Awards

• Short-listed for BP Natural World Book Prize 1999
• Shortlisted for BP Natural World Book Prize 1999.

Overview

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.

Full Product Details

9780349111827

Table of Contents

Reviews

'A brilliant integration of global environmental trends and local environmental truths - a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how population growth and environmental deterioration are affecting the human prospect' Lester R. Brown, President, Worldwatch Institute 'Gifted reporter Mark Hertsgaard has taken the planet for his beat and he has delivered the goods; if you want to understand the next century, this is the required background reading' Bill McKibben, author of THE END OF NATURE 'A brilliant, complex and ultimately hopeful analysis which shines a light into the darkness of forecast chaos ... (we) should make this marvellous book required reading for all politicians as well as for the rest of us' THE TIMES 'Hertsgaard presents an elegant portrait of the human species, full of character, dignity, perseverance and strength' GEOGRAPHICAL 'Mark Hertsgaard once of America's finest reporters, asks one of the few questions really worth asking... EARTH ODYSSEY provides not only a sober, compassionate assessment of our chances; it is one more place of evidence, in case you need it, that our species is well worth saving.' Barbara Ehrenreich, author of BLOOD RITES 'Yet another well-considered, thoughtful work reminding us- not that we need reminding- that we are doing things to out environment and to the earth in general, which are indefensible and in some cases irreversible.' IRISH TIMES 'If you want to understand the environmental plight of the human race as we enter the new millenium, look no further.' GLOBAL ADVENTURE 'A fine vision.' EARTH MATTERS 'If you are at all interested in the subject, I guarantee that Hertsgaard will keep you going to the end.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Paying his own way, Mark Hertsgaard set out on a world tour in 1991 wondering what people thought of environmental problems. Earth Odyssey is the result, a sweeping and provocative work of travel and serious reporting that covers 19 countries and reveals, with often stark reality and vision, the legacy and prospects for our global environment. Hertsgaard focuses on and reveals much of his story through the people who guide him and whom he meets along the way. After touring a state-owned paper factory in Chongqing, China, and seeing billowing clouds of chlorine and foaming rivers, Hertsgaard hears his guide and interpreter Zhenbing mourning for his country. In Sudan, Hertsgaard visits areas of extreme famine and poverty, where the environment is no abstraction to the people who live there. Through interviews with Vaclav Havel, Jacques Cousteau and Al Gore, as well as research and philosophy about the roles of industry and technology, the global environmental picture is etched skilfully chapter by chapter. When at Africa's Lake Turkana, Hertsgaard delineates in clarity and detail the evolution of our species and the history of technology to build perspective on our current lifestyles, values and environmental problems. Earth Odyssey is not only a good book but an important one--even essential--grasping the true human predicament as the planet faces a worldwide environmental breakdown.' - Byron Ricks, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW

Freelance journalist Hertsgaard (A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles, 1995, etc.) circles the earth to gauge the extent of environmental destruction and local peoples' attitude toward it - and, by extension, whether the species will survive the 21st century. His travels have revealed to Hertsgaard that Earth's in miserable health. From the Dinka in Ethiopia and Sudan, who suffer from the twin ravages of drought and famine, to Bohemian schoolchildren who wear gas masks to class as a result of coal burning, to the unpleasantly tactile quality of the auto-fouled air in Bangkok (and any other urban area without decent public transportation), these are dark days on the environmental front. Unsurprisingly, one culprit Hertsgaard identifies incessantly is capitalism, predicated on continual growth, and traditionally growth has meant ecological destruction and decline. His case is made, his point taken. The other culprit is the continuing division between haves and have-nots: It is easy for outsiders to warn against the long-term costs of damming Africa's rivers. . . but it is akin to a glutton admonishing a beggar on the evil of carbohydrates. Guilt keeps the big consumers at bay (and their politicians are stymied by conflicting interests). Meanwhile, hopes for a better future, though tinged with fatalism, keep developing countries hard at developing ( I am used to if becomes a mantra whenever he questions folks on their revolting environment). The result: stasis. Hertsgaard advises us to cut back on consumption, promote environmentally sound industry, and shift the surplus wealth from the rich, where it languishes, to the poor, by whom he believes it will be spent. However barmy, however wishful Hertsgaard's prescriptions, he's got one thing right: when it comes to the environment, we remain the sorcerer's apprentice, and the mess only gets bigger. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Mark Hertsgaard is a distinguished journalist and author of three books. His journalism has appeared in all the leading US newspapers and magazines, and he is an occasional contributor to the INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY.

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