Green Intelligence: Creating Environments That Protect Human Health - Softcover

John Wargo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300167903 ISBN 13: 9780300167900

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2010

Synopsis

We live in a world awash in manmade chemicals, from the pesticides on our front lawns to the diesel exhaust in the air we breathe. Although experts are beginning to understand the potential dangers of these substances, there are still more than 80,000 synthetic compounds that have not been sufficiently tested to interpret their effects on human health. Yale professor John Wargo has spent much of his career researching the impact of chemical exposures on women and children. In this book, he explains the origins of societys profound misunderstanding of everyday chemical hazards and offers a practical path toward developing greater 'green intelligence'. Despite the rising trend in environmental awareness, information about synthetic substances is often unavailable, distorted, kept secret, or presented in a way that prevents citizens from acting to reduce threats to their health and the environment. Through five histories of hazardous technologies and practices, Wargo finds remarkable patterns in delayed discovery of dangers and explains governments failures to manage them effectively. Sobering yet eminently readable, Wargos book ultimately offers a clear vision for a safer future through prevention, transparency, and awareness.

About this title

About the Author

John Wargo is professor of environmental policy, risk analysis, and political science at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Department of Political Science at Yale University. The author of Our Childrens Toxic Legacy, he has been an adviser to Vice President Al Gore, the U.S. Congress, the U.N. World Health Organization, and other institutions.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300167903
• ISBN 13: 9780300167900
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400