2007 Environment Book Prize: two prize-winners

In the second edition of the Environment Book Prize launched by the Veolia Foundation, awards were presented to the authors of two books chosen from a shortlist of 25 works selected from among the 80 books nominated.

The main prize was awarded to Jared Diamond for his book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed", published by Gallimard.

A special "Youth" award was presented to Vincent Albouy for his "Guide des curieux de la nature en ville", published by Delachaux et Niestle.

The many causes of collapse

"Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" analyzes the lost societies of the past (including Easter Island, Pitcairn and Henderson), the vulnerable societies of today (Rwanda and Haiti) and those societies that, at a certain moment, succeeded in arresting their collapse (such as New Guinea and Tokugawa-era Japan). Jared Diamond shows that the collapse of a society is not linked solely to environmental degradation but that other factors are involved, including hostile neighbors, dependence on trading partners and the type of solutions that a society, in accordance with its particular values, finds to counter these problems.

Under the metro... the crickets

In his "Guide des curieux de nature en ville", Vincent Albouy draws the reader's attention to the crickets that live off cigarette butts under the rails of the metro and bird species such as the "mésange nonette" ... Over 100 photographs and 250 detailed illustrations present an urban world that nature has succeeded in "colonizing".


Discover the website of The Environment Book Prize.