Earth Odyssey

by Mark Hertsgaard (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1999

  $3.25

  As the 20th century draws to a close, a significant group of observers - scientists, business leaders, government officials - see the handwriting on the global wall warning of impending ecological collapse and the subsequent effect on the human race. This work tests that view, looking at what humans are actually doing to the environment and where such behaviour will lead. The topics the book evaluates are pressing; how much of a danger do environmental hazards pose to the future well-being of the human species, and how is humanity faring in its struggle against these hazards? Will human civilization still exist in 100 years from now? Or will our species have been wiped out by disasters of its own making? Mark Hertsgaard travels from Bangkok to the Brazilian rain forests and from Chernobyl to Chongging in China (probably the most polluted place on Earth) to report at first hand what is happening in these environmental disaster zones.

• Used

  Paperback
  2000

  $3.81

  From toxic polluted cityscapes of industrial China to poverty-stricken tribes in Sudan, from children's leukaemia wards in ex-soviet nuclear disaster zones to the conference tables of Rio's Earth Summit, Mark Hertsgaard's quest around the globe forms an urgent investigation into the future of the environment. The ecological ravages of capitalist hyperconsumption and communist mismanagement can only worsen as developing nations - desperately trying to bridge the ancient divide between rich and poor - achieve 'progress' at the expense of environmental degradation. Questioning the credibility of sustainable development with leading figures such as Al Gore and Jacques Cousteau, Mark Hertsgaard depicts with an eye for anecdote and human detail the activities of government agencies, business leaders and citizen activists engaged in saving (or destroying) the environment. Whether describing the lethal appeal of the automobile or detailing the impact of Amazonian deforestation on world climate change, his first-hand reportage and storyteller's sense of narrative produce a vital, edifying - and even hopeful - call for action. Time is running out.