This is a really enjoyable, well-read, well-researched book. I am amazed at how much research went into the writing of it. It is packed densely with facts, statistics, and intelligent assessments and quotes. Not only do the authors manage to accumulate a mountain of evidence in support of their view-- that the former USSR pillaged their environment in the quest for industrial success-- but they also throw in numerous great quotes from writers, scientists, doctors, other persons of interest. Page after page contains some great quote about Russia: one physicist says (I'm paraphrasing) Russia is not a country, not a people, but a thousand year long sickness. Wow, what a quote. It was so interesting and dense with info I wound up reading it twice in a row, starting it again right after the end.
The chapters are divided into broad categories, the logical ones from the point of view of environment, such as water, energy use, medical system, state of the army, etc. The well-known story of the Aral sea is discussed at length. What is striking is to what a degree the government abused the central asian countries, such as Kazakhstan (spelling?) obviously due to a racist bias. In every chapter there are shocking illustrations of ecocide.
I highly recommend it for anyone curious about environmental issues, since the experience they went through in the USSR is basically the result of a complete and total neglect of any kind of enviromental concerns, whether it's radioactive contamination of a lake (toxic waste was actually pumped into the bottom of a lake in one situation, by the army), waste of water resources, inefficient use of energy such as oil, no concern with pollution with mercury etc. into the air, etc.
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