| | | | |
Book Review | New Books
|
|
|
|
Book Review
Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction
By Terry Tamminen
Washington, DC:Island Press, 2006. 262 pp. ISBN: 1-59726-101-7, $24.95
Lives Per Gallon, by Terry Tamminen, is an easy and entertaining read. It tells an important story about our addiction to oil and the price we are paying to support our habit. It is clear from the very first sentence in the book that the author's heart is in the right place, and that he has the experience of having been both a senior public advocate and the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency to lend gravitas to his voice.
| image: Arnold Greenwell/EHP |
Lives Per Gallon clearly demonstrates how our country's public and private policies have led us to the situation in which we now find ourselves. Congress, the executive branch of the government, the oil and automobile industries, as well as many others, are examined, scrutinized, and called to account. It is a book that is meant to make our collective hair stand on end—and it succeeds! Tamminen describes the life cycle of oil, from finding it to burning it and disposing of the residues, and describes the hazards and risks associated with the many steps in the process. Finally, he describes the steps that he believes are necessary to get us clean again.
Nevertheless, I must admit that I found portions of the book somewhat distressing to read. Although I clearly understood that I was reading a trumpet call to action rather than an objective scientific presentation, it disturbed me that so many of the endnotes for each chapter were citations to secondary and even tertiary sources (so-and-so scientist, as quoted in such-and-such a newspaper). Looking up some of these citations on the web, I found that they ranged from student papers to newspaper articles, and from presentations by advocacy groups to articles published in the peer-reviewed literature. The latter were unfortunately in the minority, so it proved very difficult to accept the accuracy and validity of some of the "facts" and conclusions. The scientific case in Lives Per Gallon could have been better made with the use of more primary sources. Selecting specific citations to make a point is accepted in advocacy, I imagine, but it left me uneasy when it came to discussions of the science. For example, the book would have been better served by a little more attention to toxicology and its principles. The dose does make the poison, and the author often inappropriately equates hazard with risk.
Nevertheless, I think that this is an important book. It describes one of our country's most pressing problems in detail, and then provides, in equal detail, steps to improving and even solving the problem. Many of the steps that Tamminen recommends have been obvious for a long time, but for many reasons have not been implemented—and deserve to be repeated here. Others deal with newer technology. The major steps Tamminen lays out are conservation, fuel efficiency, and evolution to hydrogen fuel. He discusses this last step in depth, showing us how hydrogen may in fact be the solution, and the steps that we need to take to get there.
This is a book that everyone should read, especially our elected officials from both parties and our captains of industry.
Peter W. Preuss
Peter W. Preuss is the Director of the National Center for Environmental Assessment at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This internationally known Center prepares many of the hazard and dose–response assessments (known as the Integrated Risk Information System) for EPA Programs, and develops new methods for improving risk assessment. This Center also prepares the National Ambient Air Quality Criteria Documents that are used as the scientific basis for decisions under the Clean Air Act.
New Books
-
Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry: Activism, Innovation, and the Environment in an Era of Globalization
David Hess
Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2007. 360 pp. ISBN: 0-262-08359-0, $62
- An Introduction to Pollution Science
Roy M. Harrison, ed.
New York:Springer, 2006. 298 pp. ISBN: 0-85404-829-4, $49.95
- Assessing the Human Health Risks of Trichloroethylene: Key Scientific Issues
Committee on Human Health Risks of Trichloroethylene, National Research Council
Washington, DC:National Academies Press, 2006. 448 pp. ISBN: 0-309-10283-9, $59.40
- Barry Commoner and the Science of Survival
Michael Egan
Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2007. 320 pp. ISBN: 0-262-05086-2, $28
- Business and Environmental Policy
Michael E. Kraft, Sheldon Kamieniecki, eds.
Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2007. 376 pp. ISBN: 0-262-11305-8, $62
- Chemoinformatics: Theory, Practice, and Products
B.A. Bunin, J. Bajorath, B. Siesel, G. Morales
New York:Springer, 2007. 295 pp. ISBN: 1-4020-5000-3, $129
- Clearing the Air: The Health and Economic Damages of Air Pollution in China
Mun S. Ho, Christ P. Nielsen, eds.
Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2007. 392 pp. ISBN: 0-262-08358-2, $50
- Compendium of Chemical Warfare Agents
Steven L. Hoenig
New York:Springer, 2006. 275 pp. ISBN: 0-387-34626-0, $99
- Degrees That Matter: Climate Change and the University
Ann Rappaport, Sarah Hammond Creighton
Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2007. 376 pp. ISBN: 0-262-68166-8, 424.95
- Environmental Justice and the Rights of Unborn and Future Generations: Law, Environmental Harm and the Right to Health
Laura Westra
London:Earthscan, 2006. 352 pp. ISBN: 1-84407-366-1, $110
- Evolutionary Bioinformatics
Donald R. Forsdyke
New York:Springer, 2006. 424 pp. ISBN: 0-387-33418-1, $59.95
- Flagging Standards: Globalization and Environmental, Safety, and Labor Regulations at Sea
Elizabeth R. DeSombre
Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2006. 280 pp. ISBN: 0-262-04234-7, $60
- Gene Transfer; Delivery and Expression of DNA and RNA, A Laboratory Manual
Theodore Friedmann, John Rossi, eds.
Woodbury, NY:Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2007. 793 pp. ISBN: 0-87969-764-4, $250
- How Everyday Products Make People Sick: Toxins at Home and in the Workplace
Paul D. Blanc
Berkeley:University of California Press, 2007. 385 pp. ISBN: 0-520-24881-6, $50
- Mathematics for Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Yasuhiro Takeuchi, Yoh Iwasa, Kazunori Sato, eds.
New York:Springer, 2007. 183 pp. ISBN: 3-540-34427-6, $119
- Methods of Microarray Data Analysis V
Patrick McConnell, Simon M. Lin, Patrick Hurban, eds.
New York:Springer, 2006. 176 pp. ISBN: 0-387-34568-X, $99
- Microarray Technology and Cancer Gene Profiling
Simone Mocellin, ed.
New York:Springer, 2007. 178 pp. ISBN: 0-387-39977-1, $139
- Reproductive Health and the Environment
P. Nicolopoulou-Stamati, L. Hens, C.V. Howard, eds.
New York:Springer, 2006. 389 pp. ISBN: 1-4020-4828-9, $179
- The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge
Kirstin Dow, Thomas E. Downing
London:Earthscan, 2006. 128 pp. ISBN: 1-84407-376-9, $19.95
- The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster
Werner Troesken
Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2006. 296 pp. ISBN: 0-262-20167-4, $29.95
- The World's Water 2006–2007
Peter H. Gleick, Heather Cooley
Washington, DC:Island Press, 2006. 388 pp. ISBN: 1-59726-106-8, $35
- There Is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster: Race, Class, and Katrina
Gregory Squires, Chester Hartman, eds.
New York:Routledge, 2006. 328 pp. ISBN: 0-415-95486-X, $100
- Toxicants in Aqueous Ecosystems
T.R. Crompton
New York:Springer, 2007. 456 pp. ISBN: 3-540-35738-6, $189
- Translational Control in Biology and Medicine
Michael B. Mathews, Nahum Sonenberg, John W.B. Hershey
Woodbury, NY:Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2007. 934 pp. ISBN: 0-87969-767-9, $135
|
|
|
|
| |