Lester Brown

Described as “one of the world’s most influential thinkers” by the Washington Post, Brown is President of Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit environmental research organization, which he founded in May 2001. Some 30 years ago, he pioneered the concept of environmentally sustainable development. He is widely known as the founder and former President of the Worldwatch Institute. Brown has been awarded 25 honorary degrees and has authored or co-authored over 50 books (including his most recent, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse), 19 monographs, and countless articles. He is a MacArthur Fellow and the recipient of many prizes and awards. In 1985, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers, noting that his writings and work had “already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”