Salvaging the land of plenty

the long version

Jennifer Seymour Whitaker takes on one of America's most crucial problems - the massive buildup of waste in our land and water - and shows what can be done about it. Exploring the clear and present dangers of massive fallout from production and consumption, she dramatizes how the American infatuation with commerce and progress has brought more people more goods than any other society in history - and how all that plenty threatens to make our world unlivable. In penetrating detail, she demonstrates exactly how incinerator and landfill emissions, trash and sewage, industrial wastes, agricultural chemicals, mining debris, and nuclear stockpiling are devastating our quality of life. Whitaker takes a hard look at all the potential solutions Americans currently employ and shows why the resistance of the U.S. private sector, great gaps in scientific knowledge, and massive failures in environmental regulation make more radical solutions imperative. She suggests the one solution that will work: government policies that fundamentally restructure market incentives. For anyone concerned about the environment, and the good life in America, Salvaging the Land of Plenty is essential reading.