One Man's Planet: Earth in Today's Political Culture

by Stephen Testa

Overview

One Man's Planet is a slightly off-centered geologist's introduction to how politics, pop-culture and the earth sciences mix it up every day in all of our lives. A humorous look at a myriad of issue that grace the news and drive political debates from local councils to international discourse. One Man’s Planet picks apart the rhetoric on all sides of these debates to look at how the science describes the issue, often to the nakedness of the opposing parties. Tackling topics like climate, energy, water, and hazards, Stephen Testa channels Beanie Babies, Mad Max, and Shakespeare among others to examine the latest scientific understanding of these issues. Author Stephen Testa weaves science, personalities, pop culture and politics into a very informative and entertaining tapestry on the planet today and the planet's tomorrow. Come tour the Earth with Testa as your guide!

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012588104
Publisher:	American Geological Institute
Publication date:	05/25/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Stephen M. Testa is the author of several books, including Geological Aspects of Hazardous Waste Management, The Reuse and Recycling of Contaminated Soils, and Restoration of Contaminated Aquifers: Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Organic Compounds, and over 125 other publications. He has served as an instructor at the University of Southern California and California State University at Fullerton, and has provided numerous workshops and technical presentations. Testa received his BS and MS in geology from the California State University at Northridge.
Testa is the Past-President of the American Geological Institute (AGI), the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG), and the Los Angeles Basin Geological Society (LABGS). Testa is past Editor-in-Chief of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists — Division of Environmental Geosciences’ (AAPG-DEG’s) peer review journal Environmental Geosciences, and the recipient of the AIPG’s Martin Van Couvering Award, AAPG-DEG’s Research Award, the Thomas W. Dibblee Jr. Honorary Map for the North Chalone Peak Map, North Chalone Peak Quadrangle, California, and the Roy Shlemon Geology Mentor Honorarium for excellence in application of applied earth science.
As President of Testa Environmental Corporation, a geological and environmental consulting firm located in Mokelumne Hill, California, he has provided litigation support and expertise for some of the largest law firms in the country, as well as the California Attorney General’s office. From 1976 until August 2005, he served as an engineering and environmental consultant for a variety of international firms. For fun, Testa studies and writes on the history of geologic exploration and the personalities that made geology what it is — what a surprise. Testa was appointed Executive Officer of the California State Mining and Geology Board in August 2005.

Editorial Reviews

The book is arranged in four parts and 32 articles. There’s not a subject that you won’t be familiar with, but Testa fortifies what you thought you knew with handy facts and dramatic situations, and then he speaks in the clear outrage of what’s been lurking in the back of your own mind. Furthermore, the background facts and Testa’s informed opinions come flowing out with a rush of striking time-and-place emotion. “Yes! you say, over and over again."

Allen Hatheway