The first listed species to make headlines after the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 was the snail darter, a three-inch fish that stood in the way of a massive dam on the Little Tennessee River. When the Supreme Court sided with the darter, Congress changed the rules. The dam was built, the river stopped flowing, and the snail darter went extinct on the Little Tennessee, though it survived in other waterways. A young Al Gore voted for the dam; freshman congressman Newt Gingrich voted for the fish.
A lot has changed since the 1970s, and Joe Roman helps us understand why we should all be happy that this sweeping law is alive and well today. More than a general history of endangered species protection, Listed is a tale of threatened species in the wild-from the whooping crane and North Atlantic right whale to the purple bankclimber, a freshwater mussel tangled up in a water war with Atlanta-and the people working to save them.
Employing methods from the new field of ecological economics, Roman challenges the widely held belief that protecting biodiversity is too costly. And with engaging directness, he explains how preserving biodiversity can help economies and communities thrive. Above all, he shows why the extinction of species matters to us personally-to our health and safety, our prosperity, and our joy in nature.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
A beautifully written description of what is happening to many of our only known living companions in the universe, told against the background of the much (ignorantly) maligned U.S. Endangered Species Act. It is also a plea to take steps that would help to preserve threatened organisms and us. A fascinating read. -- Paul R. Ehrlich, coauthor of The Dominant Animal [Roman] provides a memorable dispatch on the fate of endangered species. * Kirkus Reviews * In Listed, conservation biologist Joe Roman recounts the uses and abuses of a well-intentioned but all-too-human law...Roman's meandering and occasionally lyrical book is generally optimistic about the law he is chronicling, and he tends toward win-win tales. -- Katherine Mangu-Ward * Wall Street Journal * The Endangered Species Act has been under attack since it was passed in 1973, when the tiny snail darter temporarily stopped the building of the Tellico Dam. The history of the act, and all of the ramifications of listing (or not listing) a species as endangered under the act, is thoroughly investigated in this wide-ranging examination of one of the most important pieces of federal legislation of the twentieth century. Roman chose a few cases to illustrate why people feel threatened by the act--it puts people out of work and it puts animals before people--and why biodiversity protection really works. Roman joined scientists as they studied such high-profile species as the Florida panther, red-cockaded woodpecker, and whooping crane, as well as researchers who look at Lyme disease, ethnobotanists studying medicinal plants, malacologists trying to save freshwater mussels, and a volunteer working on the gopher frog. As he describes the field research, Roman demonstrates why saving endangered species and protecting biodiversity makes sense economically, medicinally, and philosophically. A perfect primer on the Endangered Species Act. -- Nancy Bent * Booklist * Roman offers revealing case studies on the effects of the Endangered Species Act, which has been under attack almost since becoming law in 1973. Complaints have focused on the burdens placed on governments and citizens. Roman counters by making the case that protecting species can benefit both the environment and business. -- Christopher Schoppa * Washington Post * Read[s] like dispatches from a war reporter in the midst of battle...Listed takes an idiosyncratic approach to the [Endangered Species Act], using it as an entry to many issues and controversies in conservation. Roman is an engaging author, and readers will enjoy the book. They will also come away having gained a deeper understanding of the Act, along with a plethora of interesting facts about listed species. -- Daniel Simberloff * American Scientist * The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was a revolutionary step toward the protection of threatened biodiversity, but it has not been an unqualified success. In Listed, Roman examines the history, accomplishments, and failures of the law with a series of essays, each of which focuses on one of the animals the act affects...The book is informative and enjoyable. -- J. L. Hunt * Choice *
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
US School Grade: College Graduate Student
Maße
Höhe: 210 mm
Breite: 140 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-674-04751-8 (9780674047518)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Joe Roman is a conservation biologist and researcher at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont, and a Hrdy Visiting Fellow at Harvard University.
