Just as crisis spurred the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions, so it may be a third revolution that is needed to achieve sustainable development. Harrison provides a bulletin on the state of the planet and the process of destruction, and a blueprint for the third revolution.

Prologue in the forest: Musoh, Malaysia. 1. One part wisdom: the great debate 2. The o'ergrowth of some complexion: three billion years of environmental crisis. 3. Bounded in a nutshell: the new limits to growth. 4. The fall of a sparrow: the passing of biological diversity. 5. The paragon of animals: Ranomafana, Madagascar. 6. The grinding of the ax: deforestation. 7. Abatements and delays: forest adjustments. 8. A sterile promontory: land degradation. 9. A little patch of ground: living on the margin 10. Quintessence of dust: Kalsaka, Burkina Faso. 11. The interim is mine: Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. 12. The quick of the ulcer: the environmental impact of cities. 13. The drossy age: monuments in solid waste. 14. A sea of troubles: polluted waters. 15. A congregation of vapors: air pollution and climate change. 16. Sorrows come not single spies: Hatia Island, Bangladesh. 17. Towards a general theory. 18. Particular faults: sharing the blame. 19. We defy augury: options for action. 20. If it be not now, yet it will come: towards the third revolution. Appendix: measuring population impact. Notes and sources. Hamlet sources.