Book Description
Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming convincingly demonstrates the remarkable differences between what we commonly read about global warming and what is really happening. Nine chapters describe major problems with computer simulations of future climate that are the basis for wrenching policies being proposed by world leaders. Anyone who reads this book will come away with a new appreciation of the complexity of the climate issue and will question the need for expensive policies that are likely to have little or no detectable effect on the planet's temperature. Published in cooperation with the George C. Marshall Institute.
Customer Reviews:
The inconvenient truth about An Inconvenient Truth .......2007-08-06
I highly recommend this book. But I suspect that this book will not appeal to most readers. There's none of the intense hyperbole that infects both global warming fanatics and many of their deniers. There are no grand apocalyptic scenarios that garner such strong public appeal. No terrifying future, no living on the brink of disaster. Only quiet nuanced science from those who spend their life in research. One suspects that the politics of global warming has now superseded the science and sad to say, when politics enters the room, truth shuffles its way into the background. This is unfortunate since there are many things about the environment with which we should be concerned - not the least being our consumption of non renewable resources. My fervent hope is that we can move past the exaggerated apocalypse of global warming while addressing the necessary issues of the environment - i.e., the rest of the environment aside from climate change.
In this case of Shattered Consensus, all ten contributors are scientists and experts in their field. Each chapter, and scientific report, covers a separate and distinct aspect of climate. This is really a collection of reports, not a coherent "story". Each contributor has their own style, some being more accessible than others. They present the science as they understand it and in that regard the average reader may find the information dry, or indeed undecipherable. Most of the ten authors include a short conclusion which may be helpful for those unwilling to plow through the science. Nonetheless the reader is left in the end overwhelmed not by the certainty of any position, but by the staggering uncertainty in all aspects related to this Earth's climate. Our ability to measure past trends in climate are dependent on woefully scant data. Our ability to project future trends have no unambiguous models yet. In fact, the variability of the results of the different models are so big as to render them basically useless for anything other than further research. They certainly shouldn't be used to make definitive statements as to future trends. The effects of CO2 are still highly uncertain with some models suggesting no impact and some observations linking CO2 to an indicator of climate change not a driver - i.e., CO2 changes as a result of climate change, not the other way around. Much more research is needed to understand why these discrepancies are observed. Even if global warming is happening, and even if CO2 is at least partly to blame, the impact of global warming in some scenarios is actually beneficial to not only humans, but to some species. Indeed, in all of Earth's history through warming and cooling periods, some species benefit and other lose.
The reader is left with the question, since scientists tell us that the unknowns vastly outweigh the things that are known about climate, what should our policy decisions making framework be based on. Is seems to me that we need to base it on what is known. Air quality, water quality, land use, availability of non renewable resources, are all things we can measure and for which policies can be made. Having a single enemy (CO2, in this case) is certainly more appealing and simple for the average consumer to understand. But simple is not always best.
It should be noted that none of these scientists is involved in the petroleum industry (a favorite disclaimer by those wanting to discredit the validity of anyone critical of global warming science). Some have even been involved in the IPCC directly (the UN Intergovernmental protocol on climate change). Scientists are by nature a conservative lot. A hypothesis lasts as long as the next set of experiments that disprove it, or tenuously as long as further experiments continue to confirm it. Most scientists don't seek a public profile and most are uncomfortable playing the role of a nay-sayer, especially in the face of such publicly popular resources as Al Gore's an Inconvenient Truth. I will rely on the scientific truth to work its way to the surface. I just hope we don't waste too much in the way of public funds on chasing windmills when there are so many important issues in this world that need attention.
Consensus? Right........2007-04-18
This book perfectly illustrates how there is dissent in the thinking of many climate scientists, showing information that proves there is no consensus, or at least none as to the overall causes, specific effects and actions to take on "anthropogenic global warming".
It's like the AAAS's 'Science' magazine publishing an op/ed in their "Essays on Science and Society" section by Naomi Oreskes (Associate professor of history and director of the Program in Science Studies at the University of California at the time). In that piece, it was reported an analysis was made of abstracts in the ISI database under science and with the phrase "global climate change" in them. The keywords specified in the op/ed 3 times were "climate change" (In another issue of 'Science' that was corrected to "global climate change". I would include that, but you have to join AAAS to get to it.) Her closing paragraph in the essay uses the words "anthropogenic climate change".
Although she takes quite a while to say it, in two or more convoluted paragraphs, she claims consensus because of the actions of some organizations; that we can prove statements and reports by the AMS, AGU, AAAS and others don't downplay legitimate disenting opinions, thus proving a consensus. I'm not sure I follow that train of logic, but there you go.
So, how does she "prove" it? By grabbing those publications that are in the ISI database that are in the science section and have abstracts that have the words "global climate change" in the abstract. Do those contradict what the organizations say? No? Consensus!
Not in ISI database? Not in science section? No abstract? Doesn't have "global climate change" in the abstract? Not looked at.
