Book Description
This acidly funny account of the battle over an offshore wind farm is both a fascinating window on the business and politics of energy and a scathing portrait of the ruling class.
When Jim Gordon set out to build a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, he knew some people might object. But there was a lot of merit in creating a privately funded, clean energy source for energy-starved New England, and he felt sure most people would recognize it eventually. Instead, all Hell broke loose. Gordon had unwittingly challenged the privileges of some of America's richest and most politically connected people, and they would fight him tooth and nail, no matter what it cost, and even when it made no sense.
Cape Wind is a rollicking tale of democracy in action and plutocracy in the raw as played out among colorful and glamorous characters on one of our country's most historic and renowned pieces of coastline. As steeped in American history and local color as The Prince of Providence; as biting, revealing and fun as Philistines at the Hedgerow, it is also a cautionary tale about how money can hijack democracy while America lags behind the rest of the developed world in adopting clean energy.
Customer Reviews:
The hijacking of democracy by a powerful elite.......2007-10-20
Ironic is the only way I can describe the situation regarding the Cape Wind project. You'd think that politicians who have been at the forefront of environmental issues would jump to the head of the bandwagon to approve this project, yet instead they are doing everything they can to oppose it. I'm talking about powerful people like Ted Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Mitt Romney.
In the case of the Kennedys, I can understand that they are trying to protect their view of Nantucket Sound for themselves and for their wealthy neighbors, but in Romney's case, his decision to subvert democracy to appease a powerful elite could cost him a run at the White House. I can't put a URL in a review but you can find more in my blog about this book by searching for my name and 'Cape Wind' on Google.
This book is entertaining, full of interesting facts, and is fun to read. I highly recommend it.
Outrageous Hypocrisy Revealed.......2007-09-07
Well researched and written. This book should be read by everyone who is really concerned about the reduction in use of fossil fuels. The outrageous hypocrisy of politicians of both parties as well as some of the beautiful people who claim to support the development of alternative energy sources is laid out for all to see.
A must read for any energy entrepreneur.......2007-09-03
It would be shame for an energy entrepreneur to be tripped up by the obfuscation described in this great book without its warning. Extensively researched, masterfully written, a lesson of the times. Read it and learn! Bet you won't be able to put it down,
Cutting edge history in the making.......2007-08-21
Cape Wind is a brilliant account of a project that has the potential to revolutionize the energy future of the US. It couldn't be more timely, given the current energy crisis, the need for serious and concrete solutions and the fact that the controversy over the project is happening at this very moment.
The authors provide a powerful experience - the opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of the politics and history of this project as it unfolds every day. The presentation of the facts and players is fascinating; their delivery of the story is incredibly entertaining.
Read it now and stay tuned to the project - History is being made!
Amazing... We need a documentary on this!!!.......2007-08-21
There's too much happening here to not have a well executed and informative documentary on this. It may seem like a small issue to those outside of it, but it's implications reach much further than the Cape.
Read this easy to follow and well written account of this project and engage yourself into todays questions about our planet and our political stratosphere.
Book Description
With Edens Lost & Found, award-winning filmmakers Harry Wiland and Dale Bell herald an exciting sea change in the relationship between ordinary citizens, environmental groups, and government. From across America they gather evidence of a new spirit of cooperation among neighbors, planners, architects and builders, city officials, and government agencies. Indeed, as urban issues have become undeniably urgent problems that demand answers, people from disparate backgrounds and political leanings are joining forces to recast life in American cities. As citizens take action where government has failed, they are finding support, encouragement, and help from their neighbors. Conversely, as progressive-minded government agencies and organizations explore nontraditional solutions, an energized community rallies to the cause. Neither exclusively top-down, nor grass roots, we are in the midst of an unprecedented movement that unites efforts from every quarter in a common cause. Focusing on Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle-four cities that face vastly different challenges-Edens Lost & Found highlights the remarkable power of hope, pride, ingenuity, and chutzpah that characterize this era of collaboration. Bioengineering concepts-now increasingly understood by many to offer the most effective, cost-efficient solutions-are playing a central role. Working with-rather than in opposition to-nature is leading to such innovations as rooftop and urban gardens, restored parks, transformed vacant lots, the re-greening of city streets, and eco-friendly watershed management. Edens Lost & Found shows how working to reshape the land also transforms the relationships people have to one another.
Customer Reviews:
An inspiring collection of innovative, constructive project ideas for environmental and neighborhood improvement activists.......2006-05-07
The companion book to the PBS television program of the same name, Edens Lost And Found: How Ordinary Citizens Are Restoring Our Great American Cities is co-authored by Harry Wiland and Dale Bell with Joseph D'Angnese and is an inspirational and instructive guide to environmental restoration projects undertaken by ordinary cities in the cities of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Chicago, as well as the remarkable work of many individual activists in their pursuit for a stronger, greener urban environment. Exploring the landscape and natural intervention of many smaller communities and neighborhoods, Edens Lost And Found carries its readers through the processes of remarkable transformations, and reshapings which these ordinary people in collaboration with one another help were able to achieve in a variety of circumstances and conditions. An invaluable addition to community library collections, Edens Lost And Found is particularly recommended reading as an inspiring collection of innovative, constructive project ideas for environmental and neighborhood improvement activists.
