DDT Wars

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190219424
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis DDT Wars by : Charles F. Wurster

Download or read book DDT Wars written by Charles F. Wurster and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-01 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DDT Wars is the untold inside story of the decade-long scientific, legal and strategic campaign that culminated in the national ban of the insecticide DDT in 1972. The widespread misinformation, disinformation and mythology of the DDT issue are corrected in this book. DDT contamination had become worldwide, concentrating up food chains and causing birds to lay thin-shelled eggs that broke in the nests. Populations of many species of predatory and fish-eating birds collapsed, including the American Bald Eagle, Osprey, Peregrine Falcon and Brown Pelican. Their numbers recovered spectacularly in the decades following the ban. During the campaign DDT and five other insecticides were found to cause cancer in laboratory tests, which led to bans of these six pesticides by international treaty in 2001. This campaign produced lasting changes in American pesticide policies. The legal precedents broke down the court "standing" barrier, forming the basis for the development of environmental law as we know it today. This case history represents one of the greatest environmental victories of recent decades. DDT is still "controversial" because it has been deceptively interjected into the "climate wars." This campaign was led by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), founded in 1967 by ten citizens, most of them scientists, volunteers without special political connections or financial resources. Their strategy was to take environmental problems to court. There were many setbacks along the way in this exciting and entertaining story. The group was often kicked out of court, but a few determined citizens made a large difference for environmental protection and public health. Author Charles Wurster was one of the leaders of the campaign. The first six years of EDF history are described as it struggled to survive. Now EDF is one of the world's great environmental advocacy organizations defending our climate, ecosystems, oceans and public health.

The Fire Ant Wars

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Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226079848
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (26 download)

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Book Synopsis The Fire Ant Wars by : Joshua Blu Buhs

Download or read book The Fire Ant Wars written by Joshua Blu Buhs and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-11-15 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometime in the first half of the twentieth century, a coterie of fire ants came ashore from South American ships docked in Mobile, Alabama. Fanning out across the region, the fire ants invaded the South, damaging crops, harassing game animals, and hindering harvesting methods. Responding to a collective call from southerners to eliminate these invasive pests, the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed a campaign that not only failed to eradicate the fire ants but left a wake of dead wildlife, sickened cattle, and public protest. With political intrigue, environmental tragedy, and such figures as Rachel Carson and E. O. Wilson, The Fire Ant Wars is a grippingly perceptive tale of changing social attitudes and scientific practices. Tracing the political and scientific eradication campaigns, Joshua Buhs's bracing study uses the saga as a means to consider twentieth-century American concepts of nature and environmental stewardship. In telling the story, Buhs explores how human concepts of nature evolve and how these ideas affect the natural and social worlds. Spotlighting a particular issue to discuss larger questions of science, public perceptions, and public policy—from pre-environmental awareness to the activist years of the early environmental movement—The Fire Ant Wars will appeal to historians of science, environmentalists, and biologists alike.

DDT Wars

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0190219416
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis DDT Wars by : Charles F. Wurster

Download or read book DDT Wars written by Charles F. Wurster and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DDT Wars is the untold inside story of the decade-long scientific, legal and strategic campaign that culminated in the national ban of the insecticide DDT in 1972. The widespread misinformation, disinformation and mythology of the DDT issue are corrected in this book. DDT contamination had become worldwide, concentrating up food chains and causing birds to lay thin-shelled eggs that broke in the nests. Populations of many species of predatory and fish-eating birds collapsed, including the American Bald Eagle, Osprey, Peregrine Falcon and Brown Pelican. Their numbers recovered spectacularly in the decades following the ban. During the campaign DDT and five other insecticides were found to cause cancer in laboratory tests, which led to bans of these six pesticides by international treaty in 2001. This campaign produced lasting changes in American pesticide policies. The legal precedents broke down the court "standing" barrier, forming the basis for the development of environmental law as we know it today. This case history represents one of the greatest environmental victories of recent decades. DDT is still "controversial" because it has been deceptively interjected into the "climate wars." This campaign was led by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), founded in 1967 by ten citizens, most of them scientists, volunteers without special political connections or financial resources. Their strategy was to take environmental problems to court. There were many setbacks along the way in this exciting and entertaining story. The group was often kicked out of court, but a few determined citizens made a large difference for environmental protection and public health. Author Charles Wurster was one of the leaders of the campaign. The first six years of EDF history are described as it struggled to survive. Now EDF is one of the world's great environmental advocacy organizations defending our climate, ecosystems, oceans and public health.

