource are covered in detail, with particular emphasis on substitution for non-renewable materials. The management of forests is also highlighted, particularly in respect to carbon sequestration effectiveness, as is the UK’s poor record in managing this renewable resource.

The concluding chapter examines every facet of sustainable development. The matter of economic growth and resource use is researched in detail, with a carbon tax being dismissed in favour of an emission trading scheme. The book ends with the author’s own view on how to change to a low carbon economy. While this might appear to be self indulgent, the detail is well thought through, although the drivers are nothing new – urging governments to make brave and unpopular choices. What is clear, but subliminal, in the text is that in order for humankind to be sustainable, it will have to accept living within boundaries dictated by renewable resources.

This book is a highly enjoyable and informative read, suitable for both the student and practitioner alike. My only criticism is that concerns about the distribution of global natural resources is not covered in great detail, but perhaps Professor Hill can make this the subject of a future publication.