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- Winona La Duke's ALL OUR RELATIONS Must Read
- The ring of truth is heard loud and clear....
- Becoming Native to America
- Truth, told with powerful clarity
- Written by a True Patriot
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All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life
Winona Laduke
Manufacturer: South End Press
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Recovering The Sacred: The Power Of Naming And Claiming
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Conquest: Sexual Violence And American Indian Genocide
ASIN: 0896085996 |
Book Description
This eagerly awaited non-fiction debut by acclaimed Native environmental activist Winona LaDuke is a thoughtful and in-depth account of Native resistance to environmental and cultural degradation.
LaDuke's unique understanding of Native ideas and people is born from long years of experience, and her analysis is deepened with inspiring testimonies by local Native activists sharing the struggle for survival.
On each page of this volume, LaDuke speaks forcefully for self-determination and community. Hers is a beautiful and daring vision of political, spiritual, and ecological transformation.
All Our Relations features chapters on the Seminoles, the Anishinaabeg, the Innu, the Northern Cheyenne, and the Mohawks, among others.
"One of the pleasures of reading All Our Relations is discovering the unique voices of Native people, especially Native women, speaking in their own Native truths."-Women's Review of Books
"...as Winona LaDuke describes, in moving and often beautiful prose, [these] misdeeds are not distant history but are ongoing degradation of the cherished lands of Native Americans."-Public Citizen News
"...a rare perspective on Native history and culture."-Sister to Sister/S2S
"Hers is a beautiful and daring vision of political, spiritual, and ecological transformation. All Our Relations is essential reading for everyone who cares about the fate of the Earth and indigenous peoples."-Winds of Change
"No ragtag remnants of lost cultures here. Strong voices of old, old cultures bravely trying to make sense of an Earth in chaos."-Whole Earth
Customer Reviews:
Winona La Duke's ALL OUR RELATIONS Must Read.......2005-01-18
ALL OUR RELATIONS by Indigenous Activist Winona LaDuke is a must read for everyone who cares about our earth. LaDuke presents the state of the environment focusing on several land, treaty rights and toxic exposure struggles on reservations across North America and in Hawaii. Since I met Winona when she was an economics student at Harvard, she has been at the heart of struggles and gains made by indigenous communities, always bringing a keen intellect, diligent research, unswerving commitment, and a broad vision of the whole circle to community and tribal issues.
Because I've known many of the people involved in the essential work LaDuke describes in ALL OUR RELATIONS, it was a personal pleasure to read this book and catch up with what Susannah Santos and her cousins are doing on the Columbia River, be updated on Luana Busby and Melani Trask and the Hawaiian indigenous movement and to get the inside details of the complex political fight Winona's son's father and his people are up aqainst at St. James Bay. But this book will fascinate anyone who cares about our earth, families and communities. It is one to read from end to end, then keep around to re-read again and again.
LaDuke calls the work these tribal communities do to protect their people and landbase from pollution and corporate greed, "soul-retrieval." It is work that we all need to do whatever our ethnic background, since as LaDuke's reportage on the presence of PCBs in mother's breastmilk in the Northeast attests, everyone is affected by what we are doing to the earth. Winona is a mother who has no illusions about how the choices we make as consumers affect the earth and our communities' health. What is most inpiring about LaDuke's writing and life is that she offers solutions. Each chapter not only outlines the problem, but it talks about solutions that are being implemented and suggests others that should be employed. Winona walks her talk. LaDuke has been a strong proponent of wind energy and has worked to engage major corporations like Ben & Jerry in developing wind energy projects on Indian Reservations in South Dakota. Native Harvest and White Earth Land Recovery Project have reclaimed White Earth land and developed sustainable reservation businesses that employ and train White Earth tribal members. Winona LaDuke would be a great President because she is the only public figure who has a sensible plan for economic self-sufficiency, the clarity to explain it to the American people, and the discipline and steadfastness to enact it.
The ring of truth is heard loud and clear...........2004-10-28
If I could, I would thank Winonah LaDuke in person for writing such an important, informative and engaging book on the travesty that is the North American government's view of native land and those who inhabit it. The numerous tribes who make the land their home are forced to co-exist with the insensitive, selfish and literally toxic decisions made by government and corporations who dump tons upon tons of toxic pesticides in their water and on "abandoned" land. These lands are also subject to divebombings from military jets. These are illegal decibel levels that drive those within hearing range to points of mental instability, as well as potential hearing loss.
One of the most important quotes from this book that I remember (since I read this book a couple of years ago in a Native/African-American Women's Studies course) was from a Seminole leader who said, "Selling your land for a price is like selling a piece of your mother." [I paraphrase this.] I couldn't agree more. When I remember that quote, I think about all of the animals, vegetation and tribes (consisting of families and friends) who have lived off of the land of the United States, as well as Canada. How can one possibly put a price on something that can't truly be owned by anyone and is its own autonomous entity. Even if people have the illusion that they can occupy land as territory (because of treaties, as an example) does not mean that it is ever their to keep. LaDuke makes several strong examples of this in the book. We can't continue to pollute, abuse and neglect land without paying a price environmentally or in terms of human quality of life and mortaiity. I believe everyone should read this book, regardless of occupation, national origin or territorial location. We need to face the damage done before more of it goes unacknowledged. Thank you, Winonah.
