The New Book Review

Friday, July 20, 2018

Dr. Bob Rich Shares Hard-Hitting Review on Pollution

Title: The Coal Truth

Author: David Ritter

Publisher: University of Western Australia Publishing

2018

https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/the-coal-truth-the-fight-to-stop-adani-defeat-the-big-polluters-and-reclaim-our-democracy

ISBN: 9781742589824

$Au23

Reviewed by Dr. Bob Rich

The Coal Truth is the deplorable story of the proposed Adani mine in the Galilee Basin in Queensland, Australia, but is relevant to everyone, everywhere.

Think of this coal mine idea as a case study about what’s wrong with our world, and what we need to do to fix it.

David Ritter is the ideal person to write this book. His research and journalistic skills are obvious on every page. His background as a lawyer give him the ability to explain complex concepts in a way any person will understand. And his role in leading Greenpeace Australia shows his commitment to creating a survivable future.

This is an important book. Reading it hurts in places -- in our crazy world, the truth is bound to -- but there is a lot of positivity to balance the gloom.

Part I is a powerful, personal but thoroughly documented monograph by David. It should be compulsory reading for everyone, particularly those who wield power. Naturally, they’ll dismiss it, but the rest of us need to rub their noses in it.

The second part details the evidence, by a group of experts with impeccable credentials.

I found Chapter 11 by John Quiggin to be particularly powerful, because it avoids any questions of environmental damage, ethical considerations or humanitarian/health issues, but focuses on matters the dinosaurs understand: MONEY. This chapter alone should convince anyone with half a brain that the Adani project is a no-goer.

Only an idiot, or a bribed politician, can ignore the message from David and his fellow authors.

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Dr. Bob Rich writes fiction and an eclectic newsletter called "Bobbing Around." It includes articles of note about everything from writing to the environment. He has been an environmental campaigner since 1972. Since he had young children, he studied futurology: the science of examining where current trends point. The results were horrifying, because he accurately predicted today’s world. Everything he does is still aimed at working for a future young people can survive in, and one that’s worth the effort. He asks everyone to join his team. To see what that involves, go to his blog, https://bobswich18.wordpress.com and read the essay, “How to change the world."

Subscribe to "Bobbing Around" at https://bobrich18.wordpress.com.

Find Bob's latest book at : http://bobswriting.com/hitandrun.html

Learn more about him at http://bobswriting.com
"Commit random acts of kindness."

"Live simply so you may simply live."

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG AND GETTING REVIEWS

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Thursday, May 10, 2018

Dr. Bob Rich Reviews "What's Making Our Children Sick"

What’s making our children SICK? by Michelle Perro and Vincanne Adams

By Michelle Perry and Vincanne Adams

Genre: Nonfiction: Environment

2017, Chelsea Green Publishing

ISBN-13: 978-1603587570

Reviewed by Dr. Bob Rich

Dr. Perro is a pediatrician, so her book focuses on children. However, everything in this book applies to all humans, of any age. Probably it even applies to dogs, cats, goldfish, and animals free of human ownership.

Already, the preface is a powerful call to arms. Calmly, without hysteria, the authors summarize the theme of the book: “the systemic health failures among our children are a result of something even more troubling than the physical symptoms in their bodies; they are the cumulative outcome of being born into and living in an environment that has been made toxic by agrochemical industrialized food production... unless they are eating 100 percent organic food or homegrown vegetables from ecologically managed soil, they are eating toxic ingredients such as pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics... children carry toxic loads from the mattresses they sleep on, the soaps they use to wash their hands, their sunscreen, and their antibiotics. Add to that mix of toxic exposures the fact that much of their food is loaded with chemical toxicants, and you get very sick children--children who are being made sick from the inside out.”

Sections of the book explain in clear, plain language a wide variety of technical issues, and reading it is worthwhile for this reason alone. For example, I've only had a vague understanding of our gut bacteria until reading this book. You may not know much about genetic engineering; this is a good place to gain an understanding of the controversy surrounding this technology.

The authors focus in on the gut and its huge population of microscopic life. They show how mistreating this “microbiome,” or worse, poisoning it, relates to a wide variety of symptoms that are typically misdiagnosed. Instead of putting band aids on symptoms, the need is to treat the cause.

Perro & Adams advocate the use of “the five Rs for this: remove, replace, reinoculate, repair, and rebalance” to get gut health. The many case studies from Dr. Perro’s clinical practice show this to be spectacularly successful.

What damages the gut of so many children; so many people? “Our position is that GM foods are the key ingredient in the larger toxic pesticide problem, thus they cannot be separated” (p 120).

The book focuses on the USA. The occasional fact is country-specific, for example the horrendous lack of real regulation, but almost everything applies globally.

I do have a criticism. Two thirds of the book is organized along lines I find logical, but the opening one-third is... unusual. Time and again, the reader is told the overall conclusions, until they become utterly repetitive. This is interlaced with the evidence for these conclusions. The progression of evidence is fine, but the book would be far better to start with that, and gradually and inexorably lead to the conclusions. However, the content, the evidence presented, the scientific caution and rigor of the arguments, and above all, the many case studies, make this book essential reading, not only for medical personnel, not only for parents, but for all thinking people.