Product Description

By a leading environmental authority, this consumer guide shows readers how they can make easy, everyday environmental choices.

In the first years of the twenty-first century, we spent billions of dollars fighting the war on terror but not even one-half of one percent of this amount to tackle an issue that could devastate our planet and that is already taking its toll on our personal health and natural resources.

In his testimonial and at times tragic exploration, David Steinman travels to parts of the United States, such as the San Joaquin Valley of California, to uncover the damaging effects of petroleum pesticides on our nation's food supply. In this, he aims to "clarify the link between environmentalism, conservatism, patriotism, and national security." Safe Trip to Eden conveys the imminent health threats the chemicals of global warming pose and reveals the necessity for change in our country's fundamental vision of it's natural resources, shopping habits, and ways of doing business.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #470459 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Put good food on your table, put good products in your home, plant a tree, drive a cool car, stop being toxic—these are five of the 10 simplistic but generally sensible bromides espoused by health magazine publisher Steinman. He's earnest, sometimes even bombastic, about how an army of "green patriots" can individually and incrementally confront global warming by embracing a "carbon-neutral" lifestyle. The "good food" chapter harrowingly recounts a visit to California's Central Valley—the most productive agricultural land in the United States but also the site of pesticides and poisoned water that have sickened generations of farm workers. However, his solution—to buy locally, eat organically and patronize food producers who emphasize organic products—is still out of reach for most Americans. A chapter on the importance of trees in combating global warming starts with the big picture of Costa Rica's remarkable commitment to reforestation before narrowing its focus to a list of manufacturers providing recycled papers. The ethic of every-little-thing-helps infuses the book—the author even counsels such micro-acts as unplugging unused appliances that draw "standby" power. A lengthy resource guide provides tips on everything from organic food deliveries and eco-friendly furniture to recycled toothbrushes. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Steinman, founder of Freedom Press and publisher of Healthy Living magazine, draws the connection between personal health and a healthy environment, argues that global warming is a greater threat to national security than terrorism, and avers that a "sound environmental policy" will enhance our standing in the world and strengthen our economy. He rants a bit in the opening pages but soon settles down to solid journalism and practical advice for lowering our society's dependence on fossil fuels, suggesting we each become a "green patriot" living as "carbon-neutral" and nontoxic a life as possible. Inquisitive, outspoken, and down-to-earth, Steinman tells harrowing tales about families who have suffered severe illness caused by exposure to pesticides and other environmental chemicals, then switches gears to profile green entrepreneurs and organic farmers and recommend a slew of Earth-friendly products. Although many reports on the state of the biosphere leave readers feeling helpless, Steinman motivates and empowers. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
David Steinman is the acclaimed environmentalist, health consumer advocate, publisher and author who coined the term "Green Patriotism". Steinman is the founder of Freedom Press, a publishing company for books and magazines on health and the environment, including The Doctors' Prescription for Healthy Living magazine. From 1989 to 1991, Steinman represented the public interest as a member on the safe seafood committee of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine where he advised Congress on safe seafood legislation. The author of Diet for a Poisoned Planet (1990, 2007), and The Safe Shopper's Bible (1995), Steinman has won awards for his reporting from the California Newspaper Publishers Association , the Sierra Club , and the Society of Professional Journalists . Steinman has been an advisory board member for The Green Guide Institute since 1996. In 2000, Steinman served as Chairman of Citizens for Health , a national nonprofit consumer advocacy group known as the voice of the natural health consumer.

Customer Reviews

A Call for Green Patriotism
In Safe Trip to Eden, the author introduces an interesting concept called Green Patriotism, which is the call to Americans to protect our environment because it will ultimately strengthen our national security. He takes us on a trip across America and beyond (to the rainforest in Costa Rica, the San Juan Islands, the Adirondacks, etc.) and each place we learn something new about our current environmental state of affairs - the problems, what is being done by environmentalists to correct them, and how we can make choices in our own lives to support the solutions.

The author emphasizes our power as consumers in a capitalistic culture -that with each purchase decision we make, we cast a vote for more of the same. He also makes the point that environmentalism is not a partisan issue. While it has been associated with liberalism, he gives a history of Republicans and environmentalism in chapter 9.

The book is very comprehensive - it discusses the presence of petrochemical toxins in food and home products, the evolving green car industry, a facinating Pentagon risk assessment report on global warming, the rainforest as a source for herbs found in natural medicine, the treatment of livestock, the negative effects of underpricing in the marketplace, how to maintain sustainable forests, and much more.

Overall, it's a facinating, empowing and very educating read. I highly recommend it!

safe trip to eden
The book was what I was looking for in terms of what I could do as an individual to simplify my life and lighten the load that is facing our planet today. It has joined a whole shelf full of books that range from how to Simplify all the way to raising back yard livestock. Education and information is the key to change and I feel that I have taken the first step in changing my life for the better.