Becoming Native to America.......2003-09-11
Spoon-fed news by large media corps, few were aware that Winona LaDuke ran for the vice presidency under Ralph Nader in the 2000 elections. Even fewer know that she is also a Native American eco-philosopher with a critical perspective on the health and future prosperity of America. All Our Relations is particularly instructive, in that LaDuke surveys the entire American landscape (and by landscape, I am not merely referring to the political landscape), showing the deep connections that exist between local cultures, their environments, and the corporate-governmental giants that often compromise their health. Although LaDuke has specifically focused on Native American communities, the stories are engaging and instructive for Americans in general. Informative, powerful, and transformative, LaDuke here provides an antidote for our increasing alienation from the land and biota that sustain us. A must read for any conscious American.
Truth, told with powerful clarity.......2002-11-29
Winona Laduke ran as vice president alongside Ralph Nader. It would be truly amazing if this woman had become our vice president (for many reasons). It is my hope that some day she will be our vice president (or president). Her views on the environment and its effect upon animals and people (particularly babies, children and pregnant/nursing mothers) are exactly how I feel. She expresses these views eloquently in these quotes by Lil'wat grandmother Loretta Pascal, "Where did you get your right to destroy these forests? How does your right supercede my rights? These are our forests, these are our ancestors."(p.5), by Ted Strong, "If this nation has a long way to go before all of our people are truly created equally without regard to race, religion, or national origin, it has even further to go before achieving anything that remotely resembles equal treatment for other creatures who called this land home before humans ever set foot upon it...."(p.5), and by Katsi Cook, "Why is it we must change our lives, our way of life, to accommodate the corporations, and they are allowed to continue without changing any of their behavior?"(p.12). Reading this book you will feel sorrow, and be inspired to action. Most of what was said in this book I already knew a little about, but through this book I understood the depth and complexity of all the factors. I can not recommend this book enough. She tells the truth of our world with a powerful clarity. She tells the stories of many Native American Tribes throughout North America (Canada and the United States, including a chapter on Hawaii). She ends the book with the optimism that it is possible for us to make change, but it is up to us.
Written by a True Patriot.......2002-02-01
To think this woman could be our Vice President today. Most people don't even know that Winona LaDuke ran for Vice President on Ralph Nader's ticket. An articulate and passionate writer, LaDuke presents an awareness of the plight of America unsurpassed by any other. She knows what's wrong. She knows what needs to be done. She knows who is doing the work, how and why. She presents her advocacy as human, heartfelt and real. I learned things about what is happening to this country that I would never have known otherwise. You certainly don't see it in the news, and you don't learn about it in school. We're in trouble, folks, and it's not too late to do something about it. With more power she could have made such a difference! But she continues to work on the issues, and it is so important that more people are aware of her work. Please, please, please read this book. It is the most important book you will read all year.
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Our Landless Patria: Marginal Citizenship and Race in Caguas, Puerto Rico, 1880-1910
Rosa E. Carrasquillo
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0803215371 |
Book Description
Our Landless Patria examines issues of race and citizenship in Puerto Rico, tracing how the process of land privatization accelerated a series of struggles for natural resources between the poorest sectors of society and the landed elite. The laws of privatization favored the landed elite and barred former slaves and their descendants from obtaining a formal title to a piece of land. In response, people of color developed an alternative citizenship that validated their livelihood, putting in motion a series of civil claims that protected people’s mobility rights and their access to land. However, the rural poor’s claims for a more egalitarian society, or what Rosa E. Carrasquillo calls “marginal citizenship,” could not successfully transform the political exclusion of the racially mixed population because of its heavy borrowing from the Spanish legal system. In particular, marginal citizenship adopted patriarchy as a model to regulate social relations at home, failing to address gender inequalities and perpetuating class differences.
Our Landless Patria deciphers the late nineteenth-century structure of power in the Spanish colonial state at the local level and illuminates the way ordinary people experienced day-to-day relations of power. Carrasquillo's analysis makes a strong case that the poorest sector of rural society provided the fertile ground in which a civic consciousness developed.
Book Description
From Conquest to Conservation is a visionary new work from three of the nation’s most knowledgeable experts on public lands. As chief of the Forest Service, Mike Dombeck became a lightning rod for public debate over issues such as the management of old-growth forests and protecting roadless areas. Dombeck also directed the Bureau of Land Management from 1994 to 1997 and is the only person ever to have led the two largest land management agencies in the United States. Chris Wood and Jack Williams have similarly spent their careers working to steward public resources, and the authors bring unparalleled insight into the challenges facing public lands and how those challenges can be met.
Here, they examine the history of public lands in the United States and consider the most pressing environmental and social problems facing public lands. Drawing heavily on fellow Forest Service employee Aldo Leopold’s land ethic, they offer specific suggestions for new directions in policy and management that can help maintain and restore the health, diversity, and productivity of public land and water resources, both now and into the future.
Also featured are lyrical and heartfelt essays from leading writers, thinkers, and scientists— including Bruce Babbitt, Rick Bass, Patricia Nelson Limerick, and Gaylord Nelson—about the importance of public lands and the threats to them, along with original drawings by William Millonig.
