Silent Earth: The Politics of Our Survival

Simon Dalby is a research associate at the Centre for International
Studies at Simon Fraser University.

Israelson has spent years on the “environment beat,” reporting on
issues across Canada. Drawing principally on personal research and his
journalistic experience, this book offers his reflections both on how
and why the planet, and Canada in particular, are in such an
environmental mess, and on how and why Canadian politicians do so little
to rectify this situation.

Chapters deal with such diverse topics as disposable diapers, dioxins,
and dumpsites. Israelson ranges from the St. Lawrence through the Great
Lakes to the Queen Charlottes, examining the ecological destruction of
Canada. His emphasis is on how widespread and pervasive pollution and
environmental disruption have become, how we are all involved in the
“toxic cycle.” The book discusses rain and global warming as well as
the politics of banning CBC production. The author criticizes mills and
logging companies along with the inadequate efforts by successive
Canadian governments to deal with nature conservation.

This is, in places, an angry book; Israelson’s experience with
bureaucratic inefficiency and obfuscation is obvious. He also clearly
recognizes that most corporations ignore the environmental impacts of
their operations until forced to face them by public protest and
(usually inadequate) government regulation. In particular, the Mulroney
government comes in for harsh criticism; its record of inaction is
contrasted pointedly with its environmental public-relations efforts.

Written in a simple and direct style, Silent Earth presents little
technical complexity to thwart nontechnical readers. Indeed, the book
errs, if anything, on the side of oversimplification. Its message is
clear and, in places, personal. But it is not without hope. The final
section offers some examples of situations in which public outrage,
along with the dedicated efforts of environmental activists and the
occasional politician, have made a practical difference.