Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge [Paperback]

Joel Simon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

A warning to developing countries everywhere--this comprehensive look at Mexico's environmental crisis shows how a degraded ecosystem gives rise to political turmoil and economic chaos that threaten Mexico's very existence as a state.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mexico, the home of countless animal and plant species, is the third most biologically diverse nation on the planet. Yet even with growing international concern for biodiversity and habitat preservation, Simon writes, Mexico's environmental crisis continues to worsen. The most obvious problem is air pollution; on windless days, Simon notes, ten thousand tons of "toxic gunk"--made up of car exhaust, industrial particulates, blowing dirt from deforested hillsides, and fecal dust--choke Mexico City's 30 million residents. Other problems are less well known: the continuing destruction of farmland through overgrazing and the devastation of old-growth forests. If matters do not improve, Simon suggests, then Mexicans will continue to flee the site of so much loss for safer, cleaner places--namely, the United States. Environmentalists have much to ponder in Simon's pages. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This long-overdue work provides a readable, interesting, and broad yet detailed appraisal of Mexican environmental problems, ranging from monarch butterflies to the declining water table under Mexico City, and their consequences for Mexicans and Americans along the border. Simon, a journalist who lives in Mexico City, nicely combines hard-to-obtain factual data on various issues with anecdotal encounters from his own field research in numerous locations. The result is a depressing portrait of a country sacrificing many of its natural resources for "development," clearly demonstrating the difficulties of implementing environmental laws in the Mexican political context. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Roderic A. Camp, Tulane Univ., New Orleans
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books for Children (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578050162
• ISBN-13: 978-1578050161
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,213,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Endangered Mexico, well informed and well written, February 13, 2000

By 

Jorge H. Vazquez (Chihuahua, MEXICO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge (Paperback)

I think that the search required to write this book can be considered deep and risky, because it implied to go to dangerous places where drug dealers are trafficking or powerful people in the government who won't like some of the things that are said in the book. So I consider this is a very valiant work. But not only that, it is very well written, very clear with current information about environment in different areas of México, like Cancún coral reefs, Michoacán, México City, forestland in Chihuahua, pollution caused by twin plants (maquiladoras)and in addition it includes very valuable historic information related with all of the mentioned cases.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, November 2, 2005

By 

M. Ziebell (prescott, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge (Paperback)

This book was recommended to me by the BBC correspondent for Central America, Nick Miles. I was extremely impressed by the careful research and documentation undertaken by Simon. I consider this book essential reading for any student of Latin American environmental affairs. Simon's exploration of the much mythologized Cardenas land reforms and its relationship to the current desperate situation faced by much of Mexico's agrarian sector is without equal. His analysis of Mexico's failed oil extraction industry is eye opening.

This work, so critical of Mexican federal policy, might easily be ignored except for Simon's impressive cridentials. Here is a writer who clearly respects Mexico, people and country.

I give the work four stars instead of five only because it is now slightly dated. I hope Simon will consider a second edition soon.