Lester Russel Brown (born March 28, 1934) is an American environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and former president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. BBC Radio commentator Peter Day referred to him as "one of the great pioneer environmentalists."

[2] Brown emphasizes the geopolitical effects of fast-rising grain prices,[3] noting that "the biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries," and one that could "bring down civilization.

[5] The recipient of 26 honorary degrees and a MacArthur Fellowship, Brown has been described by the Washington Post as "one of the world's most influential thinkers."

As early as 1978, in his book The Twenty-Ninth Day, he was already warning of "the various dangers arising out of our manhandling of nature...by overfishing the oceans, stripping the forests, turning land into desert.

"[6] In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings "have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources," while president Bill Clinton has suggested that "we should all heed his advice.

He especially enjoyed reading biographies including those of America's founding fathers and others such as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington Carver, and Marie Curie.

"[10] Shortly after earning a degree in agricultural science from Rutgers University in 1955, through the International Farm Youth Exchange Program, he spent six months living in rural India where he became intimately familiar with food and population issues.

The study was a cover story in the January 6, 1963 issue of U.S. News & World Report where it came to the attention of Secretary of Agriculture, Orville Freeman.

He also became an enthusiastic believer in the promise of a Green Revolution, with the hope of using better seeds and cultivation methods to help solve global problems of poverty and hunger.

"[10] In subsequent years, however, he realized that rapid population growth in undeveloped countries was overwhelming the gains in increased food production.

The institute has refused to become a lobbying organization, with Brown saying, "the world is filled with specialists who dig deep burrows into the earth and bring up these nuggets of insight, but there's no one up on top pulling it all together.

Because he views the problems associated with nuclear power: cost, safety, and waste storage, as well as the risks of proliferation, he believes that solar is the only sustainable choice for humanity.

Some of the more important works Brown wrote at the Institute include World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse (2011), Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth (2001), and the Plan B series.

His most recent book was The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy (2015) co-authored with Janet Larsen, J. Matthew Roney, and Emily E. Adams.

His electronic collection of presentations, radio and television interviews, and documentaries in which he is featured will be accessioned into the Rutgers University library system.

"…a small think tank with a knack of spotting new trends…" – Geoffrey Lean, Telegraph[12] After a talk at Catawba College in 2008, the college newspaper referred to him as an "environmental Paul Revere," [as] he warned his audience that "unless civilization changes its ways, its end is truly near... we're in a race between natural tipping points and political tipping points, - 'what we need most of all is for the market to tell the environmental truth.'

It would also account for the environmental costs of things such toxic waste, the overuse of raw materials, mercury emissions, the generation of garbage, the use of pesticides, and the use of throwaway products such as plastic bottles, all activities that would be discouraged by taxing.

"[16] In 2011 he estimated the cost of such a tax shift, including the effects of better technology, the use of renewables and "updating the concept of national security.

[19] In May 2001, he founded the Earth Policy Institute to provide a vision and a road map for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy.

He writes, "To feed its 1.2 billion people, China may soon have to import so much grain that this action could trigger unprecedented rises in world food prices."

[23] This book, published in 2004, is a more recent description of "the ways in which human demands are outstripping the earth's natural capacities, and how the resulting environmental damage is undermining food production on a global scale.

In Breaking New Ground, Brown details the seminal events of his life that led him to establish the first research institute devoted to an interdisciplinary analysis of global environmental issues.

David Suzuki said: "Lester Brown is one of humanity's great eco-warriors, constantly updating the state of the planet while ceaselessly seeking solutions and a path to sustainability.