She does make two interesting points in her closing paragraph, although the two have nothing to do with each other. I've broken the paragraph into the two points; while the first is true, the second is not anything she's proven in the op/ed (although it seems she's hoping we will think so):
1. Many details about climate interactions are not well understood, and there are ample grounds for continued research to provide a better basis for understanding climate dynamics. The question of what to do about climate change is also still open.
2. But there is a scientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic climate change. Climate scientists have repeatedly tried to make this clear. It is time for the rest of us to listen.
That op/ed, Richard Lindzen's op/ed in the WSJ and her rebuttal op/ed in the Washington Post, as well as letters between Roger Pielke Jr and her printed in 'Science' give even more light on the entire issue of the lack of a consensus and the lengths the cult of global warming will go to to keep everyone thinking there is. This book goes a long way towards fighting the misconceptions, and is an excellent strike in the battle against global warming propaganda.
[...]
Down with Globaloney.......2007-04-03
Point-by-point rebuttal of the fallacy of ''global warming''/''climate change'' brought about by human endeavors. Puts paid to AlGores' Oscar-winning docufantasy. Yes, all of us anti-global warming folks are in the pay of Giant Oil and the moral equivalent of Holocaust deniers. NOT!!! Your belief in half-baked computer models (as opposed to real-life atmospheric happenings) and over-blown do-gooder falsehoods doesn't make ''global warming'' a catastrophic happening.
Sample of Scientific Discussions.......2007-03-14
Interesting series of papers on topics of ongoing discussion regarding global warming. The title is a bit overblown, but I guess it matches the assumption, so often printed over and over in the media, that there is a consensus on global warming (or more correctly, human-caused global warming). There's lots of citations given and places to dig into this as deep as you want. I particularly like the part about trying to develop some sort of heat balance between the earth's surface, the various layers in the atmosphere, and the universe to which the earth radiates heat, and all the unexplained measurement error and missing information associated with that.
There was allusion to the plans to try to "Command and Control" the world's economy, based on averting global warming, basically concluding that nothing we can do will change the outcome much anyway, at least in any predictable way. It makes one wonder if the global warming phenomena is being used as a pretext to try "Command and Control" again. This book does not really get into that, but does give a taste of endless unresolved topics associated with global warming.
religion of enviromentalism challenged.......2007-03-01
any book that challenges to apriori assumptions of the enviromentalist religious dogma of man made global warming is needed. Al Gore and his celebrity loving, psuedo scientific friends need to be mocked for their hypocrisy and stupidity
Book Description
Global warming is the story of the twenty-first century. It is the most serious issue facing the future of humankind, and American energy and environmental policy is driving the whole world down the path of global catastrophe. Hell and High Water is nothing less than a wake-up call to the country. It is a searing critique of American environmental and energy policy and a passionate call to action by a writer with a unique command of the science and politics of climate change.
We have ten years, at most, to start making sharp cuts to our greenhouse gas emissions or we will face catastrophic consequences. The good news is that there is something we can do—but only if the leadership of the U.S. government acts immediately and asserts its influence on the rest of the world—in particular such emerging powers as China and India—to join an international effort to stop global warming.
Joseph Romm, an expert in the science, business, and politics of climate change, lays out a plan of action that involves:
- reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by midcentury
- adopting a California-style energy-efficiency effort nationwide
- embracing high-mileage, advanced "hybrid" cars that can run on both electricity and biofuels
Unfortunately, the required government policies and spending are strongly opposed by conservatives, who have blocked serious action on climate change and continue to publicly deny the dire warnings of scientists. Never before has there been such a sharp divergence between what top scientists know and what policymakers, the general public, and the media believe. And, sadly, never has so much been at stake.
Romm, who ran the largest program in the world that was concentrated on climate solutions, offers an authoritative dissection of this disastrous policy. Hell and High Water goes beyond ideological rhetoric to offer pragmatic solutions to avert the threat of global warming—solutions that must be taken seriously by every American.
Customer Reviews:
Alarming--because it's factual.......2007-08-17
As an environmental policy grad student, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what we're in for with climate change. But after reading this book I've realized that, oh no, it's worse than I thought. The book starts out by describing the nasty potential futures facing us if we fail to take sufficient action, and soon. This bit comes across as somewhat sensational, but Romm quickly moves in a very well done review of the scientific literature backing up the scary part. The account of the unified effort to deny the validity of climate change and delay action is also well executed.
Highly recommended for anyone who needs a little motivation to start caring about climate change!
Wake Up Call.......2007-06-10
It's time to wake up to what's going on with our world and what we're doing to it. As a long time participant in the petroleum and related industries worldwide it has long been evident that we are exhausting the world's resources at an unsustainable rate detrimental to life as we know it and to a livable environment. Damon A. Peteron
Great informative book.......2007-05-19
If you want the facts about global warming and what we need to do about it straight from the experts' mouths, this is the book for you. It covers everything about global warming from the media's bias to the various policies we need to implement to avoid catastrophic climate change, to the consequences if we fail to avoid it. Absolutely fantastic book.
