Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (Hardcover)

~ Albert Gore (Author) "Writing this book is part of a personal journey that began more than twenty-five years ago, a journey in search of a true understanding of..." (more)
Key Phrases: dysfunctional civilization, global water system, climate historians, United States, Third World, Global Marshall Plan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

What's most inspiring about Earth in the Balance is who wrote it. It's a big deal, after all, that a sitting senator was willing to write, "We must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization." And that's not all. In his 1992 book, Al Gore also wrote:

I have become very impatient with my own tendency to put a finger to the political winds and proceed cautiously.... [E]very time I pause to consider whether I have gone too far out on a limb, I look at the new facts [on the environment crisis] that continue to pour in from around the world and conclude that I have not gone far enough.... [T]he time has long since come to take more political risks--and endure more political criticism--by proposing tougher, more effective solutions and fighting hard for their enactments.

And the buzz on the street is that Gore actually wrote those words himself.

When Earth in the Balance first came out, it caused quite a stir--and for good reason. It convincingly makes the case that a crisis of epidemic proportions is nearly upon us and that if the world doesn't get its act together soon and agree to some kind of "Global Marshall Plan" to protect the environment, we're all up a polluted creek without a paddle. Myriad plagues are upon us, but the worst include the loss of biodiversity, the depletion of the ozone layer, the slash-and-burn destruction of rainforests, and the onset of global warming. None of this is new, of course, nor was it new in 1992. But most environmentalists will still get a giddy feeling reading such a call to action as written by a prominent politician.

The book is arranged into three sections: the first describes the plagues; the second looks at how we got ourselves into this mess; and the final chapters present ways out. Gore gets his points across in a serviceable way, though he could have benefited from a firmer editor's hand; at times the analogies are arcane and the pacing is odd--kind of like a Gore speech that climaxes at weird points and then sinks just as the audience is about to clap. Still, at the end you understand what's been said. Gore believes that if we apply some American ingenuity, the twin engines of democracy and capitalism can be rigged to help us stabilize world population growth, spread social justice, boost education levels, create environmentally appropriate technologies, and negotiate international agreements to bring us back from the brink. For example, a worldwide shift to clean, renewable energy sources would create huge economic opportunities for companies large and small to design, build, and maintain solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells, and other ecofriendly innovations.

Gore doesn't mince words when describing just how hard it will be to get out of this jam. Real hope is contingent on a swelling up of concern among the public--and fast. A year into the vice presidency, in an interview with writer Bill McKibben, Gore paraphrased a key passage in his book, "The minimum that is scientifically necessary far exceeds the maximum that is politically feasible." Ah, a political out. Some readers will ask of Gore: what has he done since publishing his book to advance the political feasibility of decisive environmental action? --Chip Giller

From Publishers Weekly

In a thoughtful, compelling primer, Gore, Democratic senator from Tennessee, attempts to explain environmentalism to a benighted American public that, as he discovered in his 1988 presidential bid, gives environmental issues low or no priority. Unraveling the grave dangers posed by global warming, thinning of the ozone layer, destruction of tropical rain forests, overuse of pesticides, incineration of municipal wastes and other human-made disasters, Gore takes on head-in-the-sand skeptics who try to minimize the severity of these ecological crises. Attacking Bush and Congress for failing to assume a leadership role in environmental problems, he outlines a "global Marshall Plan," a cooperative international effort to stabilize world population, create and share environmentally appropriate technologies, educate the public and institute accountability for polluters. The Superfund law that Gore coauthored in 1980 to clean up the nation's hazardous chemical dump sites has been an utter failure, partly due to lax EPA enforcement, he notes. The general proposals Gore sets forth here represent an important, bold step in the right direction. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Revised edition (April 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618056645
• ISBN-13: 978-0618056644
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (134 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #386,199 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Heavy-handed and somewhat suspect, but important, February 13, 2000

By	K. Parsons "Hailing from the mountaintop!" (Idyllwild, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (Plume) (Paperback)

