Text is an evaluation of the current state of the environmental movement. Covering select areas, the author shares with readers the research showing that much of what we have been led to believe is true, is actually a myth.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
Ah yes, a breath of fresh air. You will love this book. it's better reading than Bjorn Lomborg. -- Dr. John Chadbourne, Visiting Environmental Engineering Professor, Southern Methodist University
Dini's masterful writing provides much food for thought for readers in search of alternatives. -- Steve Milloy, Publisher, Junkscience.com
Read this book and you'll understand environmental issues with considerably more sophistication than the gullible reporters. -- Dave Kopel, Research Director, Independence Institute
This book exposes the frauds that are praised by the environmentalists and reveals the truth about many environmental issues. -- Dr. J. Gordon Edwards, Professor Emeritus, Entomology, San Jose State University
Dini's masterful writing provides much food for thought for readers in search of alternatives. -- Steve Milloy, Publisher, Junkscience.com
Read this book and you'll understand environmental issues with considerably more sophistication than the gullible reporters. -- Dave Kopel, Research Director, Independence Institute
This book exposes the frauds that are praised by the environmentalists and reveals the truth about many environmental issues. -- Dr. J. Gordon Edwards, Professor Emeritus, Entomology, San Jose State University
From the Publisher
Why would someone want to read this book?
For decades, since the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, the environmental movement has continually had the ear of the media and the American public has been continuously barraged by information that is one-sided. Very few Americans have ever heard "the other side of the story." There has been no ability for Americans to receive information besides that which the media gives them.
This book is extremely well referenced and serves as a "pointer" to scientific literature that flies in the face of what many of us believe regarding issues such as chemicals, EPA regulations, pesticides (especially DDT), nuclear power, radiation, and many others. The book has been written to show Americans (and the rest of the world) that junk science is being used not only to sway our opinions, but as a basis for policy and law.
One shining example of junk science being used to sway government policy is the banning of the use of DDT as a pesticide. This book points to the scientifically proven fact that DDT is (and was) absolutely safe for the environment, had nothing to do with bird egg shell thinning, and that the banning of DDT has directly resulted in millions of deaths worldwide due to malaria. It was an act of genocide, especially in the Third World, which in many countries had eradicated malaria, but now suffers again in record numbers due to pressure from American government and environmental organizations to ban the use of DDT. The banning of DDT in America came from the hypotheses put forth by Rachel Carson in Silent Spring, none of which actually were based in the science of the time.
We continually hear about how bad pollution is, yet, the fact is, the country has never been cleaner. Whether it’s air, water, or soil, America is better now than it was when these issues came to the forefront. In many cases within the book, outright lies by the environmental movement are pointed out, and in every chapter, real science from real scientists is referenced to challenge the status quo. A chapter on journalists vs. scientists rips the door open by showing that journalists often admit that they are swayed by their beliefs and will actually twist scientific findings to fit their belief systems. And, to most journalists, good news about the environment, is bad news.
Several chapters point out how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is wasting billions of dollars every year trying to live up to standards that are not scientifically sound. For instance, several billions are wasted to ensure that soil at Superfund sites contains so little chemicals that "a child could eat a teaspoonful of dirt every day for the next 70 years" without becoming ill. How many children do you know that eat a teaspoonful of dirt every day, let alone for the rest of their lives? One other important point that is exemplified throughout is the amount of money that could be used to combat the world’s worst carcinogen, poverty, instead of chasing down every part per billion of a chemical that is proven to be non-toxic by science.
The key to this entire book is that science is being twisted by the media, and by activists, in order to further their agenda, and we all suffer for it. Science is the most important component to creating policy, but when junk science is used to create policy, the entire world is affected. Just ask the millions who have died of malaria, a disease that was being wiped out worldwide just 20 years ago.
Even though this book is full of scientific findings and references literature from all over the world, it is written for a very broad audience and is often irreverent and humorous.
Someone in government needs to have the guts to look at the findings in this book, and start taking shots at the Environmental Protection Agency for consistently and continuously wasting taxpayer dollars on programs that are not only based on "junk science" but are also chasing an ever receding zero. Regulations and enforcement are unchecked, and someone needs to do a 'gut-check' and stop this out of control agency
It is unfathomable, the fact that the most technologically advanced country in the world does not use science to create policy and regulations. We use whatever is politically correct at the time, and no one has the guts to point this out at the highest levels. Perhaps there is no one, but this book will hopefully be a foundation for a revolution against "junk science," especially concerning the EPA
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read - Understand the facts instead of hysteria!,
By MarkAardvark (Los Gatos, CA United States) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Challenging Environmental Mythology: Wrestling Zeus (Hardcover)
This is an awesome read that is fast paced and presents a counter to the pseudo-science and hysteria presented by the media and the "environmentalists". We've allowed half truths and propaganda to replace good scientific analysis in public policy, creating programs spending billions of dollars that might save one life in the next 20 years versus efforts that could save thousands now. Just yesterday (April 3rd, 2004), the San Jose Mercury news reported on the rescue of some bird eggs that would not survive in the wild due to thin egg shells because of DDT - a myth that has become a commonly held 'fact' that is refuted in Dini's book (with many others...). Be informed - know both sides of the issues - read this book!
1.0 out of 5 stars
Snake Oil,
This review is from: Challenging Environmental Mythology: Wrestling Zeus (Hardcover)
This "author" is a salesman selling junk pseudo-science to right wing reactionaries who can't think for themselves.The above review by the "scientific" director of The Heartland Institute is laughable. This "institute" has received funds from the petroleum industry and seems to provide a pseudo-scientific front. Buyer beware.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Environmental Scares Exposed One-By-One,
This review is from: Challenging Environmental Mythology: Wrestling Zeus (Hardcover)
Jack Dini, author of Challenging Environmental Mythology, is every bit the environmentalist. He loves animals and scenic parks. He thinks clean air and water are critically important. And within the pages of this book he offers an amazingly lucid, accurate, and common-sense criticism of the environmental movement in its current state.Dini remembers the bright scientists that set the country on an appropriate path of environmental protection more than 35 years ago. He laments the hijacking of the movement by those who care less about the environment and more about expanding government power and reducing individual freedom. Radical environmentalists increasingly assert that the mere ability to detect the trace presence of a chemical is enough to prove we need massive and unnecessary environmental regulation and remediation. They warn about chemicals measured in parts per trillion, which is the same ratio as one second in 32,000 years. Unjustified Radicalism While many people implicitly understand the unjustified radicalism of such environmental extremists, most of us do not have the ability to debate such extremists effectively or educate our friends who know no better. Dini gives us the tools to fight misinformation, whether spread maliciously or out of innocent ignorance. Dini analyzes the foundation of every major environmental issue that is now clouded with political rhetoric. At a time when the public can be thoroughly confused between fact and fiction regarding our environment, Dini unravels our problems with the precision of a brilliant physicist and the unusual ability to communicate with simple, jargon-free language we can all understand. The 32 brief essays that compose the book (see sidebar) accurately describe the human risk, or lack thereof, from countless headlined environmental scares that have stricken fear into the hearts and minds of the great majority of the public, who do not have access to sound scientific data. When you reach the end of this book, you will be enriched by the wonderful science you have learned from this modern-day Mr. Wizard and elated by the lifting of the weight of pessimism from your shoulders. Challenging Environmental Myths is deeply discounted on Amazon.com. You can afford to buy a dozen copies of this book and give them to friends who are willing to meet you halfway with an open mind on the key environmental issues of the day. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jay Lehr, Ph.D. (lehr@heartland.org) is science director for The Heartland Institute.
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