Highly recommended.......2007-05-10
I thought this book was really interesting in explaining the US politics behind global warming and the what has not been done in recent years by the US to curb global warming. It goes into great detail about the issues the planet faces if we do not reduce our CO2 output into the atmosphere.
Good advice rarely is heeded...........2007-05-04
Romm brings quite a bit of expertise and gravitas to his arguments. Arguably in the know about government policy practices Romm lays out both a convincing scenario about global climate modification (see no GW balderdash!)and a set of coherent policy solutions to prevent the worst of the problem. Unfortunately, I agree that while a solution is "doable" it won't get done. Goodbye Florida, goodbye Louisiana!
Book Description
Climate variability has become the primary environmental concern of the 21st Century. Yet, despite the scientific community's warnings of the imminent dangers of global warming, politicians world-wide have failed to agree on what to do about this potentially devastating environmental problem. This introductory primer informs scientists, policy makers and the general public by clarifying the conflicting claims of the debate.
Customer Reviews:
The Case for Climate Change.......2007-04-06
The book takes a logical stance from the development of observations in science to a political conclusion and what to do about climate change. This is two books. One is the science of global warming and climate change. The other is about politics.
The science side is abbreviated. The authors avoid an in-depth discussion and rely mostly on correlations for explanation. A graph on page 74 is stunning. It is a better match than Gore's correlation from An Inconvenient Truth. I had only hoped that the authors had talked about laboratory results of experiments on greenhouse gases.
The politics side is wordy and a bit predictable, although Dessler and Parson do a good job in making a very logical and well-developed case.
Excellent work.......2007-02-26
How does science work? And how do politics work? How does it all fit together with the data that has come from various sources all over the planet - and is climate change real? All these questions are addressed in an easy read, very neutral. The authors take a firm stand on the issue finally, from a scientific perspective, and the result is clear: Yes, it is real, and it is coming at us, while politicans are incapable and totally overwhelmed by the problem. It is a new kind of threat nobody can deal with, thus we ignore it. Too much for us. Surprising to read from two high profile, Ex-NASA scientists from the US themselves. Alerting at the same time. A must read to be up to date with the debate or quickly get an overview. Stefan Klose - University of Ulm - Germany
Helpful guide to Global Climate Change.......2006-11-10
This is a good very good review of science and policy of Global Climate Change without bias esotheric science or paragraphs going nowhere.
Recomended to the reader who wants to make up their own mind. The book will find a use in introductory survey coures in High School and College.
More graphs and diagrams would have been helpful, although they are available to those scanning the internet.
A must-have for your collection.......2006-08-08
This is an excellent way into the subject for the beginner. There's some very sound science, most of which is agreed upon and a good understanding of how policy making works, or doesn't. The two ideas are brought together along with a discussion as to how we might proceed. One of the strengths of the book is the frequent use of boxes to put alternative viewpoints and summaries to show where we are in the debate. The overall effect is one of the most lucid and readable introductory accounts of the topic that has been published in some while. As such it should be seen as a 'must-buy' and an essential addition to the library.
Book Description
Ecuador is the third-largest foreign supplier of crude oil to the western United States. As the source of this oil, the Ecuadorian Amazon has borne the far-reaching social and environmental consequences of a growing U.S. demand for petroleum and the dynamics of economic globalization it necessitates. Crude Chronicles traces the emergence during the 1990s of a highly organized indigenous movement and its struggles against a U.S. oil company and Ecuadorian neoliberal policies. Against the backdrop of mounting government attempts to privatize and liberalize the national economy, Suzana Sawyer shows how neoliberal reforms in Ecuador led to a crisis of governance, accountability, and representation that spurred one of twentieth-century Latin America’s strongest indigenous movements.
Through her rich ethnography of indigenous marches, demonstrations, occupations, and negotiations, Sawyer tracks the growing sophistication of indigenous politics as Indians subverted, re-deployed, and, at times, capitulated to the dictates and desires of a transnational neoliberal logic. At the same time, she follows the multiple maneuvers and discourses that the multinational corporation and the Ecuadorian state used to circumscribe and contain indigenous opposition. Ultimately, Sawyer reveals that indigenous struggles over land and oil operations in Ecuador were as much about reconfiguring national and transnational inequalityâthat is, rupturing the silence around racial injustice, exacting spaces of accountability, and rewriting narratives of national belongingâas they were about the material use and extraction of rain-forest resources.
