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mariewordaddict's review against another edition
4.0
Wow apparently I wrote this review years ago (by that I mean 2012) on Amazon. Transferring it here. Lol
I picked up a book called Earth Odyssey by Mark Hertsgaard at a thrift store last year. Finally had time to read it during my summer at the Jersey Shore, and not a moment too soon. This book is deeply disturbing! It shook me up more than anything I've read in at least the last 6 years. I was already far more informed than the average lay person, now I am also far more upset.
You would have to be inhuman to read about the huge human populations who live in toxic or horribly degraded environments and feel powerless to have a better life. The vicious cycle of wars in Africa that has degraded the environment, causing people to starve, causing more wars is heartbreaking. The description of how developing countries like China are paralyzed to limit their vast contributions to deadly pollution and CO2 emissions because they must place economic concerns first is depressing. The lackadaisical attitude of Russian, U.S., and other governments about the hundreds of thousands of people exposed to nuclear radiation is infuriating. Irreversibly poisoned crops, rivers that catch on fire, impoverished people who inhale toxic fumes 24/7, all caused by a desperation to survive that overrides wise environmental policies.
I think I instinctually knew that economic disparity is a huge driver in the runaway train of the global environmental crisis. This book brought everything home. We can't expect developing countries to do anything about rampant environmental degradation while they are naked, starving, sick, or even freezing. Each of us wealthy Americans MUST face how our runaway materialistic lifestyle contributes to this situation, and force our government to have accountability to addressing these problems before it is too late.
I picked up a book called Earth Odyssey by Mark Hertsgaard at a thrift store last year. Finally had time to read it during my summer at the Jersey Shore, and not a moment too soon. This book is deeply disturbing! It shook me up more than anything I've read in at least the last 6 years. I was already far more informed than the average lay person, now I am also far more upset.
You would have to be inhuman to read about the huge human populations who live in toxic or horribly degraded environments and feel powerless to have a better life. The vicious cycle of wars in Africa that has degraded the environment, causing people to starve, causing more wars is heartbreaking. The description of how developing countries like China are paralyzed to limit their vast contributions to deadly pollution and CO2 emissions because they must place economic concerns first is depressing. The lackadaisical attitude of Russian, U.S., and other governments about the hundreds of thousands of people exposed to nuclear radiation is infuriating. Irreversibly poisoned crops, rivers that catch on fire, impoverished people who inhale toxic fumes 24/7, all caused by a desperation to survive that overrides wise environmental policies.
I think I instinctually knew that economic disparity is a huge driver in the runaway train of the global environmental crisis. This book brought everything home. We can't expect developing countries to do anything about rampant environmental degradation while they are naked, starving, sick, or even freezing. Each of us wealthy Americans MUST face how our runaway materialistic lifestyle contributes to this situation, and force our government to have accountability to addressing these problems before it is too late.
pussreboots's review against another edition
4.0
We are going through a drought here in Northern California. Since this summer we've been asked to use no more than 100 gallons of water per day. We took the request seriously and let the summer heat kill our patio garden. One hundred gallons still seems like an extravagant amount of water but according Mark Hertsgaard in Earth Odyssey, the typical American household uses 186 gallons a day, nearly twice what we've been asked to cut back to!
In 1991 Mark Hertsgaard traveled around the world to see what people thought of environmental problems. What he found out is people universally find it hard to see beyond their own immediate needs. It doesn't seem to matter if it's a family in a war ravaged Sudan, a Thai family in traffic clogged Bangkok or a family living in the toxic clouds of Beijing, the response was the same: "we're used to it." That didn't mean they were happy, just able to cope. The bigger environmental picture never seemed to play a part in the responses Heartsgaard received.
Heartsgaard sets the stage by describing the environmental crisis each place is facing: famine, heavy metals in the air and water, nuclear waste freely dumped in the rivers and so forth. Then he introduces the people he interviewed and worked with. Earth Odyssey is a surprisingly fast read for all the depressing facts. The book doesn't offer much in the way of solutions for the problems faced by the environment and the specific places Heartsgaard visited.
In 1991 Mark Hertsgaard traveled around the world to see what people thought of environmental problems. What he found out is people universally find it hard to see beyond their own immediate needs. It doesn't seem to matter if it's a family in a war ravaged Sudan, a Thai family in traffic clogged Bangkok or a family living in the toxic clouds of Beijing, the response was the same: "we're used to it." That didn't mean they were happy, just able to cope. The bigger environmental picture never seemed to play a part in the responses Heartsgaard received.
Heartsgaard sets the stage by describing the environmental crisis each place is facing: famine, heavy metals in the air and water, nuclear waste freely dumped in the rivers and so forth. Then he introduces the people he interviewed and worked with. Earth Odyssey is a surprisingly fast read for all the depressing facts. The book doesn't offer much in the way of solutions for the problems faced by the environment and the specific places Heartsgaard visited.
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