Customer Reviews:
A Must for National Park Service History Buffs.......2000-06-21
"Our National Park Policy: A Critical History (Development of Public Land Law in the U.S. Series)" is a must for any scholar or casual historian interested in the making of America's national parks and the National Park Service. Ise chronicles, in an enjoyable prose, early stories about the creation of the first national parks and development of a single federal bureau to manage them.
A Must for National Park Service History Buffs.......2000-06-21
"Our National Park Policy: A Critical History (Development of Public Land Law in the U.S. Series)" is a must for any scholar or casual historian interested in the making of America's national parks and the National Park Service. Ise chronicles, in an enjoyable prose, early stories about the creation of the first national parks and development of a single federal bureau to manage them.
Book Description
A leading expert in pesticide policy traces the history of pesticide law and science and arrives at the alarming conclusion that we have failed to protect ourselves, and especially our children, from pesticide contamination of food, soil, water, and air. Our faith in government`s ability to ensure only safe levels of exposure to pesticides is unfounded, says John Wargo, and he suggests fundamental legal and scientific reforms to contain the special health risks faced by children.
Customer Reviews:
more law than science.......2006-05-10
Toxic Legacy is ably written. Clear writing helps navigate an arcane topic in which the author is well-versed. The book provides an interesting assortment of photographs of DDT uses during World War II and in the home. DDT's inventor received a Nobel prize for its enormous public-health contributions.
Wargo focuses on legal issues in the U.S. regarding pesticides. This sidesteps some broader scientific matters. As Wargo notes (p. 127), Bruce Ames and Lois Gold have made a case that the chemical ingredients that naturally make up our foods provide risks that dwarf those from residues of synthetic pesticides. The Ames/Gold argument meets common sense expectations, because foods are consumed in high doses for sustenance. Wargo dodges, because an implication is the triviality of risks posed by pesticide residues (the topic of his book): "it hardly seems prudent to avoid regulating synthetic toxins simply because we are commonly exposed to natural ones." This evasion is telling. Why ignore 99 percent of the risk (presented by natural ingredients in foods) and only pay attention to pesticide residues? Maybe because it is easier to stigmatize chemicals that protect foods supplies.
All living things constitute systems of interacting chemicals. Our choices in foods, drink, and pharmaceuticals very much influence health and development. Plants (fruits and vegetables) contain chemical ingredients to ward off predators. These toxicants collectively present much higher dose and risk than residues of chemicals used to protect crops against predators and disease agents like fungi, viruses, and bacteria. What are the health tradeoffs between disease agents versus pesticide residues? Or among various ways of protecting foods against disease agents?
Synthetic pesticides give many thoughtful people pause and can surely cause harm, if in excess dose. They deserve to be carefully managed by applicators. For decades, the U.S. has had ways of regulating pesticides to minimize unwanted impacts. Because children are more vulnerable to any and all chemicals, Wargo may contribute constructive suggestions, deep within the arcane field of pesticide regulation. Yet the subtitle, How Science and Law Fail to Protect Us from Pesticides, seems unjustified.
It is commonplace for environmental scientists to analyze only a select few pesticides present within the environment. When found, these few are stigmatized and their uses curtailed. Yet, this is a "free lunch" illusion, based on highly selective analytic chemistry. In reality, society uses a great number of pesticides and there is no holistic consideration of whether their collective levels within the environment pose any greater or lesser risk than before the cancelling of DDT and regulation of other pesticides. Wargo may not be mindful of this larger surrounding context, trusting too much in the scientific understanding of the environmental industrial complex that he is endeavoring to improve. He is narrowly focused on a problem that he believes we should fear: synthetic pesticide residues. He seems conscientious in intention.
For the reader interested in books on chemicals and health, some options are:
-- J. Rodricks. Calculated Risks: understanding the toxicity and human health risks of chemicals in our environment (Cambridge U. Press).
-- John Emsley. The Consumer's Good Chemical Guide. (W.H. Freeman)
-- W. Baarschers. eco-facts & eco-fiction. (Routledge)
-- Aaron Wildalsky. But is it True? (Harvard U Press).
-- John F. Ross. Living Dangerously: navigating the risks of everyday life. (Perseus)
-- National Research Council. Carcinogens and Anticarcinogens in the human diet. National Academy Press.
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- Water crisis turns rock musician into sage
- little empirical data
- Good thesis....but proof?
- Every Drop For Sale, a "colorful" novel
- Overall Look at Water Shortages, with the Latest Trends
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Every Drop for Sale: Our Desperate Battle Over Water
Jeffrey Rothfeder
Manufacturer: Tarcher
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Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit
ASIN: 1585421146
Release Date: 2001-10-11 |
Book Description
As oil was the crisis of the twentieth century, water is the crisis of the twenty-first. Less than .0008 percent of the total water on Earth is fit for human consumption, but global consumption of fresh water is doubling every twenty years. Water has become perhaps our most precious commodity-a life-sustaining but increasingly rare and privatized resource. A dramatic gap exists between those who have adequate water for survival and those who don't, and tensions over water in some areas of the world hover just below open war.
