Available:*
Library | Call Number | Material Type | Home Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Library | TD174 .H57 1991 | Adult Non-Fiction | Central Closed Stacks | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
The environment is "in." Global warming. Ozone depletion. Toxic waste. Acid rain. Concern that we are sinking ever deeper into "environmental debt" has sown the seeds of a growing U.S. Green Movement, transplanted from Europe. Unfortunately, all of the current talk and activity do not add up to a coherent environmental strategy on the part of government, industry, and environmental organizations. Here is the first book to explain why only a preventive environmental strategy can work, because growing population, consumption, and industrialization cripple current, rather haphazard, remedial efforts. Authored by two leading experts, this book shows how our society can make more with less, be more competitive and less polluting, while maintaining our standard of living by reducing and eventually eliminating the production of wastes and pollutants from industry, commerce, homes, farms, institutions. This may seem far-fetched, but be prepared to discover in these pages that there can be a middle ground between ecology and economyand that you can help achieve it. Youll find data and examplesfacts few have had access to beforethat any person can use, from engineers in industry to office workers to activists. Every concerned citizen will also want to consider the authors innovative suggestions for taxing wastes and using the proceeds to help companies and communities switch to new industrial processes. Also, you should evaluate their proposals to require meaningful waste and toxicity information on product labels, to make bans on chemicals and products a more credible and available corrective measure, and to secure permanent, high-level government support for pollution prevention. But, above all, this book is a self-help book for all whose home is Earth. An ounce of pollution prevention thats worth a pound of environmental cure. A way for concerned individuals to become agents for change in the marketplace, the workplace, and the voting place. Read on.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
A detailed argument for emphasizing pollution prevention as the preferred strategy to solve environmental problems, rather than end-of-pipe control of pollutants, energy conservation, or the promotion of sustainable growth. Individuals have the crucial role to play as consumers and as citizens demanding research and new legislation, including taxes on pollutant production. These theses are supported with evidence of continuing pollution and with case studies showing both effective and ineffective strategies for prevention. The authors' study and experience, especially in the Office of Technology Assessment, have provided a wealth of examples and ideas. Unfortunately, for arguments designed to change individual practices, the book is too lengthy and detailed to get the central messages to a larger public. Some of the analyses, e.g., the environmental costs of paper substitutes, are too superificial to convince the critical reader. The tables are poorly designed and labeled. (In one case, a column heading for a 13-page table is defined 40 pages after the table and does not appear as given in the index.) General readers. -A. B. Stewart, Wright State University
Table of Contents
| Pollution Prevention Pays for Everyone |
| What Pollution Prevention Is |
| What Waste Recycling and Other Strategies are Not |
| Achieving Success by Overcoming Obstacles |
| Data Tells the Story: Too Much Waste |
| The Ozone Groan: Do We Still Have Time? |
| Harm at the Farm and Home From Chemical Pesticides |
| Changing Consumption: Reducing Garbage |
| Household Toxic Products: Thinking More and Buying Less |
| No Time to Waste |
| References |
| Index |