Environment

Lester Brown, president of the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based think tank that monitors the state of the environment. The Institute has just issued it's 7th annual "State of the World" report. Brown's been nicknamed "Doctor Doom," for his dire predictions about subjects such as the dwindling forests and the global warming trend. But critics use that term less and less these days as more of Brown's predictions have come true. The 1990 edition of "State of the World" is published by Norton. (Part 1 of a two-part interview.

Denis Hayes, the chairman of Earth Day 1990, a one day world-wide demonstration calling attention to the planet's environmental problems. Hayes organized the first Earth Day back in 1970. That event is credited with launching the environmental movement in the U.S. Since that first Earth Day, Hayes founded Environmental Action, was a senior fellow at the Worldwatch Institute, and did extensive work on solar energy. More recently, he's been a visiting professor at Stanford University. Earth Day 1990 is scheduled for April 22, 1990, 20 years to the day after the first Earth Day.

Anthropologist Richard Nelson. His new book, "The Island Within," is an account of Nelson's explorations of an uninhabited island near his Pacific Northwest home.

Explorer and environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau. The son of famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel has spent much of his life aboard their ship, "Calypso," traveling the world and learning about its wonders and peoples. Jean-Michel is now director of expeditions for the Cousteau Society, and he led the Society's recent voyage to Papua New Guinea. His logbook from that expedition has just been published, and the trip will also be featured as the first episode of a new T-V series, "Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World."

Climatologist Stephen Schneider. His new book, "Global Warming: Are We Entering the Greenhouse Century," examines the causes of global warming and warns about the possible impact of this "greenhouse effect." It also outlines what individuals and governments can do to slow down the impact of these trends.

Writer and naturalist David Rains Wallace. His new book, Bulow Hammock: Mind in a Forest, chronicles his lifelong intrigue with the wild beauty of Bulow Hammock, a subtropical woodland near Daytona, Florida. Wallace is also the author of The Klamath Knot, The Turquoise Dragon, The Wilder Shore, and Idle Weeds. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Outdoorswoman and veteran river guide Kathleen Meyer. Her new book How to Shit in the Woods, examines in a non-Victorian way the hows and wheres of personal hygiene in the great outdoors. Behind the book's humorous tone and anecdotes is a serious issue - human waste, if not properly disposed, pollutes rivers and streams. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Marine botanist Sylvia Earle. She's been described as one of the most intrepid divers in the history of underwater exploration. She's swum with humpback whales, explored the kelp forests off the coast of California, and dove into the trenches off the coasts of Hawaii where she once went to depths of 1,250 feet, which at the time was the deepest any human had dove without a connection to the surface.

Writer John McPhee. He's a classic example of a "writer's writer," one whose style is endlessly studied and mimicked, and whose effortlessness in moving between subjects as diverse as Alaskan geology, oranges, and birch-bark canoes is the envy of every freelancer. He's worked at The New Yorker magazine since the late 60s and is one of its most popular contributors.

Writer and ecological historian STEPHEN PYNE. His latest book, Fire on the Rim, A Firefighter's Season at the Grand Canyon, explores the intricacies of fire management, man's relation to the rural western environment, and the summer ritual that changes the canyon and the people who try to protect it. Pyne worked as a firefighter for 15 season's on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. Pyne describes a life where the firefighter lives in isolation for four months, defined by the fires and the capriciousness of lightning.