If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth

by Helen Caldicott

Book Overview

To save the planet we need to change the way we think and behave. Closer contact with, and appropriate reverence for, nature will help to provide simple answers to seemingly complex problems.

If You Love This Planet describes in easy-to-understand language the scientific and medical consequences of the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, deforestation, species extinction, toxic chemical pollution, nuclear waste, food contamination, and the ever-present threat of nuclear war.

Caldicott, a physician by training, also gives us a prescription for cure--and a cause for hope. We must learn energy efficiency, we must organize politically (voting, she suggests, should be compulsory), and we must hold corporations and governments accountable for their actions. Above all, she says, our fight for the planet will draw its greatest strength from a love for the Earth itself.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393308359
• ISBN13: 9780393308358
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

I'm slowly getting into it but miss the previous edition...

I discovered the previous edition of this book (If You Love This Planet) by Dr. Helen Caldicott and quickly found her writing style to be rather engaging, despite the unsettling topic of an environment under attack on all fronts. I agree this book should be read by all Americans and really, all citizens of the globe! I don't agree with the reviewer who says she (Helen) is crazy for suggesting some energy other than nuclear be used for electricity. On the contrary, it is crazy to embark on any other nuclear pursuits at this time for a number of reasons. The biggest is the danger factor which is very real and has been underestimated and underplayed for decades. Just read about Canada's now polluted Ottawa River from a 51 year old reactor and you will know how serious this is. And this type of risk is not only very real, it is all too common. Another reason it is a bad idea to commission additional nuclear power plants is the very real known fact that uranium is becoming increasingly more and more scarce and it is estimated that our usable supply will likely be exhausted by as early as 2025. I will say that so far this new edition of Dr. Caldicott's book is a bit too technical (chapter 2 for example has just too many references to percentages, years, amounts of co2 being released by cows, etc) for my taste and consequently the book is proving to be a bit more laborious to read than I recall the previous edition being which seemed to me to be more personal as the author reflected on her own life, how she was affected and so on. I would highly recommend this book, however I encourage reading the earlier edition, copyright 1992, as well.

Every American needs to read this book

You might assume from the title that this book is devoted to environmental issues and solutions. You'd be partially right, but this book is much more. Caldicott also goes into the birth and development of the American corporate machine and of the equally significant public relations industry. Instead of just explaining what's wrong with the planet and what you can do about it, she educates us about how we got where we are, and how our culture of conspicuous consumption came to be. This book is a real eye opener and will cause you to question some of your most basic ideas about American society.