Product Description

How much would you pay for a gallon of gas? $2.50? $10.00? Would you pay with the health of your lungs or with years taken from your lifespan?



The infamous "pain at the pump" runs much deeper than our wallets, argues Terry Tamminen, former Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency and current Special Assistant to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Petroleum may power our cars and heat our homes, but it also contributes to birth defects and disorders like asthma and emphysema, not to mention cancer. In Lives Per Gallon, Tamminen takes a hard look at these and other health, environmental, and national security costs hidden in every barrel of oil.



While the petroleum industry is raking in huge profits, Tamminen shows, it is studiously avoiding measures that would lessen the hazards of its products. Using the successful lawsuits by state governments against big tobacco as a model, the author sets forth a bold strategy to hold oil and auto companies accountable and force industry reform. He also offers a blueprint for developing alternative energy sources based on California's real world experiences.



Certain to be controversial, Lives Per Gallon is an unblinking assessment of the true price of petroleum and a prescription for change. The choice is clear: continuing paying with our health, or kick our addiction and evolve beyond an oil-dependent economy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87443 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Review
"America's prosperity, our independence and security, our democracy and our ideals, our international leadership and national pride are all dependent on our breaking our lethal oil addiction. Terry Tamminen has turned the spotlight of clarity on the defining issue of our age." (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. President, Waterkeeper Alliance )

"We all thought we knew the costs of oil addiction-power to terrorists and tyrants, and global climate change. But Tamminen''s book demonstrates that we don''t know the half of it. Gasoline is a deadly carcinogen like tobacco. The health, environmental, and climatic impact of our oil dependency, he shows, is catastrophic. And the economic cost of subsidizing the oil industry is bankrupting. But Tamminen does more than point to the problems. He lays out step-by-step solutions to ending our oil addiction. I only wish that all members of Congress would read this book." (Dick Morris Fox News political analyst and former advisor to President Clinton )

"Tamminen's personal and impassioned overview of the evidence against Big Oil makes a persuasive argument for the urgency of ending our petroleum habit." (Orion magazine )

...launches a blistering attack on the practices of the world''s oil and automobile industries..." (Sacramento Bee )

About the Author
Terry Tamminen founded the Santa Monica BayKeeper and served as its Executive Director for six years. He also served for five years as Executive Director of the Environment Now Foundation in Santa Monica. He was appointed as the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency in November, 2003 and is currently Special Assistant to the Governor.

Customer Reviews

Hi. My name's John, and I'm addicted to oil.
If only there were a twelve step program for America's oil addiction. Of course, we'd all drive to meetings in our SUVs. This book is so much more than a chronicle of how the infernal combustion engine and the petroleum industry have made billions riding roughshod over the planet. It's a call to action. If you've ever done an intervention (or wanted to do one) for a friend who was hooked on something and killing himself/herself, then read this book and realize that your friend is the earth and everyone on it. Terry Tamminen's book makes us see that we're all caught in an oil spill.

The Ugly Truth About Fossil Fuel and More

Terry Tamminen has put together a monumental expose' of the true cost of our fossil fuel addiction and the U.S auto industry collusion to mislead both consumers and government alike on the health hazards of fossil fuel exhaust- not much different than tobacco smoke and that industry's playing-down the health risks of their products.

The history of oil use is well covered including wars and potential wars over it's control, government subsidies, fossil fuel contribution to global warming and the global crisis we face when the oil reserves run out. After reading about the multiple ways that fossil fuel consumption has polluted air, water and land, one is left with a feeling that the world oil supply will hopefully run out sooner than later.

Tamminen paints a bleak picture of the corruption and pollution of fossil fuel use, but he also gives positive coverage of the emerging clean/green ZEV (zero emission vehicles) technology such as electric, hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell propulsion and electric generating systems coupled with solar, wind, and photovoltaic systems to replace the out-dated fossil fuel systems. Also covered are the many things individuals can do on their own to reduce their personal energy consumption footprint, i.e., use low-watt bulbs, drive a hybrid or electric car and boycott wasteful products- buy green. Collectively, these actions add up and make a huge difference in total energy consumption while sending a strong message to the merchants of toxic products that their products are no longer desired.

Lives Per Gallon
This book reads like a mystery novel but weaves together a compelling mountain of facts that illustrate what President Bush has referred to as America's "addiction to oil." Tamminen's book explores in depth the severity of the consequences of that addiction, from demonstrable public health impacts to dependence on regimes that don't like us. But more importantly, this book identifies a number of solutions to move us away from our dependence on oil. Too many well-written books do a thorough job of outlining the problem, but few authors take the time to discuss solutions. Reasonable people will disagree about what are the best solutions to our addiction, but Tamminen's book offers a menu of tools that can begin the discussion.