Brown, Lester (1934- )

US environmentalist and author. He is a specialist in food, population, and the environment. His publications include Building a Sustainable Society (1981) and Saving the Planet (1991).

He was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey, and educated at Rutgers and Harvard. He joined the US Department of Agriculture in 1959. As director of the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, DC, from 1974 onwards, he lectured and wrote widely on environmental concerns, and the reports issued by the institute have become among the most highly regarded and cited in the field of threats to the environment.