From Europe to Asia to Africa to America, award-winning journalist Jeffrey Rothfeder has visited the world's hot spots with the least amount of water, and also places where there is so much of it that plans are in the works to sell the excess to the highest bidder. In this compelling narrative account of our world in turmoil over water, he describes the issues and struggles of the people on all sides of the water crisis: from the scarred survivors of bizarre water-management practices, to those who are willing to die for water to sustain their families and crops, to the scientists and leaders who are trying to set things straight.
Important, provocative, and immensely readable, Every Drop for Sale explores a fascinating critical dilemma: as we run out of it, is water a fundamental right of everybody on Earth or just a human need that can be bought and sold like any other commodity?
Customer Reviews:
Water crisis turns rock musician into sage.......2004-12-03
Beginning with "Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water" in 1986, many books have been written detailing various blood-boiling aspects of the gross mismanagement of the world's water resources. Most were written as polemics, and justifiably so.
Here in "Every Drop for Sale", author Jeffrey Rothfeder treats the subject using more temperate language. But, given the facts, the reader's reaction is still likely to be one of outrage. It is testament to the author's skill that he is able to raise the alarm while remaining objective and clear-sighted about both progress and possible solutions.
The book ranges widely over the effects of the proliferation of dams, diversions, reservoirs, irrigation projects, privatizations, and subsidizations. As Rothfeder guides us through Rapid City (Iowa), the Narmada River in India, the ill-fated village of Cochabamba in Bolivia, and many other water mismanagement sites, he proves to be an effective and moving chronicler. The power of his book lies in his ability to combine a big picture view with attention to the lives of the powerless who happen to be downstream from some megalomaniac water project.
Cochabamba proves to be both the most arresting and yet ironically one of the more promising of Rothfeder's accounts. Townspeople were first subjected to the loss of their major industry, tin mining. That loss of local revenue then led to the deterioration of their water distribution system. The Bolivian government tried to rescue the situation by privatizing the town's water management out to Bechtel, which promptly raised water fees. Something approaching civil war resulted. Instead of simply bemoaning the path taken, Rothfeder sees in the eventual outcome (after destruction, arrests, and deaths, the government cancelled its deal with Bechtel) both a salutary object lesson and a hope that, with a newly recognized need for safeguards, privatization can in fact be a critical part of addressing the world's accelerating water crisis.
Giving validity to this optimistic outlook, the author concludes that same chapter with a look at how the Blair government turned the UK's privatization efforts, begun disastrously under Margaret Thatcher, into a successful model for the rest for the world. (He characterizes that program as one "strictly overseeing the free water market, while leaving it sufficiently unrestricted that profit incentives will motivate private corporations".) This juxtaposition of stories is characteristic of the book's effective pivot around both problems and ideas for resolution.
Rothfeder argues that the commoditization of water and its corollary, the privatization of water management, are not only inevitable but also that they can be turned to advantage. This is debatable; but he puts forward a compelling case for his belief that both are so.
The standard author's blurb describes Rothfeder as an author and "consulting editor". In the course of the book, he reveals that he came to his water sensitivity while touring as a rock musician. We're fortunate that his itinerary took him to Rapid City. The book is not lengthy, but feels comprehensive, well-informed, and persuasive. We need works like "Cadillac Desert" to fire our indignation at how we got into this fix, but we need "Every Drop for Sale" to remind us that all is not yet lost.
little empirical data.......2004-08-25
very few statistics or physical information cited.
Instead, author constantly uses turns of phrase like "drastically reduced flow" or "substantially curbed drinking supply" while providing little of the numbers which should come rushing forth to defend his premise.
I checked this book out from the library expecting compelling documentation of the perils of water privatization, instead the book is a meandering attempt at a poetic defense of the public claim to water- a message with which I agree but for I find little justification in this book. It does contain a number of at least entertaining anecdotes and some worthwhile philosophizing on the problem of over-development, it might serve as a good general introduction to the genre of books bashing corporate and private malefeasance, and therefore make okay reading on a plane, as it's not very demanding reading.
Good thesis....but proof?.......2004-01-31
An excellent book on discussing the perils of ignoring the scarcity of water resources...It provides a fairly chilling account of what has potentially gone wrong in water management projects in different parts of the world. The book also discusses the use of water as a potential war/bargaining tool as discussed in the context of an early Arab plan to divert the Jordan River from Israel and Turkey/Syria skirmishes related to Kurdish unrest in that region. After reading those segments, one cant help but wonder why these issues are not discussed with more sense of urgency.
Though the book provides some interesting "facts and figures", most of its arguments is based on author's own intrepretation and not much independent confirmations. Some of the arguments degenerate to what can be percieved as political agenda, while some of the arguments, ironically, doesnt hold any water. The author does deserve credit for the well thought thesis and discussion on the premises..The arguments on "why" and "what" went wrong could have risen above personal opinion/speculation...
The narration is interesting, and the author spices the discussion with some character sketches..A good read, but will be disappointed if you are looking for the book to live up to the hype its title could convey...
Every Drop For Sale, a "colorful" novel.......2003-06-08
I was prepared to like this book and be convinced of its premise, but was sorely disappointed. It is mostly undocumented and seems to reflect only the author's opinion.
I call it a "colorful" read since the writing consists of yellow journalism, purple prose, and white lies.
I compared it most unfavorably with "A River Lost" a wonderfully researched and well written book on the Columbia River. Mr. Rothfeder simply pushes his own ideas and bends the facts to fit his views.
