Rating: 
Summary: Well written but with the same soft ending as so many other
Review: I started actually getting interested in enviromental issues from a physics class I took at the University of Utah. We were discussing extrapolated population growth patterns and the effects of such. This was 25 years ago. It still amazes me that Mark and many other writers such as William Strauss "The Fourth Turning" Jared Diamond "Guns,Germs and Steel" just to name a few will not come clean and say we are riding a run away train.I have two next door neigbors who frequently visit China. One sells them rocket components to launch there own satelites. The other sells them CDMA switches,"wireless telephone switches". They both have 400K houses and a couple of kids. They also ironically both drive Chevy Suburbans. How can Mark and other authors sit there and continue to treat the unknowing masses like children. To me hiding the truth is just as dangerous as pissing in your soup.Can anyone recommend a book that actually gets to the point.
Rating: 
Summary: Our environmental crisis
Review: Investigative reporter Mark Hertsgaard spent six years traveling around the world, gathering material for this book. This is not strictly a scientific treatise (although he conducted extensive research into his topics). Rather, he reports through the eyes of the people who live in the environmentally damaged places he visited. The theme of the book is how technology has both benefitted and harmed the planet and its inhabitants, and how greed continues to threaten our existence. His accounts of wanton destruction of nature in the 19th century make the reader gasp with dismay over the short-sightedness of our predecessors: the damming of a mighty river and its magnificent waterfall; the murder of the largest, oldest sequoia on earth. (Two of the examples which brought me to tears.) The horror is: the destruction, the contamination, and waste are still happening. And not only at the hands of totalitarian regimes or ignorant third-world peasants, but due to the callousness of greedy American corporations and government lobbies. The conclusions of Chapter Three, "The Irrisistable Automobile", will come as no surprise to most American readers, although the images of the perpetually gridlocked traffic-jams of fume-choked Asian cities astonished even this rider of Southern California freeways. Statistics of the predicted explosion in automobile sales world wide are especially ominous. This book was published in 1999 and exposes the hypocrisy of the Clinton administration in paying lip service to environmental issues while simultaneously caving to the demands of the powerful fossil fuel lobby. If Chapter Three is gloomy, Chapter Four, "To the Nuclear Lighthouse", is utterly terrifying. The account of Hertsgaard's visits to the most blighted areas of the former USSR is preceeded by a dismal, just recently uncensored history of the Soviets' worst nuclear disasters. While everyone knows about Chernobyl, few people knew about the radiating of the Siberian region of Chelyabinsk. Few, that is, other than the hapless residents who've been suffering its effects for years. With the aid of his translator, Russian author and photographer Vlad Tamarov, Hertsgaard conducted a relentless expose' of the deliberate coverups of "incidents" at nuke plants and shipping lanes, which irreversibly poisoned crops, fisheries, and even the water table. Even more worrisome than the damage already done are Hertsgaard's reports of poorly inventoried and practically unguarded nuclear stockpiles in volatile republics such as Kazakhstan. The American reader who attributes Soviet environmental crimes to Communist cruelty is in for an ugly shock -- Hertsgaard then documents identical coverups by our own government, of similar "incidents" on our own soil! From Russia, the author journeyed to China and Africa to report on overpopulation and its adverse effects on nature, health, and standards of living. The bleak narrative ends on a hopeful note: "Sustainable Development and the Triumph of Capitalism". Since the publication of "Earth Odyssey", the Bush administration has all but declared war on the environment, so even that fleeting hope now appears elusive.
Rating:
Summary: Our environmental crisis
Review: Investigative reporter Mark Hertsgaard spent six years traveling around the world, gathering material for this book. This is not strictly a scientific treatise (although he conducted extensive research into his topics). Rather, he reports through the eyes of the people who live in the environmentally damaged places he visited. The theme of the book is how technology has both benefitted and harmed the planet and its inhabitants, and how greed continues to threaten our existence. His accounts of wanton destruction of nature in the 19th century make the reader gasp with dismay over the short-sightedness of our predecessors: the damming of a mighty river and its magnificent waterfall; the murder of the largest, oldest sequoia on earth. (Two of the examples which brought me to tears.) The horror is: the destruction, the contamination, and waste are still happening. And not only at the hands of totalitarian regimes or ignorant third-world peasants, but due to the callousness of greedy American corporations and government lobbies. The conclusions of Chapter Three, "The Irrisistable Automobile", will come as no surprise to most American readers, although the images of the perpetually gridlocked traffic-jams of fume-choked Asian cities astonished even this rider of Southern California freeways. Statistics of the predicted explosion in automobile sales world wide are especially ominous. This book was published in 1999 and exposes the hypocrisy of the Clinton administration in paying lip service to environmental issues while simultaneously caving to the demands of the powerful fossil fuel lobby. If Chapter Three is gloomy, Chapter Four, "To the Nuclear Lighthouse", is utterly terrifying. The account of Hertsgaard's visits to the most blighted areas of the former USSR is preceeded by a dismal, just recently uncensored history of the Soviets' worst nuclear disasters. While everyone knows about Chernobyl, few people knew about the radiating of the Siberian region of Chelyabinsk. Few, that is, other than the hapless residents who've been suffering its effects for years. With the aid of his translator, Russian author and photographer Vlad Tamarov, Hertsgaard conducted a relentless expose' of the deliberate coverups of "incidents" at nuke plants and shipping lanes, which irreversibly poisoned crops, fisheries, and even the water table. Even more worrisome than the damage already done are Hertsgaard's reports of poorly inventoried and practically unguarded nuclear stockpiles in volatile republics such as Kazakhstan. The American reader who attributes Soviet environmental crimes to Communist cruelty is in for an ugly shock -- Hertsgaard then documents identical coverups by our own government, of similar "incidents" on our own soil! From Russia, the author journeyed to China and Africa to report on overpopulation and its adverse effects on nature, health, and standards of living. The bleak narrative ends on a hopeful note: "Sustainable Development and the Triumph of Capitalism". Since the publication of "Earth Odyssey", the Bush administration has all but declared war on the environment, so even that fleeting hope now appears elusive.
