Earth Odyssey

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 Developmen

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the environment and fate of the earth, as well as those who already consider themselves knowledgeable. It's a rare mix of compelling personal narrative and well-researched analysis which draws the reader in. I was pleasantly surprised at the balance Hertsgaard was able to strike between doomy pessism and blithe pollyana-ish idealism about the state of global ecological affairs. For the sake of the Earth and all of us, read this book and carry forth its lessons towards a more healthy sustainable future.

This is an excellent book, written in plain English with clear explanations, great examples and vivid depictions of the future we face if we don't get our act together now. Perhaps the most frightening part of the book was the detail of Al Gore who, as an ardent ecologist wrote a book on environmental issues only to throw it all to the wind when he became Vice President of the USA. If he can do this, what hope for the rest of us? I recommend this book to any student, at any level, who wishes to understand the environmental issues we face. However, be warned - this book will depress you! There are no holds barred and you will come away with a feeling of hopelessness.

The real story of our global environmental crisis that holds one like a great novel. Bravo! Mark Hertsgaard. For your daring, and your insight, and for taking us all on your travels around the world that we might all see what our consumer oblivion is doing to our precious planet earth. This book is a great read, friends. More than a nudge that it's time to wake up - it inspires one to do so, and to tap our neighbor on the head too.

There are very few books that I read cover to cover, but this book held my interest to the very end. Hertsgaard has wonderful writing style that transforms dry facts into a narrative story of the people he visited. The information is sobering. Our planet is trouble far beyond what I would have imagined. I have never been an environmental activist, but I think that may soon change. Everyone needs to read this book. We need to stop hiding our heads in the sand and become proactive. This is the only "home" that we have.