Overall Look at Water Shortages, with the Latest Trends.......2001-12-07
How much would you pay for water to sustain your life? Obviously, you would be willing to pay a lot. That fact concerns Mr. Rothfeder because he fears that water is about to become prohibitively expensive . . . or just not available for more and more of the world's people. As a case in point, Bechtel took over the water system of Cochabamba, Bolivia and raised water prices to the level equal to what the poorest people paid for all of their food. Soon, the town was in revolt, martial law was declared, and events would have only gotten worse if Bolivia had not terminated the contract. If you remember your French history, the end of the monarchy coincided with a period of rapidly rising bread prices.
From there, you will learn that 1.1 billion people each day don't get enough water to drink and to clean themselves and their clothes. Many more don't get enough pure water. No one knows for sure, but it seems like the amount of untreated pure water declines each year while the population grows. If those trends cross, massive water famines will be ahead. Mr. Rothfeder argues for having those in the developed world pay a disproportionately high price for water and use some of that to subsidize making water available to poor people everywhere. A potential benefit of this higher price in the developed world will be to reduce water consumption. An average shower in the United States consumes more water than the poorest people get in water-short areas in two or three days.
The background is discouraging. People are pouring into areas where there isn't enough water to support them (like southern California, Arizona, Atlanta, and Florida). Dam projects make less pure water available, harm wildlife and plants, displace people, and create risk of worse flooding. Draining too much water from areas (like the Owens Valley in California) leaves environmentally devastated areas where toxic wastes from former lake bottoms blow through the high winds harming everyone's health. Almost all of the World Bank money for water projects goes to make just this sort of dam, to create electricity for industry, and steady sources of water for irrigation on large farms.
Recently, companies have been buying up water distribution operations. Often the results, however, aren't very good. Executives may just pay themselves well, raise prices, and ignore quality. The U.K. added regulation (of the sort that we used to have with electricity in the United States) and found the results improved.
Some innovations are more promising. Water is being shipped in bags through the ocean. Desalinization is very expensive, but supplies a lot of the fresh water on the Arabian peninsula. Some harmful dams are being decommissioned. Systems-oriented solutions are being developed in some areas, such as the rehydration of the Everglades in Florida with water that would otherwise go out to sea. Gorbachev's Green Cross has had some successes with helping to broker regional water solutions.
When more water is available, wonderful things can happen. In a village in Kenya, women had to carry 70 pound jugs of water for miles for their families. The men didn't help. Development brought funds for pumps, and water was now only a few feet away. The quality of family life and prosperity of the villagers were much improved . . . for a while. Then thieves stole the pumps one night, and things went back to where they had been.
Overhanging all of this is the potential for regional wars over water. Mr. Rothfeder argues that the Six Day War was primarily triggered by the Arab plan to divert the Jordan River away from Israel. During the Gulf War, Iraq destroyed Kuwait's desalinization plants, Coalition Forces destroyed a lot of Iraq's water infrastructure, and Iraq used water warfare to control southern tribes. More recently, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan have been jockeying to get access to the water that the Kurdish regions in Turkey can supply.
The book is filled with interesting examples that will give you a much better sense of the fresh water situation. Unfortunately, the author's investigation of how to best solve the problem is dealt with in very sketchy terms. Clearly, if substantial funds were available, much more pure water could be provided. The question of who will pay for the poor in developing and underdeveloped countries is the hard question. When former Senator McGovern looked at whether world hunger could be eliminated, he found the cost was a reasonable one for the wealthiest countries to bear and much progress followed. A similar look is needed at making pure water available in the most efficient and effective way for the long-term. Even in the areas where the shortages are the greatest (like the U.S. Southwest) most of the water is still used for agriculture, and very little is paid for that water. So, this issue also requires thinking through price subsidies for agriculture.
Interestingly, Enron (which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy) was cited as one of the leaders in providing more pure water in the future around the world. That reference seemed ironic in light of recent events at the company.
Make part of your sharing with others include making more pure water available! Many charities have programs to help poor villagers install pumps and learn how to maintain them in water-short areas like the drier parts of Africa.
Amazon.com
Water is a curious thing, observed the economist Adam Smith: although it is vital to life, it costs almost nothing, whereas diamonds, which are useless for survival, cost a fortune. In Water, Canadian journalist de Villiers says the resource is still undervalued, but it is becoming more precious. It's not that the world is running out of water, he adds, but that "it's running out in places where it's needed most."
De Villiers examines the checkered history of humankind's management of water--which, he hastens to remind us, is not a renewable resource in many parts of the world. One of them is the Nile River region, burdened by overpopulation. Another is the Sahara, where Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi is pressing an ambitious, and potentially environmentally disastrous, campaign to mine deep underground aquifers to make the desert green. Another is northern China, where the damaging effects of irrigation have destroyed once-mighty rivers, and the Aral Sea of Central Asia, which was killed within a human lifetime. And still another is the American Southwest, where crops more fitting to a jungle than a dry land are nursed. De Villiers travels to all these places, reporting on what he sees and delivering news that is rarely good.
