The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair [Paperback]

Denis Hayes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2, 2000

Everyone talks about the weather but no one ever does anything about it. Sadly, that old joke is no longer true. A large body of increasingly compelling scientific evidence is telling us that many things we do -- from the kinds of cars we drive to how we heat our homes -- are directly affecting our global climate in unprecedented and alarming ways. But what can any one person do about this vast, global problem? Help fix it! And it doesn't have to be a do-it-yourself project; we citizens and stewards of the earth can unite in greater numbers and power than ever before.In "The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair," Earth Day leader and renewable energy expert Denis Hayes tells us how changes in individual, local, and national energy choices can slow or even stop the dangerous build-up of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, while at the same time saving us money, helping the economy, creating new jobs, and enhancing human health. A how-to home improvement guide for the planet, the book: describes the problem of global warming today as well as its likely effects in the future considers the sources of energy available to us, and explains why one of them is the Earth's best hope offers dozens of ways to painlessly reduce your own energy use provides action steps to affect the world's energy use and help change policy tells where to go for further help and more information The first Earth Day in 1970 helped launch the modern environmental movement. Rather than waiting for elected officials to take action to address environmental abuses, environmental maverick Denis Hayes and his compatriots took the lead in bringing the subject to the forefront of American consciousness. Through threedecades, the idea of Earth Day has flourished, and now more than ever, individuals need to take matters into their own hands and create change from the ground up and from the whole earth down. As citizens and consumers, we hold a vast capacity for improving our environment and leaving a bright legacy for our children. For seasoned green veterans and environmental newcomers alike, "The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair" is the must-have book for the next century.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

That most of the world's environments are in bad shape is by now well known. They need not remain that way, insists veteran environmentalist Denis Hayes, a coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970 and now CEO of the International Earth Day Network. Many animal and plant species have been brought back from the brink of extinction since the dawning of the environmental movement, and more and more people are aware of the ecological consequences of their actions. But then, Hayes notes, more and more people are buying gas-guzzling SUVs, using energy-thirsty halogen torchieres, consuming fossil-fuel-squandering foodstuffs grown far from home out of season, and otherwise behaving as if the good times will never end. The cost of that behavior is mounting: witness the greenhouse effect, by which gases trapped in the atmosphere prevent solar heat from escaping, thereby warming the earth. "Within a few decades," Hayes warns, "you will breathe air containing twice as much CO₂ as the air your grandparents breathed unless we radically change our use of carbon fuels such as coal and fuel."

There is much we can do, counsels Hayes. We can change our habits of energy consumption and develop sources of clean energy. We can agitate for the protection of air-cleansing forests--especially the vast boreal forests of North America and Asia, which, while less rich in biodiversity than the better-publicized Amazon rainforest, are far more effective at filtering poisons out of the air. We can try to leave a smaller footprint, ratchet up our consciousness just a little bit more, elect "green" politicians and boycott "brown" corporations. The list goes on.

Thoughtful and well written, The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair is a fine sourcebook for anyone willing to get started on the perhaps quixotic but just as certainly necessary task of fixing all the damage we have done. --Gregory McNamee

About the Author

In 1969, Denis Hayes left Harvard's Kennedy School of Government to coordinate the first Earth Day, an event often credited with launching the modern American environmental movement. Twenty years later he headed the first International Earth Day, with 200 million participants in 141 countries. Today, Denis heads Earth Day Network, the group organizing the international campaign for Earth Day 2000. He is also President and CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, a $100 million environmental foundation based in Seattle, and Chairman of the Board of The Energy Foundation. During the Carter Administration, Denis was Director of the federal Solar Energy Research Institute. From 1973 to 1975, he headed the Illinois State Energy Office, and from 1983 to 1989 he served as an adjunct professor of engineering at Stanford University. He has published more than 100 articles and papers on energy and the environment in publications such as Bioscience, the NY Times and USA Today, and his solar energy blueprint, Rays of Hope, is available in six languages. A graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law School, Denis has been awarded the highest honors bestowed by the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Humane Society of the United States, the American Solar Energy Society, Beyond War, and the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility. In 1978, the American Institute for Public Service awarded him the Jefferson Medal for the greatest public service by an American under 35. Denis was selected by Look magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Americans of the 20th Century, and he was chosen by the National Audubon Society as one of the 100 most important conservation figures of the 20th Century. Denis has been a guest on such programs as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Face the Nation, Meet the Press, the David Brinkley Show, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and Donahue. He has been profiled as "Newsmaker of the Week" by ABC News and as "Today's Person in the News" by the New York Times. Denis' international interests and experience date back to the late 1960s, when on his own initiative he embarked on a journey that included hitchhiking across Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Denis is married and has one daughter, and currently lives and works in Seattle.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (February 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559638095
• ISBN-13: 978-1559638098
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,407,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise and constructive!, April 17, 2000

By 

lad13 (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair (Paperback)

Of late I've been looking for some clarity, simplicity and guidance on what kind of shape our environment is in and on what you and I and the companies we work for, or partronize, can do to preserve and improve that environment. I believe Denis Hayes got it in one.

He starts with a brief review of the state of the environment (not great, folks!), with a focus on global warming, major national policy decisions and international efforts of the last decade. He then moves on to identify energy sources to get rid of and general technology developments that we deparately need to support for the future.

Following these bigger industry issues, he then gives some simple suggestions on how to make our own lives more energy efficient and earth friendly - in the near term, and for the long haul. Very helpful - I've followed three!

As a finale, Hayes circles back to the initial discussion of global warming & climate change and comments on how many major industries do NOT have a strong interest in our improving our energy efficiency, but the exact opposite. This reminder gives new insight into any media coverage on this issue.

So, whether you are convinced about global warming or not, this book offers the average person some constructive suggestions for helping to reduce waste and pollution. And, hey, you might help keep the planet cooler, too.

Note: Compared to other books that I'm reading on the subject, this one is concise and very readable - great for the average reader. The others (while excellent) are much more philosophical and/or detailed ("Natural Capitalism", by P. Hawken et al, and "Believing Cassandra", by A. AtKisson).

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly optimistic!, May 31, 2000

By 

"petmarblu" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair (Paperback)

I hadn't expected this book to focus so tightly on global warming, and particularly on the role of carbon dioxide therein, but nevertheless it held my interest and left me full of hope. It has solid suggestions for ways in which of each of us can flex our consumer muscles to reduce unnecessary energy use, and also lays out a larger strategy that we can use for a national blueprint.

The really good news is that this book makes clear that we already KNOW how to reduce our greenhouse emissions (thereby helping our planet and ourselves), keep our economy strong while we do it, and continue to be a world technological leader to boot. The only thing standing in our way is a group of people (a large, politically powerful group of people!) who feel that their short-term profits from fossil fuels matter more than the health of ourselves, our descendants, and all the other people on the planet.

I hope that this book gets a broad readership; it deserves it. We all deserve to hear this message and start moving toward a cleaner world.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ideal home, school, and community library reference., June 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair (Paperback)

The Official Earth Day Guide To Planet Repair describes the problem of global warming and its effects today and in the future; considers available energy sources and explains why one of them is the Earth's best hope; offers dozens of ways to painlessly reduce energy use; provides action steps to affect the world's energy use and help to change governmental policy; reveals where to find further help and more information on environmental issues and concerns. The Official Earth Day Guide To Planet Repair is an ideal home reference and a timely and highly recommended addition to personal, school, and community library environmental issues collections.