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

~ (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...)

3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (134 customer reviews)

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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: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (134 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #763,233 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
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. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
dysfunctional civilization, shadow our future, global water system, climate historians, global ecological system, climate equilibrium, climate balance, global climate pattern, global environmental crisis, climate patterns

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Third World, Global Marshall Plan, Eastern Europe, Aral Sea, Soviet Union, White House, President Bush, United Nations, North America, Planet Earth, Well Goes Dry, Deep Ecologists, Gulf Stream, New World, New York City, North Pole, Central America, Dust Bowl, Henderson County, Sherwood Rowland, Skin Deep, Chaos Theory, Montreal Protocol, North Atlantic

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 100 books:

Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit by Albert Gore on 5 pages
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in Front Matter, page 141, and Back Matter
Childhood and Society by Erik H. Erikson in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, Revised Edition by Alice Miller on page 228, and Back Matter
Love Canal: The Story Continues... by Lois Marie Gibbs on page 244, and Back Matter

See all 100 books this book cites

100 books cite this book:

Environmentalism for a New Millennium: The Challenge of Coevolution by Leslie Paul Thiele on 4 pages
The Light-Green Society: Ecology and Technological Modernity in France, 1960-2000 by Michael Bess in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
From Apocalypse to Way of Life: Environmental Crisis in the American Century by Frederick Buell in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
Jesus Rode A Donkey: Why Republicans Don't Have the Corner on Christ by Linda Seger on page 84, and Back Matter
Our Common Dwelling: Henry Thoreau, Transcendentalism, and the Class Politics of Nature by Lance Newman on page 203, and Back Matter

See all 100 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Reproductive Rights and Wrongs by Betsy Hartmann

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Hurricanes of the North Atlantic by James B. Elsner

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From Apocalypse to Way of Life by Frederick Buell

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Warm Climates in Earth History by Brian T. Huber

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	55% buy the item featured on this page: Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (Plume) 3.3 out of 5 stars (134)
	29% buy Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis 3.2 out of 5 stars (28) $14.57
	7% buy An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It 3.9 out of 5 stars (333) $8.78
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Customer Reviews

134 Reviews

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(41)

Average Customer Review

3.3 out of 5 stars (134 customer reviews)

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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)

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.

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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.

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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.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Gore's Earth
While in college, Senator Al Gore awakened to the reality of the environmental crisis when, in a science class, he had to deal with data documenting the steady increase of carbon... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Gerard Reed

4.0 out of 5 stars What a great book
Having seen the film "An Inconvenient Truth", I assumed this would make for interesting reading. This book proved to be that and more. Read more

Published 22 months ago by marinersrock07

1.0 out of 5 stars socialist/communist scare tactics
Gore would have you believe that we (humans) are nothing more than parasites devouring the world and leaving only destruction in our wake. Well, I would like for you, Mr. Read more

Published 23 months ago by jaxjen

4.0 out of 5 stars A milestone in the environmental debate
I won't summarise the arguments of Earth in the Balance here as other reviewers have done that very well already. Read more

Published on November 14, 2007 by angelpride

3.0 out of 5 stars An OK read...
So this book was written in 1990...things have changed a lot since then - some for better some for worse. So keep that in mind while reading this book. Read more

Published on October 3, 2007 by R. Nair

4.0 out of 5 stars Earth In The Balance
Incredibly informative . Puts perspective on the Earth's history of climate change and how it affects civilizations.

Published on September 24, 2007 by D. Anderson

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-Opener!!!
This book is an easy reader, meaning that it was easy to follow and understand. The need for more informative books like this one could definitely help inform the world how... Read more

Published on September 15, 2007 by L. Stone

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should read this book
I was looking for something definitive on the natural environment and our destruction of it because there are so many different publications on the subject, some a bit theatrical... Read more

Published on August 22, 2007 by Jasper

5.0 out of 5 stars Earth in the Balance
Al Gore's Earth in the Balance is no less than an eye-opener for any reader of any political loyalty. You cannot question the seriousness of the environmental crisis anymore.

Published on July 29, 2007 by D. Anthony

5.0 out of 5 stars Earth In The Balance
Excellent analysis of the problems and perils we are facing in continuation of life on this planet. A must read for anyone who cares about future generations.

Published on June 27, 2007 by Theodore Folkert

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