De Villiers has a keen eye for detail and a solid command of the scientific literature on which his argument is based. He's also a fine storyteller, and his wide-ranging book makes a useful companion to Marc Reisner's classic Cadillac Desert and other works that call our attention to a globally abused--and vital--resource. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
Water is a thought-provoking, eloquent look at the importance of this vital resource to humankind, encompassing ecological, historical, and cultural perspectives. Marq de Villiers reports from hot spots as diverse as China, Las Vegas, and the Middle East, where swelling populations and unchecked development have stressed fresh water supplies nearly beyond remedy. Political struggles for control of water rage around the globe and threaten to erupt into military conflicts that will decide the fates of governments and nations. Rampant pollution poses an equally dire ecological threat - every year Canadians dump seven times more used motor oil into our waterways than the EXXON VALDEZ spilled in Alaska. With one eye to these looming crises and the other to the history of our utter dependence on this, our planet's most precious commodity, de Villiers has crafted a powerful narrative about the lifeblood of civilizations, the global consequences of human thirst, and solutions that may avert the coming water wars. Informative, insightful, and entertaining, de Villiers's work will be the standard book on global water issues for years to come, and it deserves to be read by everyone who has ever turned on a tap.
Customer Reviews:
Good, but fails about Brazil.......2006-06-21
I'm an agronomist and I live in Brazil.I read this book, translated to the portuguese, here in Brazil.This book really has many usefull informations, about water suplly in the world.
China, Israel, Africa, USA, Mexico, India are some of the nations who are with water's problems and are focused in this book.
About Brazil this book is a failure.Brazil export far less paper and wood than Canada or USA, but we have far more forests than Canada or USA.And our forests grow far more fast than an american or canadian forest.And this book talks about ecomyths about Brazil.
In fact, this book sometimes reproduces, the ridiculous lies from "green eugenicists" or ecologists.
A real eye opener.......2005-05-03
This is an excellent overview of the water problems plaguing the globe at the moment, as Marq de Villiers travels far and wide to show just how precious a resource water really is. Most importantly, he does so in a very accessible style of writing that personalizes so many of the issues surrounding the rapid depletion of aquifers by drawing on childhood memories of his home farm in South Africa and first hand sources in the current geopolitical battles.
Of note is the Middle East and North Africa where the battle over water is entertwined with the ongoing political disputes. He notes how carefully Israel has managed its water resources yet is heavily reliant on sources in the West Bank to sustain its agricultural industry. Needless to say this has made the issue of Palestinian statehood that much more difficult. He also explores the thorny relationships along the Nile where downstream Egypt has threatened to go to war with the Sudan and Ethiopia over any divergence attempts with this great river. And, Kaddafi's attempts to create a massive underground river from aquifers deep below the Sahara to coastal Libya, in order to restore badly depleted sources.
But, even in seemingly water rich nations like the US and Canada, water battles persist, mostly to do with the contamination of rivers and aquifers that are the result of industrial waste and poor farming practices. More thorny are precious water rights in dry states like Wyoming and Montana that often end up in court and sometimes settled using frontier justice.
For those not familiar with the looming water crisis, this book will be a real opener, for others it will provide valuable information regarding disputes from the Yellow River in China to the Colorado River, which has long since quit flowing to the Gulf of California. While de Villiers avoids being the doomsayer, he does make one exceedingly worried about the future of this most precious resource.
A Non-Fiction Page turner (!).......2005-03-21
This book is by far one of the most interesting, can't-put-it-down non-fictional books I've ever read. I know, I'm speaking in superlatives, but I can't say enough about this book.
I made my thesis topic water-related after I read Water. And yet Water reads like a novel, even though it's packed with information and statistics; de Villiers does an amazing job of making the scientific research information palatable to the average (non-science inclined) reader by weaving in his own experiences and stories.
You can feel his passion for this issue come through in his writing style. He integrates quotes very well and makes the subject come alive. For example, when writing about a severe chemical spill along the Rhine River, he quoted Bertram Muelle, saying: "The river ran red... Otherwise, it looked no different...But I knew that as I watched, its creatures were dying. It was the most terrible feeling. I was frozen, sickened..."He makes turns a very technical and scientific topic into a page-turner. A must-read! P.S. Pay attention to the Canada-US Great Lakes issue, along with the Rhine and Danube Rivers (the subject of my thesis!).
Lacks focus.......2004-04-03
This a fascinating book about a fascinating (and critical topic). But in appealling to the general reader, Mr. de Villiers inserts too much (for my taste) personal anecdote. A regrettable travelogue quality permeates the narrative.
This is unfortunate, because there is much of value here. In particular, the discussion about the sources and uses of the Jordan River, Isreali concern with controlling its water supply, and water problems of the immediate Arab neighorhood, opened my eyes to an aspect of the current intractable problems of the Middle East.
My advice is to read this with pleasure, but don't be afraid to skim if you find some portions of the narrative uninteresting.
Easy to Swallow, but with No Additives.......2002-09-12
This easy to read and conversational book can be used as an introduction to the fate of water supplies around the world and their impact on human societies. de Villiers takes us on a chapter-by-chapter dissertation first on the technical aspects of water issues, such as the mechanics of groundwater and dams. Then we proceed to selected examples of water crises around the globe, such as China's dilemma of having too much where it's not needed and too little where it is needed, or the hideous catastrophe of the Aral Sea in the former USSR.