Nature Wars

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674605428
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (54 download)

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Book Synopsis Nature Wars by : Mark L. Winston

Download or read book Nature Wars written by Mark L. Winston and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling book about ethics and choices, Nature Wars shows us the difference between protecting ourselves from real pests and poisoning ourselves and the planet.

Feather Trails

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Publisher : Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1645022439
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (45 download)

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Book Synopsis Feather Trails by : Sophie A. H. Osborn

Download or read book Feather Trails written by Sophie A. H. Osborn and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2024-05-02 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of one woman’s remarkable work with a trio of charismatic, endangered bird species—and her discoveries about the devastating threats that imperil them. In Feather Trails, wildlife biologist and birder Sophie A. H. Osborn reveals how the harmful environmental choices we’ve made—including pesticide use, the introduction of invasive species, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction—have decimated Peregrine Falcons, Hawaiian Crows, and California Condors. In the Rocky Mountains, the cloud forests of Hawai’i, and the Grand Canyon, Sophie and her colleagues work day-to-day to try to reintroduce these birds to the wild, even when it seems that the odds are steeply stacked against their survival. With humor and suspense, Feather Trails introduces us to the fascinating behaviors and unique personalities of Sophie’s avian charges and shows that what endangers them ultimately threatens all life on our planet. More than a deeply researched environmental investigation, Feather Trails is also a personal journey and human story, in which Sophie overcomes her own obstacles—among them heat exhaustion, poachers, rattlesnakes, and chauvinism. Ultimately, Feather Trails is an inspiring, poignant narrative about endangered birds and how our choices can help to ensure a future not only for the rarest species, but for us too. "An intimate look at the wonder and effort needed for working with endangered species in the wild. [Osborn's] matter-of-fact writing style and wry humor make the reader part of the action."—Booklist (starred review)

Solvable

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226827933
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (268 download)

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Book Synopsis Solvable by : Susan Solomon

Download or read book Solvable written by Susan Solomon and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2024 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this convincing book, MIT climate scientist Susan Solomon argues against the hopeless passivity we too often feel when confronted with dire predictions about the future of our planet. Her antidote is to provide the inside story of past environmental victories, to extract from this neglected history the essential elements of what works, and to show that we have not just the popular will but the specific means to save the planet. In each case, she demonstrates the path to success begins with researchers and activists who make an environmental problem--smog, DDT, ozone depletion, lead, climate change--both perceptible and personal. Lawmakers, diplomats, and international agencies then take up the cause. But real change takes place when legislation and regulation lead to "technology-forcing," in tandem with consumer pressure, which co-ops manufacturers of environmentally sensitive products, turning presumed culprits into allies. It's not just polemics; it's also pragmatism. The heroes in these stories range from angry mothers; to gangs turned social activists; to upset Long Island bird watchers; to iconoclastic scientists (often women); to brilliant legislative craftsmen, among whom the almost forgotten Edmund Muskie stands supreme. Solomon's fundamental message is that doom and gloom get us nowhere, and idealism will only take us so far. As she ably demonstrates, healing the planet is a long game, won not only with marches and soul-stirring speeches, but with pragmatic maneuvering that moves beyond moral suasion to apply economic pressure and regulatory action which signals to industry the imperative to innovate and compete. Solomon's authoritative point of view is an inspiration, a reality check, a road map, and a dose of optimism that can lead to sustained commitment from all stake holders. Healing our Planet is Solvable. Solomon shows how"--

War and the Environment

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Author :
Publisher : Texas A&M University Press
ISBN 13 : 1603443800
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis War and the Environment by : Charles Edwin Closmann

Download or read book War and the Environment written by Charles Edwin Closmann and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eleven scholars explore, among other topics, the environmental ravages of trench warfare in World War I, the exploitation of Philippine forests for military purposes from the Spanish colonial period through 1945, William Tecumseh Sherman's scorched-earth tactics during his 1864-65 March to the Sea, and the effects of wartime policy upon U.S. and German conservation practices during World War II.

