by Mark Hertsgaard
reviewed by Caroline Pufalt
Three things conspired to finally prompt me to read Earth Odyssey by Mark Hertsgaard. First, I was given a copy of the book by a Sierran who was so impressed with the book that he sent copies to chapter conservation chairs across the country. Secondly, I had heard and was impressed by its author who is an environmental reporter for NPR's Living on Earth and PBS's
Lehrer News Hour. Thirdly, the book was a chosen title for our local Sierra Club book group's reading selection. Once I got into the book I could only ask myself, what took me so long? This is an excellent, readable and timely book.
Earth Odyssey is subtitled "Around the world in search of our environmental future." The book clearly establishes that our environmental future is closely linked with other countries and other cultures. The reader is impressed by the need to make an effort to view environmental problems
from the viewpoint of societies which are quite different from ours and whose economic situation poses major challenges. At the same time we can see in many of the individuals Mr. Hertsgaard interviews some of the same hopes, foibles and determination that we share.
Mr. Hertsgaard travels to distant countries including China, Russia, Sudan, Uganda, and Brazil to examine environmental issues through the eyes of ordinary citizens as well as government officials. His accounts are eye-opening, edifying and sometimes heart wrenching. The reader learns about Soviet era nuclear contamination pre-dating the Chernobyl disaster and the ongoing efforts of local citizens and health workers trying to cope with unfathomable risks. In Sudan the reader glimpses the difficult life of refuges for which there seems no relief. In Uganda one meets resilient citizens with minimal education but who seem to more fully understand their local environmental challenges than to many of the highly educated elsewhere.
Mr. Hertsgaard devotes a considerable part of his book to China. In many ways China's huge population and growing industrial economy make its future key to the planet's future. He examines the country's land use policies, agricultural needs and problems such as flooding and pollution. Most memorable are his descriptions of air pollution and how ordinary Chinese cope with it and rationalize it. One can hear in their acceptance of pollution as a price of progress and the rationalization that their bodies can get used to it, echoes of some of our own society's excuses for tolerating risks we need not bear.
Yet there is little in the way of direct comparison between our society and many of the situations Mr. Hertsgaard investigates. In nearly every account there is reason for us as Americans to be grateful for the material security, political stability and general abundance in which we live. At the
same time one cannot leave the book without an overwhelming sense of how much of our political dialogue on international environmental matters is callous, selfish and shortsighted, not to mention uninformed.
Mr. Hertsgaard reviews the history of the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 and subsequent international agreements on global warming. He quotes the senior President Bush, who in 1992 in response to efforts at Rio to address climate change declared that, "The American way of life is not negotiable." Now nearly ten years later junior Bush withdraws the United States from the
Kyoto climate change agreement. It appears we have learned little.
But the forces at work in the environment and in societies abroad will not wait for us to wake up to the reality. Our wasteful American way of life will need to change to meet the challenges we face. Fortunately there is much we can do to lighten our ecological footprint and still enjoy benefits of our developed society. There is also a tremendous opportunity for us to share and invest environmentally sound technology with developing countries. We will need to educate ourselves and become more effective advocates for the planet's future. Mr. Hertsgaard book is an excellent means to broadening our horizons so we can better understand the need for these undertakings.