Al Gore has presented us with one of his famously overblown but compelling discourses on what is actually a very critical subject. What is missing in our approach to this book (based on the reviews I have read here) is perspective. IT'S NOT ABOUT AL, SILLY! Oh, sure, this book definitely benefits Gore in many ways... but the subject matter is what counts. I grew up in New York's Adirondack region... and I know firsthand the silence that acid rain brings. Twenty-five years ago I would thrill to dozens of fish jumping for insects in Adirondack lakes... twenty years ago, at the apogee of the acid rain crisis, I could pass an entire day at Lows Lake or Upper Saranac without seeing a fish jump. I also remember the stench of Lake Erie in the west wind and as a young boy being amazed that people were driven from their homes at Love Canal. Fortunately, there are now jumping fish in the north country, Lake Erie has been resurrected from the dead and many Superfund sites have been cleaned up. Presently living part-time in Orange County, California (no stranger to pollution problems), I see concerted efforts to repair some of the damage our society has done. The value in works like Algore's book, or more powerfully, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is that they have FORCED people to PAY ATTENTION to these things. When my ex-girlfriend was diagnosed, at 37, with lymphoma, I drew a parallel to her residing and working in an area known for airborne pollutants and industrial solvent contamination. Eyes opened, I decided to make the small. personal changes which cumulatively lead to sweeping changes if adopted by large numbers of people. OK, so I drive a truck (and a gas-hog at that)... I am not a vegetarian, and I definitely am not an activist... but if a man like me can be moved to adjust my consuming ways by reading this book, then I must endorse it on a practical level. Come on folks... those who reviewed and wrote that this is silly, or not really a problem, are the real ostriches here.

30 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Olympic-level Reality Check, November 23, 2006

By	Al Gore's Buddy "Green power" (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (Paperback)

This work sets an incredible standard for what the overprivileged and uninitiated might call "alarmist" environmental literature. It is a definitive work that comprehensively addresses the state of the environment, tracing its historical aspects and examining its societal dynamics, even to the level of modern psychotherapeutic psychology. He is meticulous in presenting the facts and images without veering into untenable predictions of non-essential disasters, as plagued Paul Ehrlich's early books. He refers carefully to scientific information, and the unavoidable consequences of foreseeable conditions. Global climate change, for example, will likely make some areas uninhabitable. Gore makes a profound analogy by incively comparing the tragic environmental situation with the unprecedented nature of the nuclear arms race, citing how it has changed from a "fight- to a process of destruction." Industrial civilization and world ecology have reached a similar stage, he indicates.
His solutions are strong given his level of perception and analysis as a government policymaker. They are not much good for rapid change, however, or for grassroots action. While health food stores already existed back in 1992, it is amazing to witness how many efforts have lead to more sustainable products since then. Unfortunately, the green business trend is new, and, perhaps protectively, he appears to leave out any significant mention of environmentalists and entrepreneurial efforts, especially the initiating of Greenpeace by its Sierra Club founders, health food stores and food cooperatives, Anita Roddick and the Body Shop, and Greenpeace's promotion of non-chlorine bleaching techniques. Since then, of course, have come windpower, hybrid cars, organic clothing, Hawken's and Lovins' Natural Capitalism, Interface and CEO Ray Anderson, Greider's Soul of Capitalism about the ownership crisis in capitalism and the need for employee and cooperative reform, and so on. In conjunction with these grassroots constructive efforts, Gore's work continues to provide an excellent source to remember exactly what is occurring, what is at stake and why learning to take multiple consumer, entrepreneurial, technological, educational, protest, and legislative action are all the more crucial all the time.

25 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive overview of our impact on the environment, December 9, 2006

By	G-Cubed (Granville, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (Paperback)

Al Gore has compiled a comprehensive overview of our impact on the environment. You may not agree with everything he says, but it is clear that he has thought broadly and deeply about the subject. He makes a good overview of the science and where we are today, and provide a broad plan get us to sustainability.