New Wars and Old Plagues

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031311434
Total Pages : 129 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (313 download)

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Book Synopsis New Wars and Old Plagues by : Katherine Hirschfeld

Download or read book New Wars and Old Plagues written by Katherine Hirschfeld and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-06-12 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Open Access book uses Mary Kaldor’s concept of “New Wars” to explore how ethnic conflict reshaped the social and environmental landscape of the Southern Caucuses following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It relies on remote sensing data and qualitative historical research to explore how armed conflict between non-state actors generated the region’s largest epidemic of P. vivax malaria since the 1960s. This book is an important addition to the literature on the Karabakh conflict and conflict studies more broadly because the infectious disease outbreaks associated with warfare often kill more people than the armed conflicts themselves. Warfare itself has also changed dramatically since the collapse of the USSR, and the Karabakh conflict provides an excellent case study of the way “New Wars” transform the natural and social environment to facilitate outbreaks of preventable disease. This extended case study will be useful to researchers from a variety of academic disciplines, including medical anthropology, geography, conflict studies, disease ecology, global health and public health. It also reveals the fragility of twentieth century malaria control in temperate regions and will assist in predictive modeling for future outbreaks.

The War on Bugs

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Author :
Publisher : Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1933392460
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (333 download)

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Book Synopsis The War on Bugs by : Will Allen

Download or read book The War on Bugs written by Will Allen and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From the start, farmers and consumers opposed the marketers' noxious shill. But more than a century of collusion among advertisers, editors, scientists, large-scale farmers, government agencies - and even Dr. Seuss - convinced most farmers to use deadly chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, and, more recently, genetically modified organisms." "Akin to seminal works on the topic like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Arthur Kallet and F. J. Schlink's 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs, and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, The War on Bugs - richly illustrated with dozens of original advertisements and promotions - details both the chemical industry's relentless efforts and the recurring waves of resistance by generations of consumers, farmers, and activists against toxic food, a struggle that continues today but with deep roots in the long rise of industrial agriculture."--BOOK JACKET.

War and Nature

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521799379
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (993 download)

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Book Synopsis War and Nature by : Edmund Russell

Download or read book War and Nature written by Edmund Russell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-02-12 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 2001 book shows the intersection of chemical warfare and pest control in the twentieth century.

Home to War

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Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 744 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Home to War by : Gerald Nicosia

Download or read book Home to War written by Gerald Nicosia and published by Crown. This book was released on 2001 with total page 744 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An epic narrative history that chronicles, for the first time, the experience of America's Vietnam veterans who returned home to fight a different kind of war. The courageous Americans who served in Vietnam fought two wars: one on the other side of the world and one when they returned home. The battle abroad took place in war-scarred Asian hamlets, rice paddies, and jungles where thousands of Americans risked life, limb, and spirit in a conflict few of them fully understood. The second war began when these same soldiers came home to face another fight, this one for the hearts and minds of their countrymen, and for their own health, sanity, and peace of mind. Home to War presents a vivid portrait of a generation of American warriors who faced rejection by the nation in whose name they fought and virtual abandonment by the government that sent them to risk their young lives in Southeast Asia. In spite of formidable obstacles, including the still-fresh physical and mental traumas of the war, these young veterans joined together and committed themselves to heroic battles on the home front, from their unsung role in the antiwar movement to their unflagging campaign for medical help and compensation for Agent Orange exposure and post-traumatic stress wounds. Home to War tells the gripping stories of these veterans and the social and political movements they inspired. In its pages you'll meet Jan Barry, a disillusioned former West Point cadet who founded Vietnam Veterans Against the War, a volatile organization that would become a lightning rod for controversy and a beacon of hope for returning vets; Al Hubbard, a charismatic former Black Panther who led thousands of angry veteransto the steps of the nation's capital to protest the war and the government's shabby treatment of its veterans; Ron Kovic, whose outrageous -- and courageous -- stunts, uncensored comments, and provocative politics drew needed attention to the cause; Dr. Chaim Shatan, whose pioneering 'rap groups' speeded the psychological healing process for countless vets; Victor Yannacone Jr., who launched a precedent-shattering -- and ultimately successful -- legal case to gain compensation for veterans harmed by Agent Orange exposure; and many others whose inspiring struggles served themselves, their fellow soldiers, and their country. Home to War is a passionate work of contemporary history and an essential addition to the literature of America's Vietnam experience. Encompassing some thirty years of activism, readjustment, and healing, it is a fitting tribute to the unbreakable courage, idealism, and decades-long endurance of this generation of American soldiers.

