March 30, 2009
Industrial civilization is incompatible with life.... Unless it's stopped... it will kill every living being, begin environmental activists Jensen ("A Language Older than Words") and McBay ("Peak Oil Survival"), introducing the recurring theme and thesis of this radical report on the state of Earth and call to action. The book contrasts natural systems of growth and decay, in which soil and life forms feed each other, with industrial civilization: essentially a complicated way of turning land into waste: garbage patches cover more than 40% of oceans and multitudes of fish and birds are being killed by plastic waste, now more abundant in the seas than phytoplankton. Jensen and McBay trash sustainability stars like William McDonough, who designs green buildings without questioning their unsustainable uses (truck factories and airports); the authors argue that we value our culture more than the planet that sustains it. The book is flawed by lapses into rants and rages, but Jensen and McBay's message that we need to grow up and put away the childish notion that we have the right to take whatever we want from nonhumans is eminently reasonable. "(Apr.)" .
March 1, 2009
Until recently, our waste decomposed naturally, passing through the inevitable cycle of decay, metamorphosis, and regeneration. But the global industrial system, argue environmental activists Jensen ("Endgame") and McBay, now produces massive amounts of unsustainable and toxic wastes. In fact, Earth is suffocating on plastics and persistent chemicals. The authors focus on some of these harmful products, discuss reasons why our culture produces so much waste, and explain why individual action is insufficient to solve our enormous problems. Finally, they explore the kind of activism needed to protect our planet and make our culture life-affirming. This compelling book has a refreshing style, at once very personal and very passionate. It is also thorough, with historical, scientific, statistical, and anecdotal evidence filtered through a lot of anger and some quirky humor. Compared with similar books on waste and sustainability like Renee Loux's "Easy Green Living", this one succeeds admirably. Highly recommended for most libraries.Ilse Heidmann, Washington State Lib., Olympia
Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 15, 2009
This culture is killing the planet, declares Jensen, a radically holistic thinker and a passionate and persuasive writer both revered and reviled for his candor. Together with his environmentalist coauthor McBay, Jensen seeksto breakthe habits of mind that induce us to deny the severity of our environmental predicament and point the way to significant change. To that end, Jensen and McBay conduct an in-depthanalysis of waste and wastefulness, from what passes through our bodies, including hazardous pharmaceuticals, to the planetary plagues of plastic and toxic chemicals. Combining arresting personal stories withunnerving facts aboutour throwaway society, the authors rigorously define genuine sustainability and warn us away from pseudo-solutions. Some may bridle at Jensen and McBays bluntness, urgency, and bold vision, but their demand for the end of wishful thinking and the beginning ofenvironmental transformation is rooted in meticulously constructed arguments, striking psychological insights, and a profound love of life. Its time, they declare, to build a culture of resistance, reject the status quo, and ask, What do you want to leave behind?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)