Adam Werbach is proving what many of us have believed all along. Young people do care, they are involved, and they are already making a difference."--Vice President Al Gore "His clarion call is bound to recruit a new generation of activists to fight the good fight for a clean and healthy natural world."-- "Publishers Weekly
I didn't like the first seven chapters of this book because hey, little bit strident. It is little bit paranoid about the government's intentions, and damn, it seems to think we can't safely store pretty much any freaky chemical.
Of course, in the chapter on worst fallout from accidental spills on American soil they talk about the Cantara Loop Spill. And then my opinion flopped like a pancake. Because I'm very selfish.
Cantara Loop Spill was a train wreck when I was about seven years old. It happened about ten miles from my house, and managed to spill several thousand gallons of fungicide into the Sacramento River. This fungicide, metam sodium, releases cyanide gas when combined with water.
So it was pretty awesome. The clean up crews didn't say, warn people to stay away, because that would imply that Southern Pacific was carrying dangerous chemicals. I know people who went to sightsee (with their children), because it's not every day a train crashes. All of them have health problems, but who doesn't? If I wanted to be melodramatic I could say that most of them are dead now. That's not strictly true. Several of the children are though- they committed suicide as adolescents. (Thought to be a side effect of their chemical sensitivity interacting with various medications) Course, in the last few years the whole area has had a very high teen suicide rate, so it doesn't prove anything.
And they were carrying this delightful chemical so they could grow potatoes in Alturas. With water that they pump over a mountain range.
So hey, join me in paranoid enviro-facism. Read the book.
Short, and easy but inspiring. Good for a pick-me-up for anyone involved in any sort of activism when feeling discouraged - a good reminder how important it is to feel and celebrate successes.