DDT and the American Century

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Author :
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 9780807869307
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (693 download)

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Book Synopsis DDT and the American Century by : David Kinkela

Download or read book DDT and the American Century written by David Kinkela and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2011-11-07 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praised for its ability to kill insects effectively and cheaply and reviled as an ecological hazard, DDT continues to engender passion across the political spectrum as one of the world's most controversial chemical pesticides. In DDT and the American Century, David Kinkela chronicles the use of DDT around the world from 1941 to the present with a particular focus on the United States, which has played a critical role in encouraging the global use of the pesticide. Kinkela's study offers a unique approach to understanding both this contentious chemical and modern environmentalism in an international context.

Hazardous Chemicals

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Author :
Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 1789203201
Total Pages : 421 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (892 download)

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Book Synopsis Hazardous Chemicals by : Ernst Homburg

Download or read book Hazardous Chemicals written by Ernst Homburg and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although poisonous substances have been a hazard for the whole of human history, it is only with the development and large-scale production of new chemical substances over the last two centuries that toxic, manmade pollutants have become such a varied and widespread danger. Covering a host of both notorious and little-known chemicals, the chapters in this collection investigate the emergence of specific toxic, pathogenic, carcinogenic, and ecologically harmful chemicals as well as the scientific, cultural and legislative responses they have prompted. Each study situates chemical hazards in a long-term and transnational framework and demonstrates the importance of considering both the natural and the social contexts in which their histories have unfolded.

Salmon Wars

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Author :
Publisher : Henry Holt and Company
ISBN 13 : 1250800315
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (58 download)

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Book Synopsis Salmon Wars by : Catherine Collins

Download or read book Salmon Wars written by Catherine Collins and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2022-07-12 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent and a former private investigator dive deep into the murky waters of the international salmon farming industry, exposing the unappetizing truth about a fish that is not as good for you as you have been told. A decade ago, farmed Atlantic salmon replaced tuna as the most popular fish on North America’s dinner tables. We are told salmon is healthy and environmentally friendly. The reality is disturbingly different. In Salmon Wars, investigative journalists Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins bring readers to massive ocean feedlots where millions of salmon are crammed into parasite-plagued cages and fed a chemical-laced diet. The authors reveal the conditions inside hatcheries, where young salmon are treated like garbage, and at the farms that threaten our fragile coasts. They draw colorful portraits of characters, such as the big salmon farmer who poisoned his own backyard, the fly-fishing activist who risked everything to ban salmon farms in Puget Sound, and the American researcher driven out of Norway for raising the alarm about dangerous contaminants in the fish. Frantz and Collins document how the industrialization of Atlantic salmon threatens this keystone species, endangers our health and environment, and lines the pockets of our generation's version of Big Tobacco. And they show how it doesn't need to be this way. Just as Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation forced a reckoning with the Big Mac, the vivid stories, scientific research, and high-stakes finance at the heart of Salmon Wars will inspire readers to make choices that protect our health and our planet.

Egypt's Other Wars

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Publisher : Syracuse University Press
ISBN 13 : 0815655525
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (156 download)

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Book Synopsis Egypt's Other Wars by : Nancy Elizabeth Gallagher

Download or read book Egypt's Other Wars written by Nancy Elizabeth Gallagher and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-29 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three devastating epidemics swept Egypt in the 1940’s killing more people than all the wars Egypt has fought in the twentieth century. Egypt’s Other Wars vividly reconstructs the nation’s struggle against malaria, relapsing fever, and cholera and explores the unique combination of forces that put public health at the top of the national political agenda. Egypt in the 1940’s as in the throes of a nationalist upheaval. Nationalists of all political ideologies attributed the sever epidemics that the country was experiencing to Egypt’s status as an underdeveloped and colonized nation. The epidemics were therefore viewed for the first time as not only a public health crisis but also a political problem that called for a political solution.

