Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (Plume) (Paperback)

by Al Gore (Author) "I was standing in the sun on the hot steel deck of a fishing ship capable of processing a fifty-ton catch on a good day..." (more)
Key Phrases: dysfunctional civilization, shadow our future, global water system, 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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Vice President-elect Gore explains the necessity of enviromentalism and offers bold initiatives for change in this thoughtful, compelling primer, a QPB selection and PW bestseller. Illustrations.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Plume (January 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452269350
• ISBN-13: 978-0452269354
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #698,041 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 57 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)

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.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exhaustive Research By Unparalleled Authority, January 15, 2004

By	J. Reynolds (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This superlative examination of the detrimental effect mankind's technology is having upon our planet is vital reading for anyone who cares about the environment, and wants to leave the Earth habitable for generations to come. Dr. Gore herein summarizes the exhaustive research he compiled during more than a decade of work upon multiple post-graduate science degrees. A fully-educated, technically qualified and field-tested scientist of first rank, Dr. Gore offers incontrovertible empirical data, fully reflecting his countless hours, days and nights, weeks, months and years in the laboratory, the classroom and the field (ocean depths, desert expanses, forests, meadows, polar ice caps, balloon ascensions into the upper atmosphere, descents into active volcanos, mountain-tops, rivers, streams, lakes and plains). The author's multiple doctorate degrees (Earth science, anthropology, geology, envirnomental science, physics, chemistry) imbue his conclusions and predictions with utterly unquestionable credibility -- it would be impossible to believe anyone with any less of an academic credential or laboratory pedigree. Thank you, Dr. Gore, for sounding your tocsins. If only humankind would now give Dr. Gore's warnings the consideration they deserve!

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You really must study this book carefully, January 29, 2004

By	DAVID-LEONARD WILLIS (Thessaloniki Greece) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Senator Al Gore won high praise for this book from Bill Moyers because he "faces honestly the unremitting evidence of science"; from M. Scott Peck for "clearly pointing the way we need to change to assure the survival of our grandchildren"; and from Carl Sagan who tells us that "mitigating the crisis will require a planetary perspective, long-term thinking, political courage and savvy, eloquence and leadership - all of which are in evidence in Al Gore's landmark book." As a child the author watched eight acres an hour of top soil being carried away in the Mississippi River while his mother explained the implications of Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring'; as a student his professor explained the profound and disruptive change in the global climate due to the carbon dioxide build up in the atmosphere measured at Mauna Loa; as a serviceman in Vietnam he learned of the results of using Agent Orange; as a Congressman he investigated hazardous waste dumps such as Love Canal and learned of our leaders' powerful and determined opposition to the truth and their unwillingness to think about the comprehensive nature of the response needed. After reflecting on his own personal role in determining the course of his nation and civilization he ran for President focusing his campaign on global warming, ozone depletion, the ailing global environment and nuclear arms control only to discover that no one was interested in these issues and that the media would not provide coverage. It was a lesson in how political motives and government policies have helped to create the crisis and frustrate finding solutions; it was a lesson about leadership and evasion of responsibility, timidity of vision, avoiding important issues, and postponing difficult choices. He concluded that "Each of us must take a greater personal responsibility for this deteriorating global environment; each of us must take a hard look at the habits of mind and action that reflect - and have lead to - this grave crisis. The more deeply I search for the roots of the global environmental crisis, the more I am convinced that it is an outer manifestation of an inner crisis that is, for the lack of a better word, spiritual." Gore concluded that the search for truth about the crisis and the search for truth about himself are in fact the same search. Mahatma Ghandi said "We must be the change we wish to see in the world" but Gandhi could say that only after he was asked to tell a boy to stop eating sugar, stopped eating sugar himself for two weeks and only then spoke to the boy. Gore concluded that he had to deal with his own hypocrisy in such things as using CFCs in his automobile air conditioner before he could hope to convince others of the hypocrisy in their lives.

Gore examines the crisis from the perspective of the earth sciences, economics, sociology, history, information theory, psychology, religion and from his vantagepoint as a politician. Although very difficult changes in established patterns of thought and action will be required, success is within our capacity and desirable in the interest of social justice, democratic government and free market economics. But we must adopt an attitude similar to that which brought success in World War II where the central organizing principle was total commitment to the defeat of fascism. Following the war and through 1989 the central organizing principle of government policy and society was total commitment to the defeat of communism; this was the reason for the Marshall Plan, MacArthur's blueprint for Japan, the 1947 decision to give massive aid to Greece and Turkey, NATO, foreign aid, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the nuclear arms race, and arms sales to dictators opposed to Soviet communism - all served the same central purpose of defeating communism. Even the interstate highway system, federal aid to education and the space program were tied to the defeat of communism. The Marshall Plan concentrated on fixing bottlenecks impeding growth. Today we need total commitment to a Global Marshall Plan concentrating on five strategic goals - stabilizing world population, environmentally appropriate technologies, changes to the economic rules, renegotiated international agreements, and educating the world's citizens about our global environment - and emphasizing actions and programs aimed at removing the bottlenecks to creating a healthy global economy.

This book gives much more than the environmental facts; it helps us understand why our leaders fail in their responsibilities even when presented with indisputable evidence; it helps us understand that we need more political savvy; it helps us understand that you and I are the problem and we have to do as Gandhi tells us - WE must be the change we want to see in the world. Finally it helps us to understand that if we are to take greater personal responsibility, we must be committed. Gore quotes W. H. Murray who is actually partially quoting Wolfgang Goethe who I quote in full because it is only when we accept Chico Mendes' level of commitment that we will work the miracle that is needed to save our world.
"Concerning all acts of initiative and creation,
there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which
kills countless ideas and splendid plans;
that the moment one definitely commits oneself,
Providence moves, too.
All sorts of things occur to help one,
That would otherwise never have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
Raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and
Meetings and material assistance, which no person could
Have dreamt would have come his or her way.
Are you in earnest?
Seize this very minute!
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it!
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."