Reviews
"Invaluable firsthand environmental history and a blueprint for future conservation efforts" - Booklist (starred review), BOOKLIST, STARRED REVIEW Forty years ago, John Adams, an ardent litigator, joined forces with a band of innovative Yale law students, including the now-renowned environmentalist James Gustave Speth, to create the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the environment. Setting a course for responsible militancy, Adams took the helm, and while the rest should be history, the full and remarkably instructive story of the NRDC s ingenuity, perseverance, and landmark triumphs has not previously been told. Assisted by coauthors Patricia Adams and George Black, editor of OnEarth, John Adams energetically pilots a page-turning insider s chronicle of the groundbreaking watchdog group s key battles, bold moves, and hard lessons. Early on, the NRDC discovered just how effective governmental regulation can be as they fought with law and science to defend diverse communities and ecosystems against chemical pollution, strip-mining, clear-cutting, nuclear waste, misuse of public lands, coastal oil drilling, and other threats. Generously supported by influential philanthropists, including Robert Redford, who provides the book s foreword, the indefatigable, consensus-seeking NRDC relies on one crucial natural resource, the voice of the public, to support its ambitious global efforts to preserve clean air, clean water, wild places, wild creatures. Invaluable firsthand environmental history and a blueprint for future conservation efforts., " ...Inspiring. The characters you find in John and Patricia Adams' book are bright, hard-nosed exemplars of the sort of fixers it will take to actually save the planet. They might just inspire you to go into debt, get a law degree, and sue some bastards." -Outside magazine, NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES John Adams was in the thick of all the major environmental battles of the past 40 years, and his account of how the movement grew from a small group of visionaries into a powerful force for change is nothing short of inspiring., ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, CO-FOUNDER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE HUFFINGT John Adams and NRDC have been protecting the planet for 40 years and are responsible for helping establish many of the laws now in place to protect our air, our water, and our land. He is indeed a true force for nature., NORMAN LEAR If you can use a tonic to help sustain your hope for the future, try A Force for Nature. Here is the amazing story of John Adams and his wife and life partner, Patricia Adams, who, through the powers of persuasion in offices and living rooms across the nation, and the years of litigation and legislation that followed, pioneered the modern era of environmental conservation. NRDC is the Adams hard-fought gift to us all. As is their story., "Invaluable firsthand environmental history and a blueprint for future conservation efforts" - Booklist (starred review) -- -, AMORY LOVINS, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF SCIENTIST, ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTI This inspiring account of NRDC s efforts to make the world cooler, cleaner, and safer teaches key lessons for tackling the challenges still ahead. Both experts and newcomers will learn important philosophy, strategy, and tactics from these intertwined stories of success, failure, effective culture, devoted effort, and relentless patience., " ...Inspiring. The characters you find in John and Patricia Adams' book are bright, hard-nosed exemplars of the sort of fixers it will take to actually save the planet. They might just inspire you to go into debt, get a law degree, and sue some bastards." -Outside magazine -- -
