In this important new book on the declining health of one of America's leading environmental treasures, Howard Ernst reveals a Chesapeake bay that has become functionally dead. He argues that the Chesapeake Bay succumbed to a 'light green' environmental movement that has too often adopted a philosophy of compromise over confrontation and that has fueling a 'political dead zone' where political leaders posture but fail to make the hard decisions needed to achieve real improvement in the Bay's health. While blunt in his evaluation of past and present failures to restore the Bay, Ernst believes that there is still time to turn the restoration effort around and sets out new 'dark green' strategies to do so. In the concluding chapter, five long-time bay activists provide first-person accounts of their battles and hopes for the future. Hailed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as 'a must read for anyone concerned about environmental protection,' this challenging book provides a wake-up call for everyone concerned about the future of the Chesapeake Bay and other ecological treasures through out America.
Howard R. Ernst, professor of political science at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, is the author of Chesapeake Bay Blues.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 PrefaceChapter 2 AcknowledgmentsChapter 3 Chapter 1: Debunking the Light Green ParadigmChapter 4 Environmental Conflict: A Clash of ValuesChapter 5 Dark Green Environmental ThoughtChapter 6 Light Green Environmental ThoughtChapter 7 Cornucopian ThoughtChapter 8 The Political Dead ZoneChapter 9 Chapter 2: The Polite Politics of Light Green EnvironmentalismChapter 10 Environmental Economics 101Chapter 11 The Long Struggle for Sensible Environmental ManagementChapter 12 Recent Developments in Regional ManagementChapter 13 A Model of Success or a Model of Deception?Chapter 14 The Sticky Sweet Stuff of Light Green Environmental PromisesChapter 15 Chapter 3: Environmental Journalists, Our Endangered Filter FeedersChapter 16 Why Environmental Journalism MattersChapter 17 The State of Journalism in AmericaChapter 18 The State of Environmental Journalism in AmericaChapter 19 Understanding the Environmental BeatChapter 20 Goals of the Environmental ReporterChapter 21 Elements of Career Success for Environmental JournalistsChapter 22 How Editors View Their ReadersChapter 23 Chapter 4: Environmental Advocacy in the Dead ZoneChapter 24 In Defense of Sacred PlacesChapter 25 The Belly of the BeastChapter 26 The Outside GameChapter 27 Media MasterChapter 28 The Last WordChapter 29 NotesChapter 30 ReferencesChapter 31 IndexChapter 32 About the Authors
Like Paul Revere, Howard Ernst calls us to arms—to rescue our birthright to a clean environment. Our great waterways are 'functionally dead,' he warns, maimed by 'raw greed, political hypocrisy' and well-intentioned but weak-kneed environmentalists. It is time, Ernst declares, to mount a 'dark green' revolution against our 'political dead zone' and reclaim our birthright. And he points the way.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Ernst's new concept—the political dead zone—will change the way people think about environmental politics. This book is a must-read for anyone concerned with environmental protection.
Bill McKibben
I read with special interest the chapter on environmental journalism, which describes with accuracy and wisdom the dangerous decline of reporting in this area. It's clearly a major reason why progress is so halting and slow when it happens at all.