Saving the Earth: A Citizen's Guide to Environmental Action

I bought and read this book when it was first published around 1990. I haven't looked at it in a few years but it sits on my bookshelf. At first I thought I should go leaf through it before writing this review, but I think my comments from memory will be more valuable. After all, whatever sticks with you several years after reading a book is telling.The book scared the pants off me, discouraged and depressed me somewhat (not that that's the book's fault -- it's the facts' fault), and made a lasting impression. It presented daunting facts and figures -- how many billions of tons of pollution we emit, how much trash there is that we don't know what to do with, and so on. It also presented things we can all do to help -- from political activism to making better laundry choices. I admit I felt a little hopeless after reading it, because I would look at all the suggestions and all the bad things we're doing and then look up from the book and see people disregarding all of this, polluting wantonly, not bothering to recycle, etc. But once the edge wore off I think the book left me with a higher awareness of the problem -- made it stick in my mind, somewhat and served as a reminder to me.It's got all the facts and figures for anyone who wants them, and it's written in a simple, concise format, sort of one issue per page, with issues gathered into categories. It's probably just going to preach to the converted, but it does provide a nice dose of inspiration and some handy facts and figures for them.