Customer Reviews:
Globalization on the ground in Amazonia.......2007-05-31
This is one of the best books on indigenous politics that has been written. The author's 20 years of experience in the Ecuadoran Amazonia show in the depth of her narrative and in her careful and accessible use of Foucault to draw out the complexities of indigenous identity, conceptions of nation and nationalism, and the impact of global forces. It is also beautifully written. Clearly, a labor of love and conviction by a scholar who has spent hours listening to indigenous activists , oil company officials, state officials, NGO workers, academics, and, most importantly native Ecuadorans of widely diverse political views and fashioned a wonderful book. If you are interested in all the complex political issues surrounding globalization as seen from the Amazon, you don't need a Ph.D to find this a great read
Average customer rating:
- great information, weak on analysis
- Informative and compelling
- great book, scared me to death !
- Critically important for environmentalists & students.
- Brilliance
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Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
Vandana Shiva
Manufacturer: South End Press
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: 0896086070 |
Book Description
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
Chapter 2 Soy Imperialism and the Destruction of Local Food Cultures
Chapter 3 The Stolen Harvest Under the Sea
Chapter 4 Mad Cows and Sacred Cows
Chapter 5 The Stolen Harvest of Seed
Chapter 6 Genetic Engineering and Food Security
Chapter 7 Reclaiming Food Democracy
Customer Reviews:
great information, weak on analysis.......2004-10-15
I'm afraid I must dissent from the rave reviews this book has gotten. It's a good book, but it's not wonderful. It's very strong at presenting the ways that the corporatization of food production is destructive of human health, the environment, and the livelihood of poor farmers, fisher folk and the like. There's lots of examples, lots of strong empirical data to back up Shiva's claims. Her analysis about why all this is going on is lacking though. It's not that I disagree with her critique of the WTO, multinational corporations, monoculture and her affirmation of the need for humanity to live in harmony with nature. It's just that she barely does more than sketch these arguments out. I understand that this is not meant to be an academic book, but she could have developed her points in much more depth, while still using accessible language and ideas. This book has potential it didn't achieve.
Informative and compelling.......2002-05-18
In this remarkable book, Vandana Shiva effectively contrasts corporate command-and-control methods of food production with the small farmer economy that predominates in the third world (especially in her native India). In contast to what many here in the U.S. might perceive as the conventional wisdom, Shiva makes a strong argument that local, small scale agriculture is superior to the agribusiness model for a number of reasons.
First, Shiva points out that many of the productivity gains attributable to the Green Revolution were achieved by dramatically increased inputs of fertilizer, seed and water. When one compares units of input with units of output, however, native practices produce higher yields -- especially when one takes into account the multiple uses derived from a single product.
For example, mustard oil is a vital product used by many of India's poor for cooking, seasoning, medicine and other uses. But it has been banned by the Indian government (under highly suspicious circumstances) in order to allow imports of soybean oil products. While giant corporations benefit from expanded sales, native industries have been destroyed, contibuting to poverty and malnourishment.
Shiva discusses the commercial fishing and aquaculture (shrimp farming) practices that inevitably result in environmental destruction and reduced catches. She compares this short-sighted approach with traditional Indian fishing techniques that have successfully sustained themselves for generations while protecting important ecosystems such as mangrove forests.
Shiva discusses corporate patenting of seeds, which insidiously transforms the cooperative ethic of seed sharing into a criminal offense. The author supports a non-cooperation movement in India that is resisting corporate attempts to claim ownership of seeds that have been cultivated by countless generations of farmers.
Shiva's sacred cow / mad cow metaphor effectively and appropriately contrasts agribusiness with small farming. India's sacred cows live in harmony with the environment, performing multiple services and producing multiple products for the community; whereas mad cows are a grotesque manifestation of an industrial system obsessed with uniformity, technology and profit.
Shiva also touches on the topic of genetic engineering (GE) and discusses the threat it poses to biodiversity, food safety and human health.
The Afterword to the book alludes to the WTO protests in Seattle. Shiva believes this watershed event proves that people are becoming more aware of the dangers of unaccountable corporate power, yet she believes that positive change is possible. This opening of consciousness to new possibilities may be attributable to the extraordinary work of people like Vandana Shiva, whose intelligence and compassion is abundantly evident in this book. Highly recommended!
great book, scared me to death !.......2001-09-29
this is a great book, i highly recomend it. i must warn you its not for the weak stomached, this book will CHANGE your view on the food you eat. i didnt eat for a week after reading this.
Critically important for environmentalists & students........2000-05-09
In Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking Of The Global Food Supply, renowned environmental activist Vandana Shiva charts the impacts of globalized, corporate agriculture on small farmers, the environment, and the quality of the food we eat. Shiva writes about genetically engineered seeds, patents on life, mad cows (and sacred cows), shrimp farming, and more. Stolen Harvest is a passionate, articulate, highly recommended "wake up" call to the public regarding the role of genetic engineering in commercial agriculture, the growing domination of agribusiness with respect to world food supplies, and the need for sound environmental thinking with respect to feeding the burgeoning populations of the world.
