Harvey Blatt, America's Environmental Report Card: Are we Making the Grade.

Harvey Blatt, America's Environmental Report Card: Are we Making the Grade. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. $27.95 hardcover.

The terms associated with environmental degradation and public safety such as global warming, toxic waste, air and water pollution, drought, and chemical sensitivities are a part of the lexicon in all modern societies. However, it is not clear that these terms are properly understood by ordinary people. This lack of understanding can lead to confusion about the seriousness of environmental issues facing the United States and the rest of the world. The book, America's Environmental Report Card: Are We Making the Grade, offers understandable definitions and descriptions of many of the major environmental issues. Using humor and a conversational manner the author attempts to personalize environmental issues, asking readers to examine the current state of affairs and think about the things that can be done to reduce environmental degradation.

The book consists of ten chapters covering a variety of environmental issues. The first two chapters focus on issues related to water. Chapter one examines how much fresh water exists in the United States and how we use, and waste water. Chapter two examines floods, revealing accounts of the way housing developments located in flood plains are subsidized by taxpayers. Chapter three covers the accumulation and disposal of household waste. Chapter four discusses soil, crops, and food, including an interesting discussion of genetically modified foods. Sources and supplies of energy, including alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar, are covered in chapter five. Chapter six offers a very easily comprehended discussion of global warming. Chapters seven and eight discuss air pollution and the ozone layer. Nuclear energy and nuclear waste storage are the topics in chapter nine. The book concludes with a summary of issues addressed in the previous chapters includes suggestions on ways to address some common environmental issues.

The conversational style and avoidance of detailed scientific and technical data make America's Environmental Report Card a good resource for general readers interested in increasing their basic knowledge of the environment in the United States. The reliance on polling data and the occasional failure to cite specific evidence for stated claims are limitations but do not detract from the overall presentation or message of the book. The author does, however, fail to discuss the links between ethnicity, socio-economics, and the environment in any meaningful manner, and this an oversight that does detract from the book's usefulness. Nevertheless, this book will be of interest to anyone wishing to gain a basic understanding of the concepts related to the environment and how environmental resources are developed, used, discarded, and stored in the United States.

Terry V. Shaw, University of California, Berkeley