The author takes an admirably middle-of-the-road stance here and usually lets the facts speak for themselves, with just a little bit of opinionating. But his opinions are still quite moderate and level-headed, as he doesn't align himself with either unyielding environmentalists or extreme free trade proponents, both of which he accurately condemns as having very narrow outlooks on the real world. Some of de Villiers' key observations concern the water wars that will probably start erupting in coming years in dry regions of the world. Two countries will probably spend more money in a single day of war than it takes to improve water supplies for both of them for decades to come. Also, de Villiers drives home the point that the worrisome decline of fresh water around the globe is not due to greedy businessmen, corrupt politicians, or greens who refuse to let it be used. It's just the natural outcome of humans living like humans. Therefore real human cooperation across all societies is necessary to address the problem.
Unfortunately, the author's chapter-by-chapter approach serves only as an introduction to separate topics of interest, without very much substance behind each one. Also, this subject requires harder economics, politics, and sociology than de Villiers provides here. Therefore this book can best be used as an introduction to these issues before you dive into much more specific books like "Rivers of Empire" by Worster or "Cadillac Desert" by Reisner (focusing on the American West), or the works of the Worldwatch Institute for the international story.
Average customer rating:
- Outstanding!
- Richard Pombo can write?
- Self Centered
- Unbalanced, extremist ranting
- Ready To Be Scared?
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This Land Is Our Land: How to End the War on Private Property
Richard Pombo , and
Joseph Farah
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0312147473 |
Reason
Pombo targets his book at a conservative audience, citing a biblical defense of property rights, reminding readers that the Founders explicitly protected property in the Constitution, and offering occasional (if somewhat superficial) attacks on central planning. He describes how wetlands have been transformed in the public mind and the public law from swamps that breed disease-bearing critters to altars at the environmental church. And he explores the growing "eco-federal"coalition of environmental advocacy groups, government regulatory agencies, and congressional appropriators.
. . . By consistently portraying environmentalists as antagonists, Pombo should have no problem convincing an audience that may agree with him anyway. And by selecting as his co-author Joseph Farah, who worked with Rush Limbaugh on his second book, See, I Told You So, he has found a collaborator well-suited to appeal to readers who are politically engaged but aren't policy wonks.
But there's a troubling blind spot in this book. The explosive growth in the population of the West could never have happened without the massive government water projects that were started during the New Deal. Unlike the eastern United States, where water was plentiful and land scarce, in the West land was cheap and water dear. As DeLong explains in Property Matters, the Homestead Act of 1866 gave away 160-acre parcels of land to anyone who would stake a claim: East of the 100th Meridian, where 40 or more inches of rain fall every year, 160 acres of farm land would easily support a family. In the rain-deprived areas west of the 100th, however, such plots were worthless--unless they were located along a river or lake. Harnessing Western rivers made large- scale agriculture possible and helped support the migration of people from the East and the South. . . . Pombo's book doesn't mention the thorny problems caused by socialized water, a curious oversight, since his Central Valley congressional district would certainly be less populous and less prosperous without it.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding!.......2006-07-26
Everyone needs to read this book in order to better counter the rants and raves of the radical (and moderate) enviromental groups and their agenda.
Richard Pombo can write?.......2006-03-24
This book deserves only negative 5 stars but the scale does not go that low.
If you decide to read this book be prepared to fact check every single sentence, because the publisher did not.
Richard Pombo - unbelieveably he is a Congressman from California - is a well known liar. Multiple public articles have proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt - and he has been forced to publically admit to lying about much of what he has written in this book. He has never, ever challenged anyone who called him a liar. In fact Pombo proves that jokes often are based in truth: How do you know if a politican is lying? His lips are moving!
So, in short, don't buy this book, instead, find it at a library (it is probably in the Fiction section). Buying it would only encourage this liar.
Self Centered.......2005-09-30
Are there problems with the Endangered Species Act? Of course. Is the government guilty of using heavy-handed tactics? Of course. But the answers are not going to be found in Richard Pombo's "me first" world either. This book contributes NOTHING to the sensible community debate. Swing back towards the center, Richard. For the sake of all beings, swing back to the center.
Unbalanced, extremist ranting.......2003-05-23
Pombo obviously has no respect for the environment since he wasted numerous trees on this 225 pages of extremist nonsense. He revels in environmental "scares stories", some of which have since been proven to be false and most of which are grossly exaggerated. He never considers the alternate view, such as in what state would our environment be in if not for laws that protect it. Still spraying DDT? Even more extinctions? Clearcutting of national forests? Yosemite and Grand Canyon dammed up reservoirs?
Only those readers who already agree with him would not see this as the ravings of an unbalanced anti-environmentalist lunatic. This is obviously written for the Rush Limbaugh/Ann Coultier crowd, who are not particularly interested in facts and balanced opinions, but only want confirmation of their extremist views.
Ready To Be Scared?.......2000-06-21
This book was incredibly frightening to me. I had no idea of how far the government has gone to take away private land ownership in this country. Now I look at every move my local, state, and federal government does in a new light, and it scares me to death. I'm not an ultra-conservative "wacko" by any means, but I am very concerned about the rapidly disappearing right of private property in this country. Read this book and you'll be concerned too.
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