Earth Policy Institute was an independent non-profit environmental organization based in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It was founded by Lester R. Brown in 2001 and functions as an environmental think tank, providing research and analysis on environmental indicators and making policy and lifestyle recommendations aimed at promoting environmental and economic sustainability. Cited by environmental advocates, as well as policymakers and journalists alike, the Institute is a nonprofit that provides articles, data resources, and select free downloads of their books on their website. In June 2015, the Institute announced that, with Brown's retirement, it would close its doors at the end of the month.
Description
The Earth Policy Institute functions as a think-tank, providing policy research and recommendations on sustainable development and living, as well as on environmental issues. EPI's goals are to provide a global plan for moving the world onto an environmentally and economically sustainable path, to provide examples demonstrating how the plan would work, and to keep the media, policymakers, academics, environmentalists, and other decision-makers focused on the process of building a Plan B economy.
Publications and releases
The Institute sends out articles called Updates, Eco-Economy Indicators, Book Bytes, Data Highlights, and Press Releases to the media and the general public on a free low-volume e-mail listserv and are posted on its website along with supporting data and sources for additional information.
Publications
Publications are released in several languages. International publishers for books can be found on the website, as well as links to other organizations who publish the translations of articles.
The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy
Releases
Updates
Earth Policy Institute states that Plan B Updates are original, four-page analyses of environmental issues ranging from worldwide advances in renewable energy to deaths from heat waves to new flows of environmental refugees.
Book Bytes are highlights and adaptations from EPI's books and research. EPI regularly contributes releases to other websites, including:
Sustainablog
Care2
Closing
The Institute's June 2015 announcement of its closing began:
All good things must come to an end, and we at the Earth Policy Institute find ourselves sadly at the end of a road filled with many successes. With our president and founder, Lester Brown, stepping down at the age of 81, we are closing our doors on June 30, 2015. Our awesome staffers are finding new posts to continue their work, and we are certain that they will be able to further the issues EPI has pursued.
The announcement added:
We are delighted to say that our website and all of its information, data, and research publications will remain available to you. The School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University has agreed to keep our site available as a legacy website.
