Runner-up for the 2010 Phillip D. Reed Memorial Award for Outstanding Environmental Writing
Fight for the Bay: Why a Dark Green Environmental Awakening Is Needed to Save the Chesapeake Bay Howard R. Ernst. Rowman & Littlefield In 2003, Ernst, a political science professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, issued a wakeup call with his polemic Chesapeake Bay Blues, arguing that “politics as usual” was leading to “continued environmental degradation.” Six years later, the situation is worse; Chesapeake Bay is “functionally dead,” and the problem has gone global. Distinguishing between the more confrontational approach of the “Dark Greens” and the moral arguments of the “Light Greens,” Ernst argues that differences in the movement have contributed to the ability of opposing “Cornucopians” to push an agenda of pure economic self-interest. The largest environmental interest group in the Bay region, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, refuses to engage in electoral politics while the Bay’s biggest polluters, such as the poultry industry, use their money to get pro-industry candidates into office: “the Perdue family [alone] spent more in one recent election… than the combined spending of all environmental groups across the three key Bay states during the same period of time.” Still, there are many individuals and organizations doing important work, and Ernst chronicles their struggles in detail. A passionate call to action from a longtime activist, this read will shock and inspire a range of concerned citizens, from homeowners to journalists to lawmakers. (Nov.) Publishers Weekly (11/30/09)
| "Professor 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." Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "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." Bill McKibben
"Howard Ernst has done it again, creating a stunning mosaic of politics, policy, and the environment. Nobody writes about environmental politics with more clarity or understanding than Ernst." Professor Larry Sabato, University of Virginia "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." Hedrick Smith, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist |
