Lester Brown has written a number of books on the topic of population and the environment. This month, he is publishing his third version of Plan B and is offering it to our supporters free for download. If you prefer to purchase a print copy of the book, click here

If Arctic Sea ice continues to melt, we may soon have the Northwest Passage that early explorers dreamed about. But what was for them a dream could be for us a nightmare.

Ice is melting everywhere. In the late summer of 2007, huge chunks of ice weighing several billion tons were breaking off the Greenland ice sheet sliding into the sea, causing minor earthquakes. If the Greenland ice sheet melts entirely, sea level will rise 23 feet inundating many of the world's coastal cities.

Business-as-usual (Plan A) is no longer a viable option.

It is time for Plan B: time to stabilize climate, stabilize population, eradicate poverty, and restore the earth's natural systems.

The centerpiece of Plan B 3.0 is an ambitious plan to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2020. This will be achieved with a full-court press to raise energy efficiency worldwide. It will involve harnessing new energy sources including wind, solar, and geothermal in order to back out coal-fired power plants.

We are in a race between tipping points in the earth's natural systems and those in the world's political systems. Which will tip first? For example, will we reach the point where the melting of the Greenland ice sheet is irreversible? Or will we phase out coal-fired power plants fast enough to avoid this wholesale ice melting?

The choice is ours-yours and mine. We can stay with business-as-usual or we can adopt Plan B and move the world onto a path of sustained progress. Our generation will make the choice, but it will affect life on earth for all generations to come.

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