Product Description

The time is now . . .

There is no longer any question that our planet is in danger—or that human actions have been a primary cause. But how well do we, as individuals, understand both the far-reaching consequences of our actions and the varied threats that have led us to the brink?

This book is a wake-up call for every citizen of planet Earth: Now is the time to take action. We must stop our most harmful activities, find alternative methods and resources, and undo as much damage as possible—before it is too late. With compelling evidence and stunning photographs, Tony Juniper explains how the human race is changing (destroying) the planet by endangering species throughout the world, contributing to climate change, and plundering natural resources. But more importantly, this remarkable book also offers practical advice and real solutions to help reverse these dangerous trends. With the latest information and analysis, Saving Planet Earth will give everyone the knowledge and tools needed to protect our environment for future generations. Together, we can all save planet Earth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1049756 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Released on: 2007-11-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author

Tony Juniper is director of Friends of the Earth and vice-chair of Friends of the Earth International. His environmental work spans more than twenty years and ranges from public awareness activities to global campaigns to protect the environment. He is a naturalist and ornithologist and the coauthor of the award-winning Parrots: A Guide to the Parrots of the World and Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird. He lives in England.

Customer Reviews

Saving Planet Earth
This is a beautifully presented, fascinating read and so well written. It took me from the birth of life, inside glaciers, to distant oceans, forests, newly discovered biospheres, new species, what a great place. This man loves planet earth and I loved the book.
As I read facts about the delicate balance between human activity, (good, bad and indifferent), and the enviroment with its flora and fauna, its atmosphere, its liquids, gases and sunlight, I sat there astounded why had I not been informed of these things before? I kept wanting to quote bits to whoever was sitting beside me. It's that kind of book.
I realised as I read, one of the most important steps towards change is that we are all fully informed. This book has all the facts, it is practical not evangelical. For want of a bird scarer on long line fishing boats, 400,000 albatrosses and giant pectrels are painfully killed each year. Some suggestions for change are so simple you can't understand why they're not being implemented already. It's just about caring. This book gives us the knowledge to make the right choices as the author says "we can live very well while saving the planet". It's a brilliant book, it makes such good sense, read it!

Making a claim or just making the point?
Author Tony Juniper is described in this work as "one of the UK's leading environmentalists" although I had not previously heard of him. His short biopic explains how he works with primary school children on local ventures and has also actively demonstrated against various road building projects and GM crops. He is also a recognised expert on Parrots and co-author of an award-winning work on that particular subject. Such, it would appear, are the qualifications required for his becoming director of Friends of the Earth and vice chairman of Friends of the Earth International.

The problem with this book is that it is in danger of turning people away from this very important subject almost from the very beginning. Commencing with a format reminiscent of David Attenborough's Life on Earth, the first chapter is entitled "living earth," (also note the lack of capital letters) under which we find sections headed; the birth of life, the fabric of life and life under threat (sound familiar?). Under this latter heading there is a photograph of the face of a Tiger across two pages which is spoiled by the book's central crease. The caption reads "poaching and habitat destruction are driving the Sumatran tiger to extinction" (yes a capital "S" was used in Sumatran but not elsewhere). When capitals are deliberately absent in this fashion, I never know whether it is poetic license or a means of hiding the author's ignorance. Whichever applies, it adds another element to the overall destruction of some of the basic principles of our language and confuses those who are never certain whether to use a capital letter or not. Not a book for the school library therefore.

On the very next page we have a photo of a red frog with the caption "the strawberry poison dart frog is one of 1770 of the 5743 known species of amphibian that are currently at risk of becoming extinct." We are only at page 21 of 256 pages and, to my mind, this early inclusion of unattractive creatures means the book is in danger of creating a "who cares" reaction. Do not misunderstand this comment. All creatures, including "the good, the bad and the ugly" are equally important. Nevertheless, Save the Whale, Save the Tiger and Save the Panda are all slogans with which ordinary people can easily identify if only because they see these magnificent creatures in danger of extinction and feel something should be done about that. As a living creature, the Great White Shark is equally splendid - but this is a shark and, being dangerous and nasty, generates far less enthusiasm for its survival. By the time we get to frogs - especially poisonous frogs, all levels of support are very much diminished. In order to demonstrate the importance of these lesser creatures, therefore, the book should have commenced with the big and beautiful before working its way down to those which will always remain less popular whilst, at the same time, demonstrating the inherent value of these minor life forms and their overall contribution.

I also have problems with the overall format. Page 4, for example, is coloured yellow with a white border with the only text being a large "1.". The facing page bears the words "living earth". Chapters 2 and 3 are introduced in similar fashion which, when added to an excessive use of very wide blank margins all through the product, is seen as nothing short of wasted paper. This is at odds with the statement right at the beginning which proclaims "proudly printed on paper from well managed forests." Does that mean it's OK to waste it then?

A short way into this book I was reminded of a Monty Python sketch from many years ago. Imitating a well known British children's television programme called Blue Peter, the team made as if to tell youngsters how to find a cure for cancer by encouraging them to go to medical school, qualify as a doctor and then find a cure for cancer! It was their very simplicity coupled with the actors dressed to imitate the real presenters which made it very funny at the time. Sadly, it says nothing for this particular work that I am left with the indelible impression this author is searching for an equally simplistic solution to saving planet earth.

NM

Good Medium-Level Overview
"Saving Planet Earth" begins by pointing out that five previous major extinction episodes are documented in fossil records. This one, the sixth, seems initiated by man and going faster (about 10-100X) than any prior. While interesting, it immediately raises the question of whether species extinctions are so bad after all, and why this one should be taken more seriously.

Contributing causes include destruction of habitat (logging, fires, farming of land; runoff of nutrients in water creating algae and killing off other live and coral, along with overfishing). Introduced species are another problem - eg. rats and cats brought to isolated islands; predatory snails and mussels elsewhere. Then there are pesticides, pollution, acid rain, and trophy poachers.

It was also interesting to learn that fragmentation of animal living areas fragments their gene pool, creating greater risk of in-breeding problems.

Juniper's proposed solutions represent nothing new, but fail to address the underlying major issue - rapid human population growth.