Some residents of the impoverished town wonder if a nearby hazardous waste facility is to blame.  READ MORE »

Eight Environmental Cases that Changed the World

	Published: 11/06/2009 Publisher: Island Press 200 p. 6 x 9 ISBN: 9781597266482 Paperback: $27.50 Call for details [          ] [Search This Book]
Biographies | Table Of Contents
Taking Back Eden is the gripping tale of an idea-that ordinary people have the right to go to court to defend their environment-told through the stories of lawsuits brought in eight countries around the world. Starting in the United States in the l960's, this idea is now traveling the planet, with impacts not just on imperiled environments but on systems of justice and democracy. It has brought people back into the question of governing the quality of their lives. Author Oliver Houck describes the sites under contention in their place and time, the people who rose up, their lawyers, strategies, obstacles, setbacks and victories.   Written for general readers, students, and lawyers alike, Taking Back Eden tells the stories of a lone fisherman intent on protecting the Hudson River, a Philippine lawyer boarding illegal logging ships from the air, the Cree Indian Nation battling for its hunting grounds, and a civil rights attorney who set out to save the Taj Mahal. The cases turn on Shinto and Hindu religions, dictatorships in Greece and Chile, regime changes in Russia, and on a remarkable set of judges who saw a crisis and stepped up to meet it in similar ways. Spontaneously, without communication among each other, their protagonists created a new brand of law and hope for a more sustainable world.   "Who would have guessed that one of the most fascinating books of the year would be a discussion of environmental lawsuits from around the world? Taking Back Eden is gracefully written, and it's stocked with some of the most interesting characters you will find in non-fiction."   --Denis Hayes, J.D., President, Bullitt Foundation,and National Coordinator of the first Earth Day   "Oliver Houck is a most unusual law professor: he writes with wit and even humor but also great brilliance and compassion. Read him and learn."  --Mark Hertsgaard, author of Earth Odyssey: Around the World In Search of Our Environmental Future    "This book could only have been written by environmental law's greatest story teller-a synthesis of opportunity, courage, slapdash enthusiasm-a relentless pursuit of good law by well motivated people." --William H. Rodgers, Jr., Stimson Bullitt Professor of Environmental Law, University of Washington School of Law and co-author of The Si'lailo Way   "A great read, and a highly instructive one. Individually, these turning points in environmental history are fascinating and inspiring; collectively, they reveal patterns of great significance." -- James Gustave Speth, Professor and former Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World   "Oliver Houck, lawyer, teacher and writer, is graced with poetic imagination, a love of history, and a knack for winning environmental lawsuits. These inspirational stories show us how ordinary citizens and their lawyers can change the world." --Bruce Babbitt, former United States Secretary of the Interior and author of Cities in the Wilderness

The Environmental Defense Fund says an independent review of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's  Biological Opinion (BO) for Delta smelt has concluded that the scientific underpinning of the BO is sound and credible. The review was requested by the Family Farm Alliance through the Information Quality Act, and was completed in October by a panel of five independent scientists. This is the same Biological Opinion that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, at the prodding of her social friend and major contributor Stewart Resnick, a Beverly Hills billionaire and mega-"farmer" in the San Joaquin Valley, wants to be reviewed yet again.

   To learn more click HERE: http://blogs.edf.org/waterfront/tim

 It presents the panel’s responses to questions posed by FFA on the validity of the science of the BO’s Effects Analysis.

This recent independent review of the USFWS Biological Opinion (BO) for Delta smelt is worth a read. The study seems largely to have been released under the radar, and we only just became aware of it.

In general, the panel concluded that the science underpinning the BO is sound and credible. The review, requested by the Family Farm Alliance through the Information Quality Act, was completed in October by a panel of five independent scientists. It presents the panel’s responses to questions posed by FFA on the validity of the science of the BO’s Effects Analysis.

Is the Delta a sinking ship?  Is subsidence the real problem in the Delta that needs to be fixed first?  To find out more read HERE: http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/12/02/californias-sinking-delta/

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A group of water oligarchs engineered a disastrous privatization scheme to make a fortune out of California's most precious natural resource.

Read all about it here.

Embargoed for Release until 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, 18 November 2009.
For information:  Carolee Krieger, Executive Director and Board President, California Water Impact Network, (805) 969-0824, caroleeekrieger@cox.net  READ MORE »