Brilliance.......2000-04-29
If you deplore the WTO and MN corporate control over the world's food supply through intellectual property rights and patents on genetically engineered seed - then reading Stolen Harvest is a must. Vandana Shiva brilliantly reveals the current crisis that Indian farmers are facing as Monsanto and other mega corps are jeopardizing the livelihoods of impoverished persons (worldwide) through seed monopoly and a centralized system of agriculture commerce. Shiva discusses the impact of industrial farming and aquaculture on the environment and how it stresses local populations and threatens the diversity of species. A MUST READ!
Book Description
Drawing together a distinguished cast of international contributors, this new edition offers a timely collection of essays that analyze key issues, institutions, laws, and policies for the protection of the global environment. In addition to crucial historical context on the development of global environmental organizations and treaties, chapter authors offer both engaging discussions of current and critical global environmental agreements and insight into national and international implementation of sustainable development principles. Returning contributors have thoroughly revised and updated their chapters, while six brand new chapters examine such important topics as regime theory, climate change, hazardous chemical controls, perspectives of the developing world, and the European Union's and United States' international environmental policies. A useful chronology of global environmental policy and a list of acronyms further aid students in critical reading, as well as review and study.
Customer Reviews:
strong, fun book.......2006-03-08
I purchased this book because I read a anohter book by one of the authors. I was very impressed and recommend it to everyone.
Book Description
Global warming has become the most important issue for the future of our planet, dominating news headlines and policy discussions. Stop Global Warming turns headlines into action, providing testimony of leading environmental activist Laurie David's own passionate work and showing how and why others (particularly young people) should get involved in this and other environmental issues. In accessible and inspiring prose, David explains that Global warming is not an opinion but a scientific reality, one that policy makers by and large have failed to address. Interspersed throughout the text, short statements by celebrities such as John Mayer and Jack Johnson, along with average Americans, will reinforce why halting global warming is so important to our future. An important book that will cause you to think more about our planet and change your habits, Stop Global Warming is required reading for the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Very Interesting Read.......2007-03-22
I recieved a signed copy of the book from Laurie David herself and I was instantly hooked from the forward onwards. While most of what she suggests we do to stop global warming is common sense, it's very interesting nonetheless. She clearly shows much passion for this cause and I d as well.
too basic.......2007-03-19
I had been hoping for some more creative ideas. The book was fairly preachy about the need to combat global warming but since I was already concerned enough to buy the book I didn't need to be further convinced. Plus, the solutions the book proposed were so basic that unless energy conservation was a totally new concept to the reader there was nothing new. I was very disapointed and if it wasn't for the energy I would use in sending the book back I wouldn't have kept it.
Totally misleading.......2007-02-15
Well, first of all, with China and India the two biggest nations, and the two fastest developing nations, who are both exempt from any Kyoto protocols, building coal power generation plants and buying oil as fast as they can, one thing is completely certain:
All of us in the developed nations can reduce our CO2 emmissions to ZERO without having the slightest effect on the current rate of increase in Greenhouse gasses.
But why do we take it on faith that we would even want too?
The paleoclimatological evidence points out two very significant periods in history since the end of the last Ice Age where the earth was very warm. In each case it was a wetter world. When the first of those periods ended, the Saharan lakes dried up, the flourishing civilization there was scattered, and the Sahara desert was born. In the most recent cooling, the most advanced civilization in North America, the Anasazi, was also destroyed. That cooling period, which we know as the Little Ice Age, may have also wiped out the Mayans, but certainly destroyed the Viking colonies in Greenland when they could no longer grow crops there, and caused the many scattered lakes that dotted the Arabian Penninsula to dry up.
There a few scattered exceptions, but the overall evidence is that these were global effects that made for wetter conditions and were of vast benefit to man.
So is there any evidence that the current warming trends might be making the same alterations to the rainfall in drought stricken areas? Indeed yes. Type in Sahel and rainfall in any search engine to see what is beginning to happen (the Sahel is sub Saharan Africa, where the photos of emaciated babies come from). It's starting to RAIN!
So before you try to save the beaches at Malibu and Martha's Vinyard, think of the poor people in Darfur, and how great it would be if this respite from decades of horrible drought wasn't "fixed" before it really got going.
A Great Inspiration as to What EACH of Us Can Do!.......2007-01-20
I picked up this book at the library's NEW section...What a find! Ever since I saw Gore's movie, I've been very troubled about Global Warming...it trumps all other problems on the planet if it destroys the planet! (duh!). The other day I answered a telephone poll as to "what do you feel is the biggest problem facing the world today?" When I answered "Global Warming!" The pollster sounded surprised, like she'd never heard that as an answer before and said, "What?" Global Warming, I repeated. "I'm sorry, did you say, you think _'Global Warming'_ is the biggest problem facing the World today?" "Yes!" I said. Geez, is that so far fetched?
So obviously, despite Gore's fascinating and convincing movie...it still needs more publicity, which, thankfully Laurie David continues to provide in this gem of a book.
My daughter asked the other day, "Mom, what can we do to stop global warming?" Well, now I can quickly offer some tangible things beyond the usual...recycle, drive less, walk more, turn off the lights...because Laurie offers so much more insight as well as many more ideas. She concedes that if we do one thing thinking we're helping, like request paper(uh oh, it cuts down virgin trees)or plastics (Akk! they're made with petroleum oil), she points out alternative consequences can be just as bad on the environment-- so most of all we need to demand recycling be made easy for EVERYONE.
We need to demand leadership from politicians to look for real, long term solutions! Since she wrote the book, thank God we have a new (dem.) chair of the Senate's Environment & Public Works Committe who recognizes the reality of Global Warming. The last, Sen. Jim Inofe(R-OK) refused to accept the science, he instead "led" the Committee into waiting for more evidence! Which sounds a lot like President Bush, who is too closed minded to even watch Gore's movie.
As Laurie notes: Republicans/Democrats/Independents, we ALL need to take action or we will destroy much of the earth in as little as (she predicts to help us get off our butts) 5 more years (judging by the faster- than-expected-rate the polar ice caps are melting).
Laurie, if you're reading this review (and all other interested in finding solutions to the CO2 emmission asap) PLEASE check out a book on the Combustion Engine by Edwin Black. Laurie, I had the same SUV revelation you described when I heard him speak about his new book on CSPAN radio the other evening. But you, Laurie have the power/credibility/connections to do for him what you did for Al Gore's slide show. It could be another, even higher, high point of your career...and just might save the Earth.
I mean who has heard of Edwin Black? Obviously he does not have the name recognition or get the publicity Gore does, though he's been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize 10 times.
Anyway, Black tells FASCINATING, little known tales --going all the way back to ancient civilization--as to how we came to our oil dependency for transportation in the first place which gives so much power to middle eastern states (you may have read in Fast Food Nation how corporate greed destroyed California's clean, cheap trolley system? But did you know that the _original_ clean electric "horseless carriage" invention was discarded in favor of noisy, dirty gasoline burning engines because the dirty, faster going engines were considered more "manly" and it took brute strength to crank them... while the sissy "ladies" electric cars started with just the touch of a button?
And that Thomas Edison was collaborating with Ford on a clean transportation solution and was on the verge of introducing it to clean up all the soot cars were leaving everywhere, when rivals, who favored the dirty engines for economic reasons, burned down (despite fireproof walls!) workshop!
But most important, Black has a very plausible Green Fleet idea: if corporate fleets (Fed Ex, UPS, Postal Services) DEMAND electric cars--he warns that hybrids only postpone the problem--that are NOT oil dependent--the motor companies will build them so fast our heads will spin!
Please check it out, Laurie. It is such an inspiration to me that you've done so much to educate me and millions like me who didn't have a clue.
Thanks for this book and for putting Global Warming on the front page! Please keep going! (P.S. I loved your dedication. I guess we all need to thank Larry David for telling you it would be "Easier to change the world than me!" :)
Weak effort.......2006-12-30
We recently heard Laurie David speak and purchased this book later. I can't say we got much out of it. First, I guess you can say it is compact, but that is because there are only 54 pages of content. Second, if you've not lived in a cave for the last year, you have to be somewhat familiar with the basic issue of global warming. I recognize that is largely due to Laurie's role in An Inconvenient Truth, a defining event in raising public conciousness.
Short advice, spend you money on a donation to NRDC or buy World Changing and skip this book.
Book Description
In this age of instant communication and biotechnology, and on this ever-smaller planet, what kinds of problems have we created for ourselves? And, once we identify these problems, how do we tackle them in a world where the accustomed nation-state methods may be reaching their natural limits?
In High Noon, J.F. Rischard challenges us to solve the problems of the twenty-first century with a new approach to global problem-solving. Defining and then offering a brief overview of the twenty most important and urgent global problems, Rischard finds that they all have two things in common: They're getting worse, not better, and the standard strategies for dealing with them, such as international treaties and on-and-off gatherings of governments, are woefully inadequate to the task. The real problem, in other words, is that in our increasingly crowded, fast-moving, interconnected world, we don't have an effective way of addressing the problems that such a world creates. Our difficulties belong to the present and the future, but our means of solving them belong to the past.
Rischard proposes new vehicles for global problem-solving that would be acknowledged by governments but that would function as extra-governmental bodies devoted to particular problems. Their powers would not be legal but normative: They would produce globally recognized standards and would then monitor and single out the nations and organizations that were not cooperating.
No previous book has presented such a unified appraisal of this century's global problems or offered such a consistent and well-defined approach to solving them. With its clear-eyed urgency and refreshing specificity, High Noon is an agenda-setting book that everyone who cares about the future must read.
Customer Reviews:
Practical Bottom Line on Saving Planet--Do It or Lose It.......2003-05-30
Having read perhaps 20 of the best books on global issues and environmental sustainability, water scarcity, ocean problems, etc, over the past few years (most reviewed here on Amazon) I was prepared for a superficial summary, political posturing, and unrealistic claims. Not this book--this book is one of the finest, most intelligent, most easily understood programs for action I have ever seen. The book as a whole, and the 20 problem statements specifically, are concise, illustrated, and sensible.
The author breaks the 20 issues into 3 groups. Group one (sharing our planet)includes global warming; biodiversity and ecosystem losses, fisheries depletion, deforestation, water deficits, and maritime safety and pollution. Group two (sharing our humanity) includes massive step-up in the fight against poverty, peacekeeping-conflict prevention-combatting terrorism, education for all, global infectuous diseases, digital divide, and natural disaster prevention and mitigation. Group three (sharing our rule book) includes reinventing taxation for the 21st century, biotechnology rules, global financial architecture, illegal drugs, trade-investment-competition rules, intellectual property rights, e-commerce rules, and international labor and migration rules.
The author's core concept for dealing with these complex issues intelligently, while recognizing that "world government" is not an option, lies with his appreciation of the Internet and how global issues networks could be created that would be a vertical complement to the existing horizontal elements of each national government.
The footnotes and index are professional, but vastly more important, the author's vision is combined with practicality. This is a "doable-do" and this book is therefore my number one reading recommendation for any citizen buying just one book of the 360+ that I have recommended within Amazon. Superb.
Highly Recommended for Those Interested in the Future.......2002-07-17
I attended a lecture the author gave summarizing his book. If you're interested in globalization, the environment, or any other global problems, I highly recommend reading this book. It was deliberately limited in length, so it is a really quick read... about 5 pages for each of 20 problems and an additional 100 pages or so presenting the general problems and his proposed solution.
Important and Accessible.......2002-07-03
Amazon's observation is interesting - "No previous book has presented such a unified appraisal of this century's global problems or offered such a consistent and well-defined approach to solving them." If that is so, this book is important. Rischard's issues are not and do not pretend to be all inclusive, but they are self-evidently urgent and of global import. The book also left me thinking that Rischard's tentative solution framework may relate to other issues... High Noon deserves the attention of all well meaning and globally minded people.
Average customer rating:
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Managing Protected Areas: A Global Guide
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Protected Area Management: Principles and Practice
ASIN: 1844073033 |
Book Description
Written by a team of leading international experts and practitioners specifically for professionals, students, and academics, this book covers the full terrain of protected area management. Employing dozens of detailed international case studies, hundreds of concise topical snapshots, maps, tables, illustrations and a color plate section, as well as evaluation tools, checklists and numerous appendices, this invaluable guide covers all aspects of park management, including governance, management and administration processes; capacity building; sustainability practice and sustainable use; natural heritage management, and more.
Integrating the social sciences, geography, and biological sciences, this book is the international benchmark for protected area management for all professionals worldwide, from planners, economists, and managers to field staff, for all geographic and jurisdictional contexts and for students and academics teaching in natural resource management, geography, and environmental and protected area management.
Published with IUCN.
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Arsenic, cadmium, lead, beryllium: industrial byproducts so toxic it is illegal to dump them into the air or water. Yet, through a loophole in "the crazy semantics of waste disposal," these same hazardous wastes are being applied to the food we eat. And until a small-town mayor from a farming community in Washington State became suspicious, nobody knew. Mayor Patty Martin is a whistleblower as extraordinary as Karen Silkwood and Erin Brockovich--smart, persistent, courageous, and overwhelmingly dedicated to her cause even when the town that elected her turned against her. Martin's obsession with hazardous waste in fertilizer began when she met Dennis DeYoung, a local farmer whose land was rendered infertile after the Cenex/Land O'Lakes company paid him to spread the residue from their fertilizer rinse pond on his land. But there was more than fertilizer residue there--it was a witches' brew of hazardous metals, cancer-causing chemicals, and even radioactive materials that hadn't been produced by the company itself. DeYoung and Martin wanted to know how they got there and why.
Duff Wilson, an investigative journalist for the Seattle Times, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his series "Fear in the Fields--How Hazardous Wastes Become Fertilizer," which formed the basis of this book. While the articles prompted a modicum of action in Washington State and elsewhere, complacency allows the practice to continue even now. Expanded into book form, this impassioned exposé about an alarming trend takes on even more power as Wilson and Martin ask questions the EPA has been unwilling to answer: Why should there be a limit on the amount of lead in paint and dioxin in cement but not in the fertilizer spread over farmlands and gardens? And is there a correlation between the widespread use of toxins in fertilizers and the phenomenal rise in childhood illnesses and cancers since the early 1980s? --Lesley Reed
Book Description
I see soil in a new light, and I wonder about my own lawn and garden. What have I sprinkled on my backyard? Is somebody using my home, my food, to recycle toxic waste? It seems unbelievable, outlandish -- but what if it's true?
A riveting exposÉ, Fateful Harvest tells the story of Patty Martin -- the mayor of a small Washington town called Quincy -- who discovers American industries are dumping toxic waste into farmers' fields and home gardens by labeling it "fertilizer." She becomes outraged at the failed crops, sick horses, and rare diseases in her town, as well as the threats to her children's health. Yet, when she blows the whistle on a nationwide problem, Patty Martin is nearly run out of town.
Duff Wilson, whose Seattle Times series on this story was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, provides the definitive account of a new and alarming environmental scandal. Fateful Harvest is a gripping study of corruption and courage, of recklessness and reckoning. It is a story that speaks to the greatest fears -- and ultimate hope -- in us all.
Customer Reviews:
Whats in your food?.......2006-07-06
The answer is who knows? In this impressive work of muckracking journalism, the author tells the story of Patty Martin, Dennis DeYoung, and the various other protagonists and antagonists set in Quincy, Washington. Mayor Martin begins to notice in the 1990s that some of the farmers in her town are suffering sudden, catastrophic failurs of crops and livestock deaths. Many of these failures share similar symptoms. She and some others in this small town also notice that individuals within their community are falling sick and dying from rare diseases and cancers. Thru hard work, personal charisma, patience, and a bit of paranoia, the mayor and some friends begin to piece together a picture of how companies sell toxic waste to fertilizer companies, which in turn sell them to farmers. In essence, they hope that the solution to pollution is dilution. And it is all entirely legal according to federal and many state laws. Mayor Martin and her friends; who call themselves the Water Group, start to publicize this knowledge and challenge the practices. In return, they get ostracized by their fellow citizens, their former friends, even their own family members.
In steps Duff Wilson of the Seattle Times. Suddenly this story picks up traction in the national press and government regulators come calling. The ensuing revelations show that this practice is actually well-known within the EPA and government circles, but they in effect obey industry. The amount of money saved by companies, both the fertilizer companies and the original generators of the toxic waste, are too much to turn down for many companies.
Because of the press, some charges are filed and some fines are levied. A happy ending you suppose? No, Mayor Martin loses re-election; her allies in Quincy suffer bankrupties, social isolation, some move away to other states, and others just plain give up the struggle. Cenex is the primary culprit in the case of Quincy, but there is enough blame to go around. Many of the locals don't want to hear any word of this because they fear it will damage their livelihoods as farmers. Some get retribution in return. Several of Martin's critics and enemies and some of the primary defenders of Cenex within the community start falling sick from rare illnesses and die. All in all, this is the most incredible story of how greed has corrupted America that I have ever read. I recommend it to everyone.
Why aren't you outraged?.......2005-09-02
It wil amaze you the lengths that those in power will go to to cover up and legitimize an outright crime against human health. This story will anger and inspire you. I flew through it in a couple of nights and couldn't believe that Patty Martin, like Erin Brockovich, is not a household name. What courage! I just wonder what it will take for those in power to see the error in their ways-perhaps their own child getting leukemia or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease rampant in Quincy, where the book takes place.
Excellent book and about time.......2003-05-10
When this book talks about how the effects of heavy metals are not seen right away, I know this to be very true. Look at the autism epidemic and look at the amount of heavy metals that are in these autistic children. They don't just have too much mercury, they also are showing excessive levels of lead, arsenic, antimony, aluminum, etc. So is this how the effects of hazardous waste in fertilizer are showing up?
Nowhere to turn........2002-12-11
"Fateful Harvest" was easy to read but the facts presented left me outraged and saddened. Read the book and learn of the magic trick of turning toxic waste with costly disposal fees into a product to sell, fertilizer. Fertilizer which is laced with heavy metals that will end up in our food in increasing amounts as the accumulation in the soil increases. Learn how the average citizen, small town mayor and farmer have zero ability to impact business practices which are supported by the government despite years of heroic effort and the expose of this book. Despite minimal cosmetic changes, the practice goes on, and is apparently unstoppable, leaving nowhere to turn.
Excellent.......2002-07-08
This book is excellent. Everyone should read it and find out what is in our food.
Books:
- Social Work, Social Welfare And American Society
- Superpower Syndrome: America's Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World
- Terrorism, Freedom, and Security: Winning Without War
- The Activist's Handbook: A Primer Updated Edition with a New Preface
- The American Legislative Process: Congress and the States (10th Edition)
- The Case Against Lawyers: How the Lawyers, Politicians, and Bureaucrats Have Turned the Law into an Instrument of Tyranny--and What We as Citizens Have to Do About It
- The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
- The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas
- The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
- The Flight of the Eisenstein (Horus Heresy)
Books Index
Books Home
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- En el tiempo de las mariposas
Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism)
The Chilling Stars: The New Theory of Climate Change
The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World
