The Dictionary is divided into two sections. The main sequence of the book consists of some 4,000 terms given in English, in alphabetical order, with their translations. The remainder of the book consists of alphabetical indexes for the other eleven languages covered: French, German, Italian, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish, Hungarian, Polish and Russian. Each alphabetical index is keyed to serial numbers which refer the user to the correct item in the main sequence.

Based on analysis of the evidence for climate change and the vulnerability of poor people, develops a framework for action and examines the link between consumer and political choices in the North, and impacts in the South on the most vulnerable people on the planet.

In this prodigiously researched book, Emanuel Adler addresses the hotly contested issue of how developing nations can emerge from the economic and technological tutelage of the developed world.