Rating: 
Summary: Honest and real
Review: It was hard to put this book down. I love the way Hertsgaard went to the common people and asked them what they thought about the environment in many different places. His records of traveling through China were at once eye opening and haunting. It is very scary to realize what is happening over there. I recommend this book to everyone who cares about the future of this planet.
Rating:
Summary: A little sick, a lot wise
Review: It's probably common to think about what happens to the trash we throw away, our human refuse, and other stuff that has to go somewhere, preferably away from where we are. But it's probably less common to think about what happens to refuse from every other process, system, and activity that takes place every second to keep the entire world running. For one thing, such ruminations would be depressing. Once you read about Hertsgaard's sobering journey, you'll be forced to face your own personal contribution to earth's demise. I think cognitive dissonance would be a normal reaction. But perhaps we're lucky that Hertsgaard was willing and able to survey the earth's conditions first hand, and deliver his account with subjective experiences. I think it took a lot of guts for him to approach this subject at all, because it's the kind of message that gets the messenger killed. He did an excellent job of meshing human interest and scientific research and statistics, making the book as valuable as it is interesting. You may not be happy when you finish this book, but you will definitely be informed.
Rating:
Summary: Wow--what a trip!
Review: Mark Hertsgaard gives readers the "up close and personal" view of what our environmental challenges mean. As you follow his travels from rural China to downtown Rome, pollution and environmental degredation become very real. Mark Hertsgaard succeeds in putting a face on some of the things other writers have been telling us about our planet. Interesting and thought-provoking reading.
Rating:
Summary: Well written account of ecological perils we face
Review: Mark Hertsgaard presents an unbiased unsentimental firsthand account of the environmental problems the human race faces. He identifies the pattern of overconsumption in developed countries and the economic disparity among nations and people as the biggest cause and deterrant to a better environmental future. We will have to ensure that every human being is clothed and fed before we can expect them to be concerned about the environment. Perhaps at the end of the book, he sounds too hopeful about the fate of human beings - but quoting Vaclav Havel, as the author did - hope forces me to do something to make them [the better possibilities] happen.
Rating:
Summary: Marvelous assessment of the global human environment.
Review: Mark Hertsgaard's book examines the manmade problems that afflict the global commons. If you want to understand the interkinkages between the environment and economic development, read this wonderful book. It's a reporter's sobering journey yet a concerned scholar's work. -- Pranay Gupte, Editor and Publisher, The Earth Times.
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious & Rivetting
Review: The author may be correct when he says this book is too ambitious. Regardless, he has, at very least, openned my eyes to the ecological devastation that may be realized sooner rather than later. Hertsgaard's recount of his travels vary from facinating to horrifying. His description of Russia's ongoing nuclear problems is enough to keep one up at night. Despite this, his objective analysis forces the reader to empathize with those we may be tempted to blame for these crises. Indeed, Hertsgaard's cultural observations alone make this book well worth reading. I highly recomend this book to anyone. You will be facinated by the author's journey and inspired by his conviction to stop the crisis that has already begun.
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious & Rivetting
Review: The author may be correct when he says this book is too ambitious. Regardless, he has, at very least, openned my eyes to the ecological devastation that may be realized sooner rather than later. Hertsgaard's recount of his travels vary from facinating to horrifying. His description of Russia's ongoing nuclear problems is enough to keep one up at night. Despite this, his objective analysis forces the reader to empathize with those we may be tempted to blame for these crises. Indeed, Hertsgaard's cultural observations alone make this book well worth reading. I highly recomend this book to anyone. You will be facinated by the author's journey and inspired by his conviction to stop the crisis that has already begun.
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