Lester Brown

President of the Earth Policy Institute

Lester R. Brown has been described by the Washington Post as "one of the world’s most influential thinkers." The Telegraph of Calcutta called him "the guru of the global environmental movement."

In May 2001, he founded Earth Policy Institute, where he now serves as president. The purpose of the Earth Policy Institute is to provide a vision of an environmentally sustainable economy, a roadmap of how to get from here to there — as well as an ongoing assessment of progress.

Brown has an M.S. in agricultural economics from the University of Maryland — and an M.P.A. from Harvard University. In 1964, he became an adviser to Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman on foreign agricultural policy.

At the beginning of 1969, he left government to help establish the Overseas Development Council.

In 1974, Lester Brown founded the Worldwatch Institute. And in 1984, Brown launched the "State of the World" reports. They have been translated into some 30 languages — and are considered the bible of the global environmental movement.

In 1988, Brown expanded Worldwatch’s publications by launching World Watch, a bimonthly magazine featuring articles on the Institute’s research.

Awarded some 22 honorary degrees, he is also a former MacArthur Fellow and the recipient of many prizes and awards, including the 1987 United Nations’ Environment Prize — and the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal.