Reviews (7)

informative read
I first checked this book out at the library, then checked it out again, then realized that I really needed to buy it because there was an awful lot of useful information packed into it. And as the guardian of nine dogs and cats, I predict this book will be nearby for a long time to come.

For those of you who look askance at so-called "alternative" or "holistic" veterinary medicine, you will get a new slant on Chinese medicine as applied to dogs and cats through this book. Written by a DVM, it's the kind of medical book that is interesting enough to be read from cover to cover (and then returned to again and again for specific help on various conditions). It's not just a how-to book; it also explains the philosophy behind Chinese medicine so that you understand why specific herbs, or diets, or acupressure points are used to treat particular conditions. This book serves as a great introduction to the complex world of Chinese medicine.

I recommend it for anyone with dogs and cats who has an open mind.

brilliant!
As a long time practioner of TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine I believe this to be one of the three must-haves. Schwartz introduces and elaborates on TCM thoroughly and concisely. It is a wonderfully informatve book for someone new to TCM or a practioner. When owned, one will find themselves referencing it again and again. The text and charts are easily navigated. It will open ones eyes about the roots and practical applications of TCM. Readers will wish they owned a guide just like it for humans. Schwartz has compiled all of the information it would take the average person months to research, all the while painting a clear picture of the procedures and their benefits. Well written, pleasant read. Once again, a must own.

Not very practical
This is one of the most impractical books on holistic care for animals that I have ever read.

A great book to always have
If you believe in herbs, chinese medicine, acupuncture, and acupressure you will love this book. It has lots of information on helping your pet with the correct foods, too. Knowledge of chinese medicine is helpful in interpreting how to relate the information for practical use.

Excellent Intro to TCM for Cats & Dogs
As a student of TCM and animal nutrition consultant I can't recommend Dr. Schwartz' book highly enough. You simply couldn't ask for a better introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine for cats and dogs. In the first section, Dr. Schwartz introduces us to the theory behind TCM. She explains the basics of the Five Element Theory, the Meridians, the Eight Principles, and the Vital Essences in a way that is easy to understand even without prior knowledge of TCM.
Section two begins with a chapter on diagnosis using the Traditional Chinese physical exam. In the following chapters, Dr. Schwartz introduces the primary holistic therapies used in TCM: Herbology, Food Therapy, and Acupressure/Acupuncture (emphasis is on acupressure and this chapter is illustrated with color photos of dogs and cats depicting the meridians as well as acupressure points).
In section three the information from sections one and two is applied to correct a variety of health imbalances. Dr. Schwartz recommends herbs (Chinese & Western), dietary modifications, nutritional supplements, and acupressure points for health conditions/imbalances involving the eyes, ears, nose and upper respiratory system, teeth and gums, lungs, heart, liver and gall bladder, spleen/pancreas and stomach, kidneys and urinary bladder, large intestine, bones and muscle, skin, and the immune system and glands. It's wonderful to see a book on natural remedies that focuses on correcting the underlying imbalance instead of simply using herbs and supplements to eliminate symptoms. Highly recommended! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

A valuable guide to outer and inner awareness
This is an unusual book in which hard core tracking tips are blended with instructions on cultivation of the inner silence. As opposed to other stories about tracking which border the domain of fiction (e.g., "The Way of the Scout"), Brown gives us in this Field Guide practical advice on reading animal tracks, constructing shelters etc. The tips on "Nature Observation" in this field guide are unsurpassed by any other tracking book I know. TB provides us with priceless descriptions of what happens the moment we enter the forest - that is, how the alarm signal spreads from the birds to mammals and how long it takes for it to subside. The forest he is talking about is a living entity, where everything is connected and where one can plug into the circuits of the information flow by learning to listen to the sounds, by studying the terrain and the wind and by knowing how to camouflage and mask one's smell. The book provides useful info on various types of walking/stalking in the woods. Finally, there is deep reverence for nature something which occurs when one has learnt to be silent amidst the whispering trees (no mean trick for the Westerner who tends to function through the head). Tom Brown has learnt the inner silence tricks from his Apache teacher ("the Grandfather") and trackers might find this book useful for learning more about Native American attitudes toward nature. A similar approach to nature is encountered in some of Paul Rezendes' books (which i also recommend). In short, this book will be useful to those who are interested in approaching nature on its own terms. It will inspire the beginners in tracking and complement knowledge of hard core SAR UTS trackers (:)

Exiting!!!!!!!
This book gave me a renewed enthusiasm for nature and an urgent need to be outdoors, I wanted to do everything he was teaching as I was reading it. I went right out and practiced his techniques as soon as possible during and after reading this book. I've never seen so much wildlife as I do now. It has made me a better outdoorsman and has given more meaning to my time spent outdoors. I can't wait to share it with my father who taught me some basics of tracking when I was a boy. This book taught me all the stuff I wished I had learned long ago, now i must make up for lost time I spent with my eyes closed to the things that connect me with the earth.

Beyond Hiking and Camping
This book guides you to a deeper communion and awareness of nature not possible through the ordinary outdoor pursuits most authors write about. Here you will learn the basics of camouflage, observation, and movement which opens the door to seeing more in the outdoors then you thought possible. After reading this book for the first time, I took Brown's advice and simply sat down in the woods. Within fifteen minutes a woodchuck came blithely walking by totally oblivious to my presence. That was more wildlife than I had seen on a dozen previous hikes or camping trips. It was the starting point of twenty years of exploration and discovery and the end of mindlessly walking along trails and missing everything along the way. In this book Brown takes you beyond the "veneer" most other tracking guides cover. He helps you learn how to age tracks, identify the animal's sex, and read the animal's movements and emotions from the shapes and forms found around the track. Brown teaches through stories and experiences that brings tracking to life. This is in stark contrast to the dull didactic recitation of measurements and readings most other books provide. If you ever wondered if Native Americans could really track like the Apache in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the answer is here because Brown learnt everything he knows from an Apache Native American. Are you tired of returning from long hikes or camping trips only to feel that you somehow missed something? then get this book and welcome to Tom Brown's incredible world of adventure and discovery. Keep one thing in mind however, this book is only the beginning. It's up to you to decide how far along this path you want to walk.

There are better
An o.k. introduction to the subject, I suppose, but there are better on tracking itself, such as James Halfpenny's A Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America, which simply presents serious, hard information, and outstanding illustrations, on family and species track characteristics, gaits and interpreting them, etc., without the mystical mumbo-jumbo of Brown's book(s). This book will help you become more aware of nature, as did the several courses I took at Brown's school in the early '80s, but I have since become very skeptical of much of what Brown has said and written. (And compare the illustrations of tracks in Brown's book to the illustrations in Murie's A Field Guide to Animal Tracks, from Houghton Mifflin, published earlier.)

probably the best of its kind
everything you need to know to observe nature more effectively. Good tips on stalking, camo and tracking. Brown at times gets "too close" to nature with his "way-of-the-indian-spirit-myths." ... Read more

Book Description

"[The Little Ice Age] could do for the historical study of climate what Michel Foucault's classic Madness and Civilization did for the historical study of mental illness: make it a respectable subject for scholarly inquiry." --Scientific American.

The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable, and often very cold years of modern European history, how this altered climate affected historical events, and what it means for today's global warming. Building on research that has only recently confirmed that the world endured a 500year cold snap, renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan shows how the increasing cold influenced familiar events from Norse exploration to the settlement of North America to the Industrial Revolution. This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in history, climate, and how they interact. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Pertinent even to our own times.
Since I had found Brian Fagan's book Floods, Famines and Emperors very thought provoking, I decided to read his more recent book The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850. I was not disappointed.

Professor Fagan carries on a tradition (which he freely admits was discredited in the past but is now enjoying a renaissance because of newer information) of viewing history through the eyes of a paleoclimatologist. Much of what he had said in the earlier text, namely that many of mankind's major social and cultural transitions have been climate and weather driven, made a good deal of sense to me. Episodes such as the Sea People's invasion of the ancient Levant with the ultimate collapse of the Hittite empire and the reduction of the Egyptian during the late second millennium B.C.E. have long been thought to have been the result of droughts experienced in northern Europe. Similarly the demise of the Moche in Peru, of the Mayan civilizations in Middle America, and of the pueblo cultures in the Southwestern US are believed to have been the result of el Nino/la Nina weather changes, massive rains in the case of the Moche and severe drought in the latter two cases. Although no one would say that any of these historic human changes occurred purely in response to climate, it is abundantly apparent that the economic impact of especially prolonged climate changes on large subsistence level populations tend to leave the more inflexible social systems at great risk.

The earlier book described the probable role of el Nino/ la Nina cycles on world climate, while more briefly discussing the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and it's effects. It was also concerned with much earlier cultures. The current book discusses the North Atlantic Oscillation in much greater detail and outlines it's specific effects on the climate and social environment of Europe and North America during more recent times. The material is dealt with in a very clear manner and was not difficult to understand even with my average person's more casual understanding of weather and climate.

Because the history is of events in more recent time, especially in the last half of the book, the narrative clearly has greater implications for the modern reader than the earlier book does. The Irish potato famine, for instance, was an event of great social significance whose impact on the modern politics in the United Kingdom and on the population demographics of the United States and Australia continues to this day. Certainly pertinent is the lesson of the political upheavals suffered by European governments in the 18th and 19th centuries. Those that ignored the precariousness of the lives experienced by the bulk of their population, choosing to do little or nothing to alleviate their suffering during famines, did so at their own peril. Those that refused to improve their management of their agricultural and natural environment also suffered more acutely. Even now as over half of the world's population suffers from hunger, poor sanitation, little or no health care, and a growing sense of hopelessness, the governments and people of the developed world face similar challenges and choices. Dealing with the inequities and injustices has now grown from a national to a global scale, but ignoring them could easily have the same consequences as it did for the upper and lower classes of the nascent nations. Similarly, the degeneration of the environment through overpopulation and mismanagement is looming large on our international horizon and can not be ignored for much longer.

My only complaint is that the last half of the book is riddled with dates to the point of distraction. I realize that accuracy is much to be appreciated when it comes to historic events, but in this case "before" and "after," "earlier" or "later" might have been perfectly adequate. I found that as long as I was aware of the general character of the times, its historic personalities and events, I could ignore the dates without being too misled as to time frame. I am aware that individuals like Eric the Red and Lief Erickson were not contemporary with Louis the XVI or Napoleon but that Thomas Jefferson was, etc. Someone less familiar with the events of history might find the dates more helpful.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in climatology, paleoclimatology, social change, and early modern history. For those with an interest in earlier cultures, I'd suggest Fagin's previous book Floods, Famines and Emperors

Interesting history with a loose scientific connection
This book describes the climatic hardships experienced by the Western world during the period 1300 to 1850, known informally as The Little Ice Age. Fagan, an experienced writer of books on archeology and history, does a fine job of conveying the past impacts of climate shifts on societies. He writes that "climate change is the ignored player on the historical stage." He extrapolates forward, warning us of the potential for major climatic changes in the future caused at least in part by human activity. He is less successful in drawing linkages between the scientific findings of climatology and historical events, leaving those connections implied rather than stated. More description of the science would have been helpful, as well as an acknowledgement that the degree of scientific certainty still is under debate.

Drought, discontent and decapitation
A few years ago historians proposing history was driven by climate aroused a squall of controversy. Global warming, so clearly impacted, if not driven, by humanity is leading to greater acceptance of the interaction of weather and society. Fagan's history of a period of mildly cooler conditions shows how a little change can have immense impact on the human situation. It takes little variation in "temperature", he shows, to change patterns of rainfall, crop success or failure and resulting social disruption. A phase of the Little Ice Age may not have brought the downfall of the French monarchy, he notes. Crop failures compounded with a selfish aristocracy demonstrates capped a long period of discontent with decapitation.

Reading Fagan's account of the impact of climate over half a millennium can be a daunting task. Although the focus on the period from 1300 to 1850 is largely European, that's merely due to the extensive written records kept there. The variations in climate were global and Fagan rushes you from place to place to demonstrate the impact of trends and "weather events". Scampering about the planet in time and space can be disconcerting, but there's a reason for his peripatetic approach. He wants you to avoid falling into the trap our ancestors did - thinking that a few freak storms or dry years will smooth out over time. If these events impinge on a weak social framework, disaster can, as it has before, follow. In modern times, with our huge global population, he reminds us, "smoothing out" is unlikely. Without the means to counter the effects on society of global warming, the result will be far more serious than ridding the world of another monarch.

Fagan's challenge to the reader is far greater than tripping about the globe. He wants you to understand the wide variety of subtle changes inherent in global weather patterns. A small change here means the loss of a whole fishery industry. Small drops in temperature there result in widespread drought, population dislocation or deprivation. Governments, and their supporting societies, need to instill programmes that can adjust to these changes. Social adjustments that modify lifestyle or inhibit vague promises of prosperity in order to provide survival mechanisms must be implemented. Short-term benefit programmes must be viewed with suspicion, he reminds us. Too many have already been proven illusory, and must not be repeated. And wholly unanticipated events, such as volcanoes, must be factored into the planning. The book's cap, "The Year Without A Summer", has been shown to be a significant time in the history of North America. When an eruption half-way around the world leads to crop failure in New England, the need for planning becomes starkly evident. Today's global warming suggests many little volcanoes are compromising climate stability. All those little volcanoes are called "automobiles".

With a captivating theme and an expressive prose style, this book is an excellent read. Fagan's use of graphics and maps enhances an already fine volume. Although the title gives the impression that it's a work of history, Fagan demonstrates clearly that conditions long ago are exemplary for modern times. We may have mechanised farming, for example, but the world exists on conditions no less marginal than they were in Medieval times. The same triggers, volcanic eruptions and, most importantly, the North Atlantic Oscillation controlling Europe's rainfall, El Nino and other anomalies, are set to invoke unpredictable conditions. He explains these forces with skill and clarity. You will learn much more than some historical pedantry from this book. If you fail to read it, your children, huddled around a weak fire, may ask you why. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Climatic shifts and the course of history
Brian Fagan claims that "we can now track the Little Ice Age as an intricate tapestry of short-term climatic shifts that rippled through European society during times of remarkable change - seven centuries that saw Europe emerge from medieval fiefdom and pass by stages through the Renaissance, the Age of Discovery, the Enlightenment, the French and Industrial revolutions, and the making of modern Europe."

The interesting question is to what extent did these climatic shifts alter the course of European history?

In some distinct cases, in my opinion, the answer is quite clear-cut. Norse settlement in Greenland, for example, became impossible because of the cooler temperatures after the 13th century. Famine in rural areas throughout the Middle Ages was also an undisputed consequence of sudden weather shifts. The damage done to the Spanish Armada in 1588 by two savage storms is patently climatic in origin, too.

In most cases, however, the climate is just one - mostly minor - factor out of many that contributed to the occurrence of major historical events like the French Revolution, for example. Fagan rightly calls climatic change "a subtle catalyst." Finally, if we look at historical developments that unfolded over centuries - like the Renaissance or the making of modern Europe - the influence of the climate does not explain anything.

A book like Fagan's "The Little Ice Age" is most interesting for historians who examine grass roots history, such as the daily lives of farmers and fishermen in the Middle Ages. At first I thought the climate would provide answers for economic historians, too. But as Fagan shows, the human response to deteriorating weather differs widely from region to region. The conservative French farmers stuck to growing wheat, which is notably intolerant of heavy rainfall, whereas English and Dutch farmers diversified their crop (and became much less vulnerable to bad weather). The weather alone does not explain this development. Obviously, an economic historian who is interested in the question "why are people better off in this country (or region, society, etc.) than elsewhere?" has to look to other factors than the weather when he seeks for answers.

So far, the climate has been a footnote in World History. Nonetheless, this footnote can be quite interesting, as "The Little Ice Age" shows. The book is divided into four parts. Part One describes the Medieval Warm Period, roughly from 900 to 1200. Parts Two and Three describe how people reacted to the cooling weather, and how devastating climatic changes are for societies whose agriculture is at subsistence level. Part Four covers the end of the Little Ice Age and the sustained warming of modern times. All four parts make for fascinating, sometimes even disturbing reading; and for the reader new to the field Fagan offers the basic explanations of the effects of oceanic currents and air pressure on the climate in Europe.

Bottom line: A good introduction to the subject aimed at the general reading public. It largely exploits earlier literature on the subject, however. And while asking very broad questions, the book bases its answers on a narrow range of data mostly pertaining to northern Europe.

A Different Historical Perspective
The Little Ice Age is an examination of the effects of the five hundred year long period from 1300 to 1800, when Europe suffered through a period of intense and unstable weather. Fagan does not blame every historical incident on the NAO, or North Atlantic Oscillation, but does make a good case that fluctuations in the NAO have intensified the effects of such disparate incidents as the Black Death epidemic, the Irish potato famine, the Great Fire of London, and many other events. Fagan also does a good job of pointing out that we are presently living in an apparent warm spell, intensified by the greenhouse effect, and helps us recognize the potential for sudden, perhaps catastrophic change in our weather systems. I'm amazed by the amount of research Fagan did in tracking the rise and fall of glaciers and the paths of five hundred year old storms. A great read which will help you recognize the delicate balance of our global weather systems. ... Read more

Book Description

The only book on the market to offer complete coverage of the topic, Software Configuration Management explores the full spectrum of configuration management techniques. It delineates a common approach to problems that any team-based development environment requires. Managers and members of development teams can then use a common, multipurpose approach to overcome everyday obstacles encountered in controlling software projects. The book teaches how development problems can be identified or avoided and discusses management, planning, and measurement. Written in an easy-to-read style, the book emphasizes simple techniques, uses real-world examples, and offers a wealth of templates and samples. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Best book on SCM (and CM) I own
If I could use only one of the stack of SCM books I own to guide me through an implementation and serve as reference this book would be it. The reasons for this bold statement are:

- it's comprehensive in coverage, starting with an in-depth introduction that clearly explains software configuration management as a discipline and process area, its benefits, and an overview of implementation issues, to details on every aspect of performing and managing software configuration.

- it addresses SCM from both software engineering and project management perspectives.

- it's based on established standards (MIL-STD-973 and EIA-649).

To readers who are working in agile environments that employ rapid development and implementation approaches the MIL-STD-973 and EIA-649 standards upon which this book is based may raise a red flag. To assuage concerns about introducing what many may perceive to be heavy, bureaucratic standards to processes designed for fast paced implementation, SCM is one area that requires checkpoints and a methodical process to ensure quality. As you read this book you'll find that neither MIL-STD-973 or EIA-649 are inherently cumbersome, especially if tailored to your specific project or development environment.

Highlights of this book, aside from the detailed treatment of every facet of SCM, are the copious use of tables and graphics to summarize or clarify key concepts and how processes work, and the wealth of artifacts contained in the appendices. The appendices alone are worth the price of this book because they provide templates, guidelines and checklists, and forms that you can immediately use. Note, though, that many of these artifacts are also provided in other books from the publisher, and some such as the DoD Engineering Change Proposal may not be applicable to your objectives (although they will be useful if tailored).

As you read this book you'll discover that general configuration management principles are also introduced, expanding the usefulness to integrators as well as software engineers. What I especially like is how the book never loses sight of the relationship between SCM and quality, the way metrics are identified and presented, and the interrelationship between configuration management and maintenance.

I personally believe that this book is the best there is for implementing and employing a strong SCM process, which is critical to any software or integration project. ... Read more

Book Description

Contemporary legislation respecting environmental protection and public health, at both national and international levels, are based on data that characterize chemical properties of environmental phenomena, especially those that reside in our food chain. Thus, environmental and food quality are now matters of major public concern and therefore a system of metrology in trace analysis has recently been developed at the international level.This new edition of a bestseller highlights the significance of anthropogenic factors in changing the trace element status in soils and plants. Written by Dr. Alina Kabata-Pendias, a world-renowned plant and soil scientist, Trace Elements in Soil and Plants, Third Edition incorporates recent data from about 400 respected sources. These data present the most recent research on topical issues such as the assessment of natural/background content of trace elements in soil; bioindication of chemical status of environmental compartments; soil remediation; and hyperaccumulation and hyperextraction of trace metals from the soil. Discussions of the health-related significance of trace elements in food are also included.This third edition presents an overview of the principal pathways from soils to plants. The author provides the background for a more profound understanding of ways by which chemical processes operate in both polluted and unpolluted conditions of the soil-plant system. The current review of recent soil-plant findings offered by Trace Elements in Soil and Plants, Third Edition renders the book an indispensable reference. ... Read more

Book Description

What will happen to the near-Earth space environment? How can we ensure the survival of future scientific, commercial and military satellites and space stations? This book addresses the questions that must be asked as debris in space around the Earth--from dust particles to rocket casings, and even radioactive materials--becomes a critical problem. In this volume, many specialists from around the world address the issues, problems, and policies concerned with the preservation of near-Earth space. Their articles cover the technical aspects, and the economic and legal issues concerned, including the enforcement and monitoring of international agreements and the resolution of disputes. This clearly written and well illustrated survey offers the professional and concerned nonspecialist an authoritative and comprehensive review of the problems with and solutions to space debris. ... Read more

Book Description

This comprehensive text is intended to provide upper level undergraduate students with an investigation of heterogeneous natural systems in the environment. The links between and within the various environmental components -- air, water, soil -- are emphasized. There has been insufficient material of this type in existence that supplies both the depth of chemistry needed to explain natural processes and the breadth of material that would present a well rounded introduction to such systems. While the text focuses on basic knowledge and general principles, examples are taken from around the world.

This book describes the chemistry of natural environmental systems, their composition and the processes and reactions that operate within and between the various components. Without focusing specifically on pollution, we also discuss ways in which these systems respond to peturbations, either those that are natural or those that are caused by humans. Background material from subjects such as atmospheric science, limnology, and social science is provided in order to establish a setting for a description of relevant chemistry. Emphasis is on general principles that can be applied in a variety of circumstances. At the same time, these principles are illustrated with examples taken from around the world. Because issues of the environment related to every society, care has been taken to relate the subject material to situations in urban and rural areas in both highly industrialized and low-income countries. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Finally someone gets it right
I've been looking for this book. Other environmental chemistry textbooks cover too many topics: environmental analysis, ecotoxicology, and environmental engineering are common. This one gets it just right: the chemistry of the air, water and soil (including common pollutants) at the level of a undergraduate sophomore- or junior-level course. The text is challenging enough for chemistry majors but not too intimidating for the biology majors interested in the field.

My only quibbles: not much about environmental modeling of the chemical composition of important systems, still not quite advanced enough (but better than current general textbooks on the topic), and it's missing some important topics (groundwater attenuation, for example). Still, I'll be adopting this book for the course I teach. ... Read more

Book Description

This two-volume handbook is a comprehensive account of the rapidly emerging and vibrant science of the ecological restoration of habitats and species. Ecological restoration aims to achieve complete structural, functional, self-maintaining biological integrity following disturbance. In practice, any theoretical model is modified by a number of economic, social, and ecological constraints. Consequently, material that might be considered as rehabilitation, enhancement, re-construction, or re-creation is also included. Principles of Restoration defines the underlying principles of restoration ecology in relation to manipulations and management of the biological, geophysical, and chemical framework. ... Read more

Book Description

Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, New York is a model for the analysis and management of a polluted urban lake. Sometimes referred to as "the most polluted lake in the United States", Onondaga Lake is one of only two lakes for which a federal advisory body has been set up to guide environmental remediation. The recipient of significant municipal effluent and industrial waste for more than a century, Onondaga Lake has been the focus of intensive limnological investigation and extensive remediation efforts. This book is a comprehensive presentation of the scientific knowledge about Onondaga Lake, based on research coordinated by the Upstate Freshwater Institute. Onondaga Lake: Limnology and Environmental Management of a Polluted Urban Lake is the most complete case study of a lake, and will be of interest to water quality scientists, engineers and managers, as well as environmental engineers, modelers, and policymakers. ... Read more

Book Description

A bold new plan for those concerned about rising temperatures, population projections, and spreading water scarcity.

Lester Brown notes that if the environmental trends of recent decades continue, the global economy will soon begin to unravel. The food sector, he believes, is the most vulnerable. Record-high temperatures and falling water tables are already taking the edge off grain harvests in some countries, including China, the world's largest grain producer.

The wake-up call will come, Brown believes, when 1.3 billion Chinese consumers with an $80 billion trade surplus start competing with Americans for U.S. grain, driving up food prices. Rising food prices could create political instability in low-income countries, disrupting global economic progress.

At that point, it will be clear that business as usual—Plan A—is not working. In Plan B, Brown outlines a World War II-type mobilization to stabilize climate by restructuring the global energy economy and to stabilize population by investing heavily in health care, family planning, and the education of girls in developing countries. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Good science is not discredited by bad science
An important contribution to the environmental debate. I was suprised by the critical review below that gives 1 star to Plan B and cites "The Skeptical Environmentalist" by Bjorn Lomborg as a refutation of Brown's work. Readers of that review may not be aware that "Skeptical" has been discredited, refuted and rejected by the scientific community. Critical reviews of Lomborg's book can be found in leading science journals, including Nature, Scientific American and Science. The Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty issued a decision that declared Lomborg's research "to fall within the concept of scientific dishonesty," and to be "clearly contrary to the standards of good scientific practice." (Lomborg is Danish). Readers will not be persuaded by references to junk science coming from an anti-environmentalist.

Rescuing a planet from nonsense
Lester R. Brown is a well known and totally discredited doomsayer and environmental crackpot. His analyses and prophecies (consistently proven wrong) are based on crude number doctoring and misunderstanding of basic biology, economics and statistics. And while one might argue that debating his views is a waste of time, he and his likes have a loud and fairly influential following. For a more balanced and sane description of the state of the world, read for example the books by Julian Simon, and Bjorn Lomborg's "The Skeptical Environmentalist".

I agree with that person, buy 10 and pass them out.
Wow, after reading this book, I am left speechless. I read this book in conjunction with a Native American Studies class that I took, and I have never learned more terrifying facts in my entire life. Lester Brown, although he admits that the task is too great for one book, describes bluntly the thin line our species is walking between self preservation and self destruction. He does not pull any punches in describing how the human race is pushing Earth dangerously close to its breaking point. Brown outlines the clear reality that if trends continue the demand put on the environment by humanity will overtake its carrying capacity. He makes many interesting points but he also stays true to the title of the book, not only spreading blame, of which there is plenty to spread, but also offering possible solutions to the most important of problems. I thought I was environmentally conscious before I read this book, boy was I surprised. This book brought my environmental consciousness to a whole new level. It also unfortunately made me realize that unless the rest of the world gets on the same page as Brown in a hurry, the environmental damage will be irreparable. I'll agree once again with what that other reviewer said. Read this book and buy 10 copies to hand out.

A species out of control?
Lester Brown recently wrote Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth in which his thesis was that "the environment was not part of the economy...but instead that the economy was part of the environment." (p. xv)

Here he presents an upbeat and positive plan for saving the world from the consequences of what he calls the planet-wide "bubble economy." His central argument is that we are about to face a food shortage of crisis proportions as our aquifers and rivers run dry. The relative price of food, which is directly dependent upon ready water supplies from underground and through the diversion of rivers, he argues, is about to skyrocket as China and other grain-hungry nations begin to import grain.

His plan B is a combination of interventions that would include environmental tax reform, that is, taxing products in terms or their true cost including pollution and the use of non-renewable resources. Thus the consequences of pollution-induced illnesses like asthma, etc. be factored into the cost of gasoline. In this way non-polluting energy sources such as windmills and solar energy cells would become cost-competitive with fossil fuels almost immediately.

The first half of the book is devoted to describing the problem, which he calls "A Civilization in Trouble." The second half is devoted to his Plan B which includes adopting "honest global accounting," stabilizing the population, and raising land productivity. He wants not only to shift taxes from the environmentally sound ways of doing business to the ecologically harmful ways, but to shift the subsidizes that many countries now give to fossil fuel producers and to fishing and logging industries to environmentally safe products and industries. He points out that it is foolhardy to subsidize the destruction of our environment as we are now doing.

Brown quotes Oystein Dahle, former Vice President of Exxon for Norway as saying: "Socialism collapsed because it did not allow the market to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow the market to tell the ecological truth." (p. 210)

A striking example of what Brown means by shifting taxes comes from former Harvard Economics professor N. Gregory Mankiw, who wrote: "Cutting income taxes while increasing gasoline taxes would lead to more rapid economic growth, less traffic congestion, safer roads, and reduced risk of global warming..." (p 214)

Incidentally, Brown asserts that rising temperatures adversely affect crop yields. He notes that crops are grown in many countries "at or near their thermal optimum, making them vulnerable to any rise in temperature." He cites a study by Mohan Wali at Ohio State University showing that photosynthesis increases until the temperature reaches 68 degrees F. and then plateaus until it hits 95 degrees whereupon it begin to decline, and ceases at 104 degrees. (pp. 62-63)

The problem with his solution is that, as Brown points out, the body politic, especially that of the United States, must take action to implement the changes. Unfortunately, President Bush, who represents corporate interests (as most American politicians do), will continue to call for more studies, and nothing will be done. More particularly, taxing destructive practices will only work if all (or at least a substantial majority) of the countries of the world cooperate. Polluted air, acid rain, depleted aquifers, and rivers run dry cross borders. Consequently we have a daunting task in front of us.

A crucial psychological problem is that our instincts were honed in the pre-history when the resources of forest and savanna were effectively inexhaustible, where it didn't matter how much we burned and polluted since we could just move on. Our numbers were so small relative to the land that it would renew itself as we were despoiling other lands. With six billion-plus people on the planet there are no "other lands" and there is no time for the land to renew itself. We can no longer toss our waste over our shoulders, defecate in the stream, and slash and burn.

This is just one respect in which we have to ask, are human beings as presently evolved able to cope with the modern world? The tribal mentality, with its violence toward outsiders and toward the environment, is still with us, but the tolerance of the environment for such behavior is not. The myth of the noble savage and indigenous people living in harmony with nature needs a reality check. We are savages in headsets, neither noble nor ignoble. We are indigenous people whose lands have gone the way of the Garden of Eden. We are clumsily and incompletely adjusting to a different landscape: the modern world.

The race is on. Which will come first: our adjustment to the needs of the planet or the collapse of our great civilizations? Note well it is the needs of the planet that come first. Note also that the collapse of our civilizations will usher in a period of immense pain and suffering, even for those of us sitting atop Mount Olympus, as it were, in our garden homes sheltered from the storms in our inner cities and in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

A great deal of human suffering can be averted by anticipating the consequences of globalization, of diminishing resources resulting in diminishing returns. But it is also true that a great deal of human suffering can be averted by not doing something stupid that may have unintended consequences. We must use our abilities and our knowledge to choose between the two. Lester Brown is trying to help us do that. This book is a fine introduction to the problem and to a possible solution.

Required reading
This book is in three sections - the first part provides facts, figures, charts and tables to define the problem; the second part - Plan A - projects the future under the business as usual scenario; the third part - Plan B - is Brown's recommendations of what we must do. The problem has the following components:
- over the last 50 years world population has doubled, the global economy has expanded seven fold and our claims on the earth are excessive;
- we are cutting trees faster than they can regenerate, overgrazing rangelands, over pumping aquifers and draining rivers;
- soil erosion of cropland exceeds new soil formation;
- we take fish from the oceans faster than they can reproduce;
- we are releasing CO2 into the atmosphere faster than nature can absorb it, creating a greenhouse effect raising the earth's temperature;
- habitat destruction and climate change are destroying plant and animal species faster than new species can evolve.

Throughout history man has lived on the earth's sustainable yield but humanity's collective demands surpassed the earth's carrying capacity in 1980 and by 1999 exceeded carrying capacity by 20% creating a global bubble economy. "The sector of the economy that seems likely to unravel first is food. Eroding soils, deteriorating range lands, collapsing fisheries, falling water tables, and rising temperatures are converging to make it more difficult to expand food production fast enough to keep up with demand. In 2002, the world grain harvest of 1,807 million tons fell short of world grain consumption by 100 million tons, or 5%. This shortfall, the largest on record, marked the third consecutive year of grain deficits, dropping stocks to the lowest level in a generation." Trying to fill the 100 million ton shortfall, feeding an additional 70m people each year, reducing the number of under-nourished and rebuilding stocks is likely to further deplete aquifers, increase erosion and raise food prices. Farmers face two challenges - rising temperatures and falling water tables. The 16 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1980 with the three warmest in the last five years and this adversely affects grain harvests, forcing traditional grain exporting countries like Canada to reduce or cease exports. World wide 70% of water is used for agriculture, 20% by industry and 10% for residential purposes. Water mining due to governments' failing to limit pumping to sustainable yield has increased pumping costs and reduced profit margins when grain prices are at a historical low, obliging many farmers to withdraw from irrigated agriculture. Industrial demands are increasing and industry can afford to pay much more for its water than farmers. Sandra Postel in 'Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last?' details a bleak picture of what is in store for us regarding falling water tables, rivers which don't reach the sea and the impact on food production. China is such a populous country that whatever happens there impacts everyone in the world. China's deserts are expanding and the US Dust Bowl of the 1930s is being reproduced there but on a much bigger scale. China's forthcoming grain deficit will force up grain prices. "Many of the most populous countries of the world - China, India, Pakistan, Mexico, and nearly all the countries of the Middle East and North Africa - have literally been having a free ride over the past two or three decades by depleting their groundwater resources. The penalty of mismanagement of this valuable resource is now coming due and it is no exaggeration to say that the results could be catastrophic for these countries and, given their importance, for the world as a whole." Many countries are living in a food bubble economy; the question for these countries is not whether the bubble will burst, but when.

The food bubble economy is just the first of the bubbles that the author explains. If we continue with business as usual - Plan A - the troubles described will continue or worsen; the world is failing environmentally and will eventually fail economically. "In sum, no one knows exactly the extent of our excessive claims on the earth in this bubble economy. The most sophisticated effort to calculate this, the one by Mathis Wackernagel and his team, estimates that in 1999 our claims on the earth exceeded its regenerative capacity by 20%. If this overdraft is rising 1% a year as seems likely, then by 2003 it was 24%. As we consume the earth's natural capital, the earth's capacity to sustain us is decreasing. We are a species out of control, setting in motion processes we do not understand with consequences that we cannot foresee."

Einstein told us that you can't hope to get out of a problem with the same thinking that got you into the problem so we cannot expect Brown's proposed solutions to be readily accepted or popular. However, they all practical and make sense. Most proposals are familiar but few holding positions of responsibility have been willing to implement them because Plan A gains more votes and today's politicians are unlikely to be around when the leaders of tomorrow have to pick up the pieces. "Plan B is a massive mobilization to deflate the global economic bubble before it reaches the bursting point. Keeping the bubble from bursting will require an unprecedented degree of international cooperation to stabilize population, climate, water tables, and soils - and at wartime speed. Indeed, in both scale and urgency the effort required is comparable to the US mobilization during World War II."

This book is not just for environmentalists; it is of interest to every housewife who will shortly see her housekeeping money pay for less and less. This book should be required reading for everyone who hopes to be alive in a few years time. ... Read more

Book Description

The first indication of the prolonged terror that followed the 1906 earthquake occurred when a ship steaming off San Francisco's Golden Gate "seemed to jump clear out of the water." This gripping account of the earthquake, the devastating firestorms that followed, and the city's subsequent reconstruction vividly shows how, after the shaking stopped, humans, not the forces of nature, nearly destroyed San Francisco in a remarkable display of simple ineptitude and power politics. Bolstered by previously unpublished eyewitness accounts and photographs, this definitive history of a fascinating city caught in the grip of the country's greatest urban disaster will forever change conventional understanding of an event one historian called "the very epitome of bigness."
Philip Fradkin takes us onto the city's ruptured streets and into its exclusive clubs, teeming hospitals and refugee camps, and its Chinatown. He introduces the people--both famous and infamous--who experienced these events, such as Jack and Charmian London, Enrico Caruso, James Phelan, and Abraham Ruef. He traces the horrifying results of the mayor's illegal order to shoot-to-kill anyone suspected of a crime, and he uncovers the ugliness of racism that almost led to war with Japan. He reveals how an elite oligarchy failed to serve the needs of ordinary people, the heroic efforts of obscure citizens, the long-lasting psychological effects, and how all these events ushered in a period of unparalleled civic upheaval.
This compelling look at how people and institutions function in great catastrophes demonstrates just how deeply earthquake, fires, hurricanes, floods, wars, droughts, or acts of terrorism can shape us. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The definitive history of water resources in the American West, and a very illuminating lesson in the political economy of limited resources anywhere. Highly recommended! ... Read more

Reviews (63)

An essential book for understanding modern American life
The late Marc Reisner's brilliant and epic history of the struggles over water in the American West is an epic tale, and it is replete with heroes, villains, and victims. Unfortunately, most of the heroes appear early in the story, with mainly villains onstage at the end. Reisner begins his book with a recounting of the exploration and study of the West by several pioneers, but especially by John Wesley Powell, who understood the essential and unavoidable problems of the West earlier and better than anyone. Powell understood that the West was arid, most of it receiving far less water than needed to support either agriculture or livestock. His visionary and yet profoundly practical suggestions were largely rejected by the United States, setting the stage for much of the overdevelopment and exploitation in the twentieth century.

From Powell, Reisner carries his narrative through such vivid personalities and events as William Mulholland, who pioneered water works to provide Los Angeles with water; Michael Strauss, the head of the Bureau of Reclamation for FDR, during which time the bureau built literally hundreds of dams; and the infamous Floyd Dominy, who manages to be both charismatic and scary at the same time, like a James Bond villain. He also takes the reader through some of the more spectacular water projects in US history, such as the building of the Hoover Dam and the Grand Coulee Dam, in addition to scores of massive water projects for various states in the US. He also devotes a great deal of space to the struggles between the Bureau of Reclamation and the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the resulting economic disaster that resulted.

Reisner shows in excruciating detail how America has stretched its use of water in the West to the breaking point. For many in the West, water has been the key to an expanding economy and population, to the point where most of the water states are completely dependent on maintaining or even expanding their current water supply. But, as Reisner shows and Powell anticipated, there are inescapable limits to how much water can be provided to the West. Moreover, much of the water use is resulting in ecological disaster. It isn't just that some of the dams are dangerous (such as the Teton Dam, which ruptured and broke some years ago, and which is not too different from other dams currently in use), or that many of the dams are destined to silt up (in fact, most dams, as Reisner points out, are built with a specific lifespan in mind, which means that thousands of American dams will at some point need replacing), or hundred of wildlife habitats have been destroyed. Most of the dams have led to irrigation farming, which has throughout history led to the destruction of soil, like in Iraq, where nearly all the arable soil has been destroyed through irrigation.

This is a sobering, frightening book, and one would hope that it would help lead to a renewed effort to bring Western water policy in line with the facts that John Wesley Powell outlined over a hundred years ago. Eventually, we will have to face these facts. Hopefully we will do so before catastrophe forces it upon us.

One of the most illuminating books I have read in a while
"Cadillac Desert" is one of those books that causes a person to seriously question "the system" (no matter your ideological affiliation). The book exposes the blantant contradictions and hypocrisy that have permeated the history of the West (which history is the history of water and it being reigned in). Take my own situation for example: Over the last couple of weeks I found myself agreeing page after page with the authors' points of view. During those same weeks when I was reading the book and agreeing with the author, I was swimming in, showering in, watering my lawn with, and drinking the very water the author condemned. As if that wasn't bad enough I reflected on my former years when I worked every summer on the family farm which was sustained by CAP and reclamation water. Ouch!!!
My reading this book can basically be translated into the author, Marc Reisner, slapping me in the face and chewing me out and me just sitting there unable to defend myself. The book sets forth examples that are virtually impossible to argue against. However, one point Mr. Reisner failed to mention is the importance agriculture plays in our national security and our ability as a nation to sustain ourselves. This point, though, hardly justifies the irrational decisions made buy both the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers. I mention it here as a kind a weak punch from the canvas in an attempt to justify my existence after being so brutally beaten down by facts and the exposure of the blatant hypocrisy perpetuated by so-called "ideological purists" (which come from both sides of the aisle). The author said it best by stating that when it comes to water there are no Republicans and Democrats, and there are no liberals or conservatives.

Devastating
The work of a lifetime, Reisner's 500 page expose on the Western Water Machine will change the way any fist-time reader views 1)water 2) the federal government, and 3) the American West.

Reisner's book is of a rare breed: meticulously researched, written with craft and humor and a human touch, and altogether damning mjust by telling the facts.

In essence, and for a longer paraphrase look below, Reisner demonstrates that Los Angeles, California farmers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers and others worked togther to bend reality in favor of growth and living space. At some level this made sense. Hoover Dam, Reisner writes, helped to win WWII through its desperately needed energy production. However, at some point what was once needed became an imperitive for its own sake. Dams for the sake of building beautiful dams. Water projects for political legacy. Expensive water projects for farmers growing surplus crops. And then America gradually became aware that this Cadillac desert - an artificial oasis where the land once was dry - has come at a staggering environmental and recreational cost.

It's a book that open the reader's eyes and understand a bit more about how U.S.A. works, especially in the arid West.

Rewarding Reading
This reader highly recommends this work to show the complexity involved in answering the question, "How much does a glass of water cost in the American Southwest "? The author wrote a well-researched book in an attempt to show the factors involved in answering that question. The author portrays a complex web of jurisdictions on the state local and federal levels that are involved in various projects. Every policy has its winners and losers. The book contains a little history of the Southwest, some personal interviews, many stories of the pork barrel politics involved to make sure the rest of the country buys into these irrigation and dam projects. This book will be an eye-opener for most Easterners in this country where battling over water rights is generally not on the local political agenda. A very rewarding book.

terrific - and terrifically scary - history
I picked up Marc Reisner's books after moving to CA recently from what I now realize is blissfully non-seismic and adequately-watered New England... This is a great history of man getting the (temporary) best of nature and whistling past the dam. The chapter on Bureau of Reclamation chief Floyd Dominy is worth the price alone: he is the type of headstrong, puritanical warrior (no exaggeration there) that American has produced in droves, yet he is virtually unknown now. The character profiles of John Wesley Powell and others are equally as good. I only wish that other historians had the sense of humor and irony that Reisner employs so well. ... Read more

Book Description

This meteorology book focuses on explanation about the processes that produce Earth's weather and climate. It emphasizes a non-mathematical understanding of physical principles as a vehicle for learning about atmospheric processes. Additionally, difficult-to-visualize topics are reinforced with a series of software tutorials presented on a CD-ROM packaged with the book.Accompanying CD-ROM is available featuring Tutorials, Interactive Exercises, and illustrative movie loops all keyed to the book. Also, this book includes up-to-date coverage of severe weather events For professionals in the meteorology field. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great Green Resource
Short papers on many different topics concerning green building, sustainable design, and renewable energy. Top experts in the field offer advice, experience, and resources.

The voices of sustainable design
The Earth Pledge Foundation's Sustainable Architecture White Papers brings together leading voices---of architects, designers, planners, educators, manufacturers, and journalists---in a handsome, diminutive volume. The essayists are each a part of the sustainable design movement; some have been in the trenches for years, such as Randy Croxton and Kirsten Childs, James Wines, and Bill Browning, and others are household names, such as William McDonough (writing with his chemist collaborator Michael Braungart). Some address the big picture and others deconstruct the micro components of the effort, such as non-toxic paints and office furniture. The volume includes an interview with Samuel Mockbee, who founded Auburn University's Rural Studio, and whose clear-eyed approach to how architecture fits into communities is remarkably elegant and simple. "The smart architect thinks rationally about a combination of issues including sustainability, durability, longevity, appropriate materials, and sense of place," he says. "The challenge is finding the balance between environmental considerations and economic constraints." What's important about a diverse collection of essays like this now is that it comes when the movement is breaking into the mainstream in a more complete way than it has in the past. Sustainability is being addressed, increasingly, as something that involves not just the physical but also the social, institutional, and spiritual aspects of life on earth. This volume is a valuable guide to that breakthrough, from the practical to the visionary. ... Read more

Book Description

This innovative compendium offers a variety of techniques for approaching contemporary environmental problems. Challenging, real-world situations and worked-out solutions provide the means both for gaining insights into the process of problem solving and for thinking quantitatively and creatively about such environmental concerns as energy and water resources, food production, indoor air pollution, acid rain, and human influences on climate. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Everybody should read this book
This book provides an excellent viewpoint on physical problem solving by "thinking outside the box". I provides great approach to setting up all types of physical problems. I found the book very useful to all types of science. You don't have to be an environmental scientist to benefit from this text. The example problems are very good and the examples stand out in my memory for a long time -- very helpful for future challenges. ... Read more

Amazon.com

What's most inspiring about Earth in the Balance is who wrote it. It's a big deal, after all, that a sitting senator was willing to write, "We must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization."And that's not all. In his 1992 book, Al Gore also wrote:

I have become very impatient with my own tendency to put a finger to the political winds and proceed cautiously.... [E]very time I pause to consider whether I have gone too far out on a limb, I look at the new facts [on the environment crisis] that continue to pour in from around the world and conclude that I have not gone far enough.... [T]he time has long since come to take more political risks--and endure more political criticism--by proposing tougher, more effective solutions and fighting hard for their enactments.

And the buzz on the street is that Gore actually wrote those words himself.

When Earth in the Balance first came out, it caused quite a stir--and for good reason.It convincingly makes the case that a crisis of epidemic proportions is nearly upon us and that if the world doesn't get its act together soon and agree to some kind of "Global Marshall Plan" to protect the environment, we're all up a polluted creek without a paddle. Myriad plagues are upon us, but the worst include the loss of biodiversity, the depletion of the ozone layer, the slash-and-burn destruction of rainforests, and the onset of global warming.None of this is new, of course, nor was it new in 1992.But most environmentalists will still get a giddy feeling reading such a call to action as written by a prominent politician.

The book is arranged into three sections: the first describes the plagues; the second looks at how we got ourselves into this mess; and the final chapters present ways out. Gore gets his points across in a serviceable way, though he could have benefited from a firmer editor's hand; at times the analogies are arcane and the pacing is odd--kind of like a Gore speech that climaxes at weird points and then sinks just as the audience is about to clap.Still, at the end you understand what's been said.Gore believes that if we apply some American ingenuity, the twin engines of democracy and capitalism can be rigged to help us stabilize world population growth, spread social justice, boost education levels, create environmentally appropriate technologies, and negotiate international agreements to bring us back from the brink. For example, a worldwide shift to clean, renewable energy sources would create huge economic opportunities for companies large and small to design, build, and maintain solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells, and other ecofriendly innovations.

Gore doesn't mince words when describing just how hard it will be to get out of this jam.Real hope is contingent on a swelling up of concern among the public--and fast.A year into the vice presidency, in an interview with writer Bill McKibben, Gore paraphrased a key passage in his book, "The minimum that is scientifically necessary far exceeds the maximum that is politically feasible." Ah, a political out.Some readers will ask of Gore: what has he done since publishing his book to advance the political feasibility of decisive environmental action?--Chip Giller ... Read more

Reviews (106)

Well informed, but not necessarily well-written.
When reading this book (and listening to Al Gore speak), I see that he is an intelligent man and has done quite a bit of research. I know he was a journalist, but you wouldn't think it by reading this book.

I felt he had a lot of good ideas. The idea of a new form of the Marshall Plan to help guide the world to more environmentally safe commerce and production was great. Some of his plans, although simplistic at times, make a lot of sense. Many of the ideas he gives are ones that are still being debated today (like trading clean air credits).

When I noticed that this was written in 1992/1993 when he was first running as the vice president, I was suprised. It is not often that a politician will make such pro-environment and long-reaching statements if they are trying to get elected. He also used the book to take punches at former President Bush. I am sure he had more than one goal with this book.

I mention that it was not well-written. This is because many of his analogies make no sense. His comparison of parallel computing with democracy, although a bit more understandable, left me wondering why he brought it up. The book could use some tightening up.

He brought a bit of spirituality into the text, but not a lot. I am assuming that he targeted the average American for this book which would explain his language and his constant use of metaphors and analogies. Unfortunately, they don't always work and people may wonder why he is telling them about the scientific study of the sandpile.

I found it an enjoyable read and showed me that Al Gore will think like a leader. He will not always (he is a politician) choose the best path for the future and not the best path for the present.

SEEMS SHAKY
As a lay person, like most, I have no real idea whether global warming is real, or at least a real threat. The problem I have is that those who say it is a real threat are not believable to me. They may be right, but I reserve all possibility that they are totally off the mark. It seems that this issue has been coopted by a certain segment of the political class, and is used not in an effort to further real science, but to further their political agenda. This is somewhat, if not totally, socialist in nature.

Al Gore spoke about global warming on the coldest day in New York City in 150 years, then endorsed "The Day After Tomorrow" as a big movie about global warming that has to be seen. It was so bad, got such terrible reviews, and was so universally panned as lies that it cannot be described herein. Gore has now taken to podiums, changing his voice to sound like Huey Long or George Wallace or some such Southern populist, rolling his r's, leavin' the "n's" off his words, and every time he makes these speeches those he opposes rise in the polls. Al said he "had" to be President, and now he just seems unable to accept his fate. Unfortunately, his association with global warming seems to discredit it. "The Day After Tomorrow" certainly did the issue no good.

There are so-called "right wing" scientists who oppose the global warming threat, calling it "junk science." They may have a political agenda. They may be wrong. Personally, I think they are less likely to be wrong than the Leftists. I could be wrong, but that is just my opinion.

The problem is that this issue has become so political that, until something really verifiable comes along, it is just a tug-of-war with no real truth attached to it.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM

Great Book--College Students Should Read This!!
This book needs to be read twice so you get the total impact of what it is trying to say. Conservatives who don't believe in the existence of global warming will not like this because it is unpleasant to think about, that human beings could be messing up the earth so horribly.

We have to face the facts before it is too late, and the United States must take the lead. Under George Bush, we are not getting this kind of leadership...perhaps under President Kerry, we will.

I hope Al makes another run for president.

Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

::snore:: from Gore
Al Gore's Earth in the Balance was a systematic breakdown of the environmental problems our planet faces today. Part I of his book (chapters 1-8) presented the problems, writing on everything from global warming to problems with garbage and waste disposal. Part II focused on the changes that the government and humanity are working together to accomplish, and Part III (chapters 14 and 15) presented what Gore believes is the best plan of action to combat our human-induced environmental problems in what Gore outlines as "A Global Marshall Plan."

Part I of Earth in the Balance not only constantly bashed past political powers, it dangerously overgenarlizied the current environmental efforts and presented his examples of environmental problems in hand with extreme hyperbole. Part II was much shorter, however in ventured greater in depth and supplied many more relevant examples for his allegations, like when he wrote on ways the US has not lead in the fight for a better environment. Part III presented the plan Gore wants us to execute in order to better the environment, yet Chapter 15's Marshall Plan spoke more on the US' political past. In all, it was a book muddled with environmental plans infused with name-dropping scenarios Gore seemed to include only to better his political career.

Out of the box approach to our environment
This books views Earth in a unique context. The events that we observe in our local frame of reference do not give indications of changes that happen at a global scale. Al Gore argues that technological infrastructure should use it to study events from a global perspective and new technologies should be tailored to have beneficial impact on our air, water, and other natural resources. ... Read more