The Defoliation of America

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Author :
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
ISBN 13 : 081732108X
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis The Defoliation of America by : Amy Marie Hay

Download or read book The Defoliation of America written by Amy Marie Hay and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In The Defoliation of America, Amy M. Hay profiles the attitudes, understandings, and motivations of grassroots activists who rose to fight the use of phenoxy herbicides (commonly known as the Agent Orange chemicals) in various aspects of American life during the post-WWII era. First introduced in 1946, these chemicals mimic hormones in broadleaf plants, causing them to, essentially, grow to death while grass, grains, and other monocots remain unaffected. By the 1950s, millions of pounds of chemicals were produced annually for use in brush control, weed eradication, other agricultural applications, and forest management. The herbicides allowed suburban lawns to take root and become iconic symbols of success in American life. The production and application of phenoxy defoliants continued to skyrocket in subsequent years, encouraged by market forces and unimpeded by regulatory oversight. By the late 1950s, however, pockets of skepticism and resistance had begun to appear. The trend picked up steam after 1962, when Rachel Carson's Silent Spring directed mainstream attention to the harm modern chemicals were causing in the natural world. But it wasn't until the Vietnam War, when nearly 40 million gallons of Agent Orange and related herbicides were sprayed to clear the canopy and destroy crops in Southeast Asia, that the long-term damage associated with this group of chemicals began to attract widespread attention and alarm. Using a wide array of sources and an interdisciplinary approach, The Defoliation of America is organized in three parts. Part 1 (1945-70) examines the development, use, and responses to the new chemicals used to control weeds and remove jungle growth. As the herbicides became militarized, critics increasingly expressed concerns about defoliation in protests over US imperialism in Southeast Asia. Part 2 (1965-85) profiles three different women who, influenced by Rachel Carson, challenged the uses of the herbicides in the American West, affecting US chemical policy and regulations in the process. Part 3 (1970-95) revisits the impact and legacies of defoliant use after the Vietnam War. From countercultural containment and Nixon's declaration of the "War on Drugs" to the toxic effects on American and Vietnamese veterans, civilians, and their children, it became increasingly obvious that American herbicides damaged far more than forest canopies. With sensitivity to the role gender played in these various protests, Hay's study of the scientists, health and environmental activists, and veterans who fought US chemical regulatory policies and practices reveals the mechanisms, obligations, and constraints of state and scientific authority in midcentury America. Hay also shows how these disparate and mostly forgotten citizen groups challenged the political consensus and were able to shift government and industry narratives of chemical safety"--

A World to Live In

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262333694
Total Pages : 245 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis A World to Live In by : George M. Woodwell

Download or read book A World to Live In written by George M. Woodwell and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-02-26 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scientist makes a powerful case that preservation of the integrity of the biosphere is a necessity and an inviolable human right. A century of industrial development is the briefest of moments in the half billion years of the earth's evolution. And yet our current era has brought greater changes to the earth than any period in human history. The biosphere, the globe's life-giving envelope of air and climate, has been changed irreparably. In A World to Live In, the distinguished ecologist George Woodwell shows that the biosphere is now a global human protectorate and that its integrity of structure and function are tied closely to the human future. The earth is a living system, Woodwell explains, and its stability is threatened by human disruption. Industry dumps its waste globally and makes a profit from it, invading the global commons; corporate interests overpower weak or nonexistent governmental protection to plunder the planet. The fossil fuels industry offers the most dramatic example of environmental destruction, disseminating the heat-trapping gases that are now warming the earth and changing the climate forever. The assumption that we can continue to use fossil fuels and “adapt” to climate disruption, Woodwell argues, is a ticket to catastrophe. But Woodwell points the way toward a solution. We must respect the full range of life on earth—not species alone, but their natural communities of plant and animal life that have built, and still maintain, the biosphere. We must recognize that the earth's living systems are our heritage and that the preservation of the integrity of a finite biosphere is a necessity and an inviolable human right.