Customer Reviews

Green Gone Wild: Elevating Nature Above Human Rights

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This should be a "must read" for all who claim to want to save the environment. The human cost of some of our well intentioned national policies, like the Endangered Species Act, are well documented, and at the very least should be read and absorbed by everyone engaged in public policy.

Outstanding evidence that exposes the environmental movement for what it is : a vessel to create a world tax and a more centralized authority with fewer human freedoms and more power than ever vested in goverment, all cloaked in grabbing people's hearts about saving the earth.

This book exposes the truth and is a must read to counterbalance the propaganda the big media bombards us with daily. I heard the author interviewed by Jason Lewis (KTLK-FM 100.3 Mpls MN). Five Stars for the author !!

I thought I was the only one.

When I finished Green Gone Wild I was angry.

I loaned it to a partner

Same result.

I was not expecting what I was reading. Well thought and well documented.

Great Stuff!!

When I wasn't reading this book I was talking about it! I have so many people to pass this book on to that I will need to order more copies.

What I found sobering and terrifying is the reach the extreme environmentalists have in the name of species preservation and their motives behind it all. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was like a snowball rolling downhill. At first it was small and no one really paid much attention, but as it moved along it gained a momentum and a proportion that has left everyone in its path ill equipped to stop it. What's more, the banning of DDT left millions to die of malaria when the science proved DDT was safe for humans. Watch out! They are going after Bisphenol A next. Before you jump on that bandwagon, you better read this book.

I am admittedly a non-fiction junkie and always looking for a good topic. I picked up this book because I realized I am basically uninformed on this subject, and with the eco-terrorism that has hit the news lately and the momentum global warming has been gaining; I decided an environmental education would be a good choice while I had some time over the summer. There were some parts of this book that had me seeing red. Actually, if you are a fiction fan, it has all the best elements of a good novel. Lies, deceit, corruption and tragedy. In fact, the author had me reading anxiously to get to the last chapter so I could find out what could be done to fix the "broken ESA". He also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to the details. He covers all points with enough information that you won't feel like anything has been left out. Each chapter concludes with his cited sources in case you want to read further or do your own research. This book has changed how I view everything.

After a few decades in public service with the State of California, David Stirling became vice president of the Pacific Legal Foundation in 1999. His new book, Green Gone Wild, is the culmination of all that has frustrated him about the command-and-control nature of misguided contemporary environmental regulations.

First, Stirling tells how modern environmentalism became an extremist, highly politicized movement. He shows the movement is based not on science, as it wants the world to believe, but on an outdated, counterproductive, and anti-people approach to the natural world.

He then takes the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the exclusionists' Holy Grail of environmental law, describes its origins, and shows how it is administered without regard to cost--billions of dollars in taxes and lost private land use while accomplishing very little to aid species or justify its cost.

Stirling tells compelling stories of how ESA, enforced by overreaching federal bureaucrats with a command-and-control approach, has been responsible for the loss of human lives, destruction of livelihoods and businesses, and trampling of property owners' reasonable use of their land. Stirling asks and later answers the question, "What kind of ethos could motivate federal officials to elevate the concerns of mice and rats over those of human beings in their darkest hour of need?"

He also recounts the complete, tragic story of death and devastation wrought by malaria after it had been conquered by what we now know to be the innocuous pesticide DDT, which was banned throughout the world in response to false scare stories.

This book is a call for common sense and balance in crafting and enforcing laws, policies, and practices governing the relationship between the human species and the plant and wildlife world.

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Jay Lehr, Ph.D. (jlehr@heartland.org) is science director for The Heartland Institute.

This book could easily have been named "Endangered Species Act, How We Lost Our Minds". Although much of this information is available elsewhere, this book puts it together and in a fashion that you can't help but be outraged at the corruption ESA has promoted. All the bad actors are outlined here, from when ESA first was formulated, to how it got completely out of control as a result the Supreme Court case of TVA vs Hill. See the real science versus the myths we have been led to believe.

The book starts off slowly with lots of rhetoric. "Cute" phrases like "Carson-ogenic" and "exclusionists" detract from from the effectiveness of the analysis and emphasize the author's conservative biases. A distorted picture of the DDT issue is presented because the very real environmental impacts are completely ignored, and the straw man of adverse human health effects is made the focus instead. Those adverse environmental impacts of DDT are acknowledged at least twice later in the book in discussion of the ineffectiveness of the Endangered Species Act. That said, the book redeems itself in the later discussion of the Endangered Species Act. It points out the many problems with the Act and its implementation. Alas, Stirling's recommendations for changes to the Endangered Species Act are disappointing, and seem to ignore the point he makes so well about how approaching conservation one species at a time is an expensive and futile exercise. All in all, a worthwhile read that will stimulate your thinking no matter where you stand on biodiversity issues.

This guy takes real situations and makes it seem like it is the green movement that did something wrong. The book is pefect for right wing republicans that don't want the truth and would like one of their kind to spoon feed them what they want to hear.

I met the author and attended one of his presentations. After hearing what he had to say I read his book and was enraged at the wastefullness of the people's money. I ordered three more copies to send to people including Oprah and President Obama with a letter asking them to read and respond. Everyone should read this book. It's a real eye opener!