Building on the foundation of his critically acclaimed A Fierce Green Fire (1993), which provided a sweeping overview of the American environmental movement, Philip Shabecoff now moves to a thoughtful survey of international environmentalism. The annals of international cooperation to preserve the environment and ensure sustainable economic development are recent and brief.

Only within the last 30 years, as the effects of human overconsumption have become apparent, have international organizations, national governments, and environmental groups begun focusing on the economic and ecological ramifications of plundering the Earth's resources.

Shabecoff, former chief environmental correspondent for the New York Times, provides a detailed history of international environmentalism from the beginnings of a global environmental ethic to an inside view of diplomatic negotiations behind the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. He analyzes Rio's successes and failures and examines both worldwide and local proposals that address environmental and economic challenges not discussed at Rio.

Only by facing and overcoming all these challenges, he says, can the global community establish "a peace built on mutual care for the planet and responsibility for the well-being of others with whom we share it."