Reviews by Kristina Vilimaite Buying into the Environment: Experiences, Opportunities and Potential for Eco-procurement Edited by Christoph Erdmenger. International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), March 2003. 285 pages. Buying into the Environment is the result of the research segment of the RELIEF project funded by the European Union's "City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage" programme. The book aims to show the true potential of eco-procurement (or green public purchasing) — which encompasses all activities that aim to integrate environmental considerations into the public purchasing process. The book analyses national approaches already tested, and provides in-depth surveys on pioneering cities in the field such as Hamburg, Malmo and Zurich. Serious attention is given to city-specific hurdles which have been faced and overcome. The book analyses the most relevant product groups with which eco-procurement is concerned: construction services, vehicles and transportation infrastructure, energy, information technology, furniture and food. The book also provides calculations on the potential environmental benefits of greener purchasing. For example, one set of calculations shows that if European public authorities were to purchase electricity generated by environmentally responsible means, they could contribute 18 percent of the continent's Kyoto targets. Vital Signs 2003: The Trends that Are Shaping Our Future Edited by Linda Starke for the Worldwatch Institute. Published by W. W. Norton and Company, May 2003. 158 pages. Vital Signs is an annual report on the environmental trends shaping our future. The 2003 edition is the latest publication of the US-based research organisation, the World-watch Institute. It was produced in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Among other things, the statistics in the report document weather-related economic losses in industrial countries; it notes, for example, that the August floods in Central Europe cost the region USD 18 billion, while similar catastrophes in developing countries had a much higher human toll. Ornithologists reported a decline in birdlife: some 12 percent of the world's 9,800 bird species are threatened with extinction in this century, largely because human activities are destroying their habitats. On a more encouraging note, this year's edition reports progress in clean energy use. New industries are beginning to provide pollution-free electricity and well-paying jobs. Global wind power use has tripled since 1998 and is now the world's fastest-growing power source. Europe has nearly 73 percent of global wind capacity, more than half of which is in Germany. In 2002, Denmark, a nation of 5 million, installed more wind capacity than all of the United States, whose population exceeds 290 million. Books reviewed in this column can be found in the REC online library catalogue at: http://www.rec.org/library-catalogue

Buying into the Environment