Earth Odyssey - Mark Hertsgaard

Like many of us, Mark Hertsgaard has long worried about the declining health of our environment. But in 1991, he decided to act on his own concern and investigate the escalating crisis for himself. Traveling on his own dime, he embarked on an odyssey lasting most of the decade and spanning nineteen countries. Now, in Earth Odyssey he reports on our environmental predicament through the eyes of the people who live it.

Earth Odyssey is a vivid, passionate narrative about one man's journey around the world in search of the answer to the essential question of our time: Is the future of the human species at risk? Combining first-rate reportage with irresistible storytelling, Mark Hertsgaard has written an essential--and ultimately hopeful--book about the uncertain fate of humankind.

Mark Hertsgaard is the author of three previous books, in-cluding On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency and A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. He has contributed to the New York Times, The New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Outside, Vanity Fair, the Nation, and numerous other publications at home and abroad. He teaches nonfiction writing at Johns Hopkins University and lives near Washington, D. C.

"One of the best environmental books in recent years."
--Time

"Hertsgaard's focus is the human dimension to global ecological decline, and in Earth Odyssey he displays an authentic talent for storytelling . . . He has transformed a daunting subject into a stirring contribution to the growing literature on the global environment."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Hertsgaard's sharp reporting jolts us awake.He has an acute eye for detail, an endless appetite for chitchat with locals, and a knack for tying his observations to his hefty background research . . . The result is a surprisingly fair-minded and therefore important book."
--The Washington Post Book World

"There is a world of difference between knowing, in some abstract sense, that we face 'environmental problems' and having a gifted reporter show you the situation on the ground. Mark Hertsgaard has taken the planet for his beat, and he has delivered the goods
--Bill McKibben

"[An] intelligent and useful report on the environment."
--The New Yorker