A moving account of Minamata disease victims' struggle for recognition and support in the years after mercury pollution was discovered in a group of fishing villages

Chronicles the highly controversial practice of rescuing endangered island species by killing their predators, explaining how rats and other animals introduced to the Bering Sea midway by shipwrecks have decimated native bird populations.

The staggering story of an unlikely band of mothers in the 1970s who discovered Hooker Chemical's deadly secret of Love Canal—exposing one of America’s most devastating toxic waste disasters and sparking the modern environmental movement as we know it today. “Propulsive...A mighty work of historical journalism...A glorious quotidian thriller about people forced to find and use their inner strength.” —The Boston Globe Lois Gibbs, Luella Kenny, and other mothers loved their neighborhood on the east side of Niagara Falls. It had an elementary school, a playground, and rows of affordable homes. But in the spring of 1977, pungent odors began to seep into these little houses, and it didn’t take long for worried mothers to identify the curious scent. It was the sickly sweet smell of chemicals. In this propulsive work of narrative storytelling, NYT journalist Keith O’Brien uncovers how Gibbs and Kenny exposed the poisonous secrets buried in their neighborhood. The school and playground had been built atop an old canal—Love Canal, it was called—that Hooker Chemical, the city’s largest employer, had quietly filled with twenty thousand tons of toxic waste in the 1940s and 1950s. This waste was now leaching to the surface, causing a public health crisis the likes of which America had never seen before and sparking new and specific fears. Luella Kenny believed the chemicals were making her son sick. O’Brien braids together previously unknown stories of Hooker Chemical’s deeds; the local newspaperman, scientist, and congressional staffer who tried to help; the city and state officials who didn’t; and the heroic women who stood up to corporate and governmental indifference to save their families and their children. They would take their fight all the way to the top, winning support from the EPA, the White House, and even President Jimmy Carter. By the time it was over, they would capture America’s imagination. Sweeping and electrifying, Paradise Falls brings to life a defining story from our past, laying bare the dauntless efforts of a few women who—years before Erin Brockovich took up the mantle— fought to rescue their community and their lives from the effects of corporate pollution and laid foundation for the modern environmental movement as we know it today.

A Niagara Falls, N.Y., reporter uncovered the Love Canal toxic waste scandal in 1978, and now relates tales of thousands of chemical dumps that contaminate waters, soil and air in the United States.

Silent Winter is about the silent spread of toxic chemicals in our daily lives and their role in the growing prevalence of illnesses such as cancer, chronic fatigue, diabetes, asthma digestive issues, depression, dementia, and others. The scientific evidence about chronic illness and toxic chemicals is withheld from us through stunningly elaborate efforts so that business can continue as usual. Approximately 45% of the adult US population now has at least one chronic illness, and chronic illness is commonly caused by chronic exposure to toxic chemicals. We are often told that these diseases are a result of our lifestyle or our genes. We rarely hear that chronic illness is on the rise as a result of toxic chemicals in consumer products and throughout our environment. Industry does not want to change, so it is forcing us to change on an evolutionary level to deal with the onslaught of chemicals in our daily lives. When we cannot keep up and get ill, we are sold chemical solutions to make us feel better. But individuals and families dealing with chronic illness often know or suspect that toxic chemicals have played a role in the demise of their health. The author also shows how the problem is covered up at a societal level by obscuring what we know, and how discussion of possible solutions is silenced by manipulating the marketplace. Millions of human lives are being muted as a result of chronic illness. Finally, the author discusses our way out of this mess. In the 1962 book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson dedicated one short chapter to the anticipated human health impacts from toxic chemicals. That chapter seeded the present work, Silent Winter, which was written after sixty additional years of scientific research and widespread human exposure to a variety of toxic chemicals. In Our Stolen Future, 1996, Theo Colborn et al. warned of the potential dangers of hormone disrupting chemicals on human health. Nearly another 25 years have passed since that writing. Silent Winter reveals the observed impacts of these hormone disrupting chemicals on human health.

“A plethora of insights about nature and ourselves, revealed by one man’s journey as he comes to terms with human exploitation of our planet.” —Dr. James Hansen, climate scientist and former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies Life on one-tenth the fossil fuels turns out to be awesome. We all want to be happy. Yet as we consume ever more in a frantic bid for happiness, global warming worsens. Alarmed by drastic changes now occurring in the Earth’s climate systems, Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist and suburban father of two, embarked on a journey to change his life and the world. He began by bicycling, growing food, meditating, and making other simple, fulfilling changes. Ultimately, he slashed his climate impact to under a tenth of the US average and became happier in the process. Being the Change explores the connections between our individual daily actions and our collective predicament. It merges science, spirituality, and practical action to develop a satisfying and appropriate response to global warming. Part one exposes our interconnected predicament: overpopulation, global warming, industrial agriculture, growth-addicted economics, a sold-out political system, and a mindset of separation from nature. It also includes a readable but authoritative overview of climate science. Part two offers a response at once obvious and unprecedented: mindfully opting out of this broken system and aligning our daily lives with the biosphere. The core message is deeply optimistic: living without fossil fuels is not only possible, it can be better. “In this timely and provocative book, Peter Kalmus points out that changing the world has to start with changing our own lives. It’s a crucial message that needs to be heard.” —John Michael Greer, author of After Progress and The Retro Future

A play dramatizing the philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, and his stand concerning civil disobedience. He refused to pay taxes owing to his disapproval of the Mexican War. For his act of protest he was sent to jail.

Request a free 30-day online trial to this title at www.sagepub.com/freetrial! Spanning two volumes of approximately 450 entries in an A-to-Z format, this encyclopedia explores the controversial drug war through the lens of varied disciplines. A full spectrum of articles explains topics from Colombian cartels and Mexican kingpins to television reportage; from "just say no" advertising to heroin production; and from narco-terrorism to more than $500 billion in U.S. government expenditures. Key Themes- Cases- Conferences and Conventions- Countries (Affecting U.S. Drug Policy)- Drug Trade and Trafficking- Laws and Policies- Organizations and Agencies- People-Presidential Administrations- Treatment and Addiction- Types of Drugs