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Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment, second edition (Yale Nota Bene) |
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Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment, second edition (Yale Nota Bene)
List Price: $16.00
Our Price: $10.88
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Manufacturer: Yale University Press
Author: James Gustave Speth
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 2005-03-11
Publisher: Yale University Press
Label: Yale University Press
Number Of Pages: 352
Features:
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Editorial Review:
In this powerful book, a renowned environmental leader warns that despite all the international negotiations of the past two decades, efforts to protect Earth’s environment are not succeeding. He explains why this is so and presents eight specific steps that governments and citizens can take to achieve a sustainable future. For this new paperback edition the author has added an Afterword that brings the narrative up to date.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
environmental crisis?  2007-01-15
That there is a global environmental crisis is indisputable, and the first part of the book gives much relevant statistics: the rates of desertification, deforestation, the collapse of fisheries, ozone depletion, the melting of glaciers due to global warming that threatens the freshwater supply of many countries etc. Its causes are also obvious: too many people who enjoy (or want to) too high a standard of living, a unit of which takes too much input from the biosphere and generates too much waste. The first factor can be reduced by a pandemic such as AIDS or by coercive government policies such as those of China (and India during the 1970s State of Emergency) or by the emancipation of women (which is why the birth rates in Western Europe, Russia and among white people in the USA are below the replacement rate). The second factor can be reduced by an economic depression such as the 1930s depression in the United States and Europe and the 1990s depression in Russia and Ukraine, or a less drastic economic decline. The third factor and the ways of responding to it is the most complicated one, and the fact that this book does not address its complexity adequately makes it far less than what it could be.
I wonder why Speth is claiming that poverty is a cause of environmental degradation. When a Congolese man cuts down trees in the rainforest for firewood and kills forest animals for protein, he is of course destroying the environment. If he were given a kilowatt-hour equivalent amount of natural gas and a calorie-equivalent weight of broiler chickens, the environmental degradation caused by extracting this gas and raising these chickens would be much less - however, he would be just as poor as before. If he were given as much energy and protein as an average American consumes per a given time period, he would no longer be poor, but I suspect that the environmental degradation caused by his consumption would be greater than when he was chopping down the rainforest. You can fight against poverty, or you can fight for the environment; both are worthy goals, but they can come into conflict. There is a reason Kenya's president-for-life ordered all ivory poachers shot on sight. In the United States, a dollar-per-gallon increase of the gasoline tax would do wonders for reducing the consumption of gasoline, but guess whom it would hurt more - the rich or the poor?
Speth is proud of having contributed to stopping the breeder reactor program in the United States in the 1970s as a young lawyer. As they stand now, breeder reactors are far more dangerous than light-water reactors, and the electricity from power plants built around them is estimated to be several times more expensive than electricity from ordinary nuclear power plants. If a concentrated research effort (using real reactors, the construction of which Speth did so much to derail) could address the first shortcoming adequately, and concern about global warming could force the public to accept the latter, wouldn't the world be a better place despite people like Speth? Moreover, breeder reactors can be run in such a mode that they do not breed plutonium, but on the contrary, burn it up: about a thousand tons of plutonium has accumulated worldwide from a half-century of operating light-water plants; wouldn't the world sleep better knowing that it will be burned up and will never fall into terrorists' hands? The fact that Speth mentions weapons-grade plutonium and breeder reactors in the same paragraph proves that he doesn't know what he is talking about. Speth quotes the well-known charlatan Amory Lovins on several environmental-technological issues. No, Virginia, "tripled-to-quintupled efficiency cars" are impossible to make at reasonable production costs; in order for the United States to consume less gasoline, people need to drive less, and consume fewer goods, and/or consume proportionately more locally-made goods (so truckers would drive less).
In any case, it is obvious that the Earth's environment is in a poor shape as we speak, and it would be in a far worse shape in 2050 (I will be 77 if I am still alive then, and my daughter will turn 46) if nothing is done - in fact, if nothing drastic is done. Not reducing the consumption of natural resources (of oil, in particular) and invading countries sitting on top of these resources on false pretexts in order to install client governments there is even worse than doing nothing.
Serious threat to profits! Sure pal, anything you say.  2006-09-16
A gripping book. Yes..ANOTHER global warming book..but it does link habitat loss, ocean health and sustainability all together similar to Paul and Ann Ehrlich's "One With Nineveh". Comprehensive. My favorite type of "global catastrophe" book. This author is extremely knowledgeable (he should be being a Yale Dean, I would hope so). He is hoping to reach younger people, like myself, but I don't think this is quite the book to accomplish this. It is a little dense and packs a huge intellectual punch in almost every paragraph. I had to often stop and digest the rich text. I loved it but I don't know how we're going to reach young people on these types of issues. The resources at the end of the book for concerned citizens is excellent. The author's experience observing global treaties on these issues is sobering and excellent. Everyone in the world should read this book. But..they won't. It amazes me that our best minds of today are incredibly concerned for us and our planet's future. I find this extrordinary. But the adverage Joe hasn't got the foggiest clue. We're probably doomed. Why did this civilazation fall? Because we were just too stupid and arrogant to listen to the best minds of our time.
A Book to Share 2006-04-24
I agree with every good thing said about this book in the eight Amazon readers' reviews below. I have read a great many of the books about our planetary crisis over the years. In terms of impact per page, I think this is the best yet. In just a bit over 200 pages it portrays the threats, the driving forces that underlie them, the transitions needed in our society if we are to overcome them, and a great variety of approaches to producing those transitions. It is compellingly urgent and at the same time pragmatically hopeful.
I'm going to buy multiple copies and send them to friends and relations who need to read it!
Excellent 2006-03-07
This is an outstanding volume. Informative and well written, it stands alone but also goes especially well with volumes that offer more detail on the nitty gritty of global environemntal politics, such as those by Chasek, Downie or DeSombre.
Understand the facts and change apathy into action... 2005-12-15
At little more than 200 pages (of primary text), this important book is hardly a boring textbook. In a concise manner, it explains what exactly is going on in the world today. I love the author's ability to define complex environmental trends and organize them into useful lists (10 Negative Environmental Trends, 8 Ways to Change). He takes the vagary out of the science that often indimates us from truly grasping environmental issues. Warning: now that you understand, you will feel forced to act.
One of the author's recommendations is for environmental education to increase, so the gap between environmental science and the average person will close. Read this book and the gap will lessen for you. Futhermore is his collection of resources for those inclined to take action (websites, books, etc.). I found these resources an excellent start for all, from housewives to students to policy makers.
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