Customer Reviews

Planetary Overload: Global Environmental Change and the Health of the Human Species (Canto original series)

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2 star:		(1)
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Dr.Tony McMichael, author of numerous IPCC and WHO reports on climate change, has here assembled an astounding array of information on the human species and how we have come to put our own health and the planet at risk. Designed for the general reader, though authoritative, Planetary Overload makes an ideal item for your personal bookshelf or for assignment in college classes.

McMichael is particularly good at putting human health in a social context since many current threats are on a population basis and fueled (literally) by human consumption, production, and population.

Planetary Overload presents a useful and interesting overview on human evolution, the connection between health and wealth in various countries,a section on global climate change and its direct and indirect health effects from heat, extreme weather events,the spread of infectious disease and the like. There are also startling summaries of the effects of urbanization and forest destruction, and, best of all, sane perspectives on the importance of politics and involvement for solving these growing health threats.

A brilliant synthesis of biology and medicine, economics, and politics, Planetary Overload puts McMichael in the first rank of concerned scientists and public intellectuals.

One of the few text books that I actually chose to keep from one of my college classes. A.J. McMichael makes some keen observations on the shift to the battle over resources in days present and ever increasingly so in days to come. Puts in perspective the plight of the Third World and developing nations and how the interplay of colonialism, imperialism, capitalism and other isms affect our global commons. A must for policy makers, politicians and anyone seeking answers behind some of the sensationalized TV footage we tend to see these days.

This volume is interesting but it tries to cover too much. The author also makes too many unsupported claims and over-generalizations.

An ok introduction to the complex topics in this field.