Loving This Planet

July 2, 2012
Caldicott (Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer), a physician and environmental advocate, addresses urgent global challenges in a series of interviews adapted from her weekly radio show, If You Love This Planet. The book is a treasure trove of anecdotes featuring high-profile politicians, academics, and celebrities, including Martin Sheen, Lily Tomlin, Bob Herbert, and Lester Brown. Caldicott tells Sheen of visiting President Ronald Reagan in a downstairs library at the White House and explaining the scientific complexities of nuclear weapons with regards to their impact on humans and the Earth, after which she “quickly established a doctor-patient relationship with him.” Alongside the celebrity sightings runs the thread of a growing urgency to change our energy, environmental, and military policies in the United States and on a global scale. Surprising statistics about nuclear waste storage, rising sea levels, and military spending serve as an alarm, but Caldicott and her collaborators also offer many innovative solutions. Though Caldicott’s extensive expertise in this area can sometimes hinder her interviewing skills (she sometimes asks leading questions and stays within her own realm of experience), the book is an informative and powerful motivator for change. Agent: Faith Hamlin, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.

July 15, 2012
Activist and environmentalist Caldicott (Nuclear Power is Not the Answer, 2006, etc.) publishes 25 transcripts of the interviews she conducts on her regular radio show. Those selected include celebrities (Lily Tomlin and Martin Sheen), academic researchers (Michael Klare and Vini Gautam Khurana) and activists and think-tankers (Lester Brown and Bill McKibben). Some of the selections analyze different aspects of the nuclear issue, whether military or industrial; environmental lawyer Diane Curran characterizes the industry as the "prodigal son of the weapons industry...totally paid for, a socialized industry." Toxicologist Janette Sherman-Nevinger provides a major service tracking down, translating for publication and editing non-English language source material on the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Equally well done is photographer Carole Gallagher's contribution on nuclear testing in Nevada and the effects of fallout and radiation on the population "down-wind." Like other contributors--e.g., Curran and film director Michael Madsen--Gallagher draws attention to the long-term consequences of nuclear byproducts. It is thus disappointing to find continuing alarmist attention to evacuation planning related to New Hampshire's Seabrook reactor and no discussion of the matter of decommissioning such aging facilities. Khurana's research on electromagnetic radiation and cellphones is both interesting and frightening, and Chris Hedges, fired from the New York Times because of his opposition to the second Iraq War, talks about his views on war and the principles on which he tries to base his life. There are also contributions on deforestation, land use and alternate energy policy. A nice--but not necessary--collector's item and reference work for readers of a specific bent.

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2012
Caldicott, cofounder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, has collected more than two-dozen interviews from her weekly radio program on a multitude of issues affecting global peace and sustainability. Although recognizable names like Bill McKibben, Daniel Ellsberg, and Martin Sheen are a draw, readers will be equally engaged by exchanges with author Janette Sherman-Nevinger (Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment, 2010), whose research into the effects of Chernobyl is nothing short of terrifying, and professor Hugh Gusterson, who discusses the ethics of anthropologists collecting intelligence for the military. Chris Hedges (War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, 2002) shares the price he paid for his years as a war journalist, and neurosurgeon Vini Gautam Khurana shares his concerns about radiation exposure from cell phones. Without fail, Caldicott asks thoughtful, deeply nuanced questions, and her subjects respond with intense and often personal reflections on many important issues. With a level of intellectual discussion all too absent in our national discourse, this is a worthy collection that educates with each turn of the page.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)