What do You think about Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush And His Corporate Pals Are Plundering The Country And Hijacking Our Democracy (2005)?
This book provided an in-depth look at how big-business corporations are not only destroying our environment, but also our country, our democracy, by turning it into a fascist society in which the corporations are running our government, not the people. It is frightening to see how far corporate businesses are allowed to pollute legally, destroying our land, water, and our health. I realize that this book is a few years old and represents what a past administration allowed to happen, but it depicts how easy it is for laws like the Clean Air Act, and regulating bodies like the EPA to be overturned or blatantly ignored. President Obama has had too much else on his plate to effectively address these issues, nor was the environment a part of his campaign. Our country and its precious resources are being exploited and destroyed, all in the name of big business. It makes me fear greatly for our future generations.
—Shelley
This book is well-written, and while it told me a lot of what I already know, I also learned a lot more details. The most lasting impression this book made on me was the section on meat production--the stories about the horrible pollution caused by meat production and processing, and the sneaky politics of the guys in charge, have led me to drastically reduce my meat intake. And I love meat. I now try to only eat organically raised meat, or antibiotic/hormone free at the very least. I do slip up occasionally, because you can only tolerate so many portobello sandwiches and quesadillas when eating out, but I feel terribly guilty about it now after reading this.
—Erin
My free-reading choice for Houck's Natural Resource's class, this book collects RFK Jr.'s frustrations with the state of environmental law during GWB's first term. While the book does a good job of compiling overwhelming and depressing evidence of the cronyism that permeates Bush's EPA, it feels a bit disjointed at times and doesn't read like a clearly conceptualized account of a particular problem. Rather, Crimes Against Nature is more of a catalogue of all the ways in which GWB has weakened environmental protection in this country through largely non-legislative measures such as funding, permitting requirements, appointments, and rule changes. Kennedy's frustration is contagious, and while the research is exhaustive and the writing fine, reading this in the middle of Bush's second term just left me depressed. I have to note, however, that Kennedy concludes with one of my favorite observations about environmental law, which I first encountered in Houck's class: The free market might be the best thing to ever happen to the environment. Our current system spreads the cost of pollution to every American, with the government picking up the tab of reclamation (often after selling the land below cost to the polluter in the first place!), rather than forcing polluters to internalize their environmental impacts as part of the cost of doing business. We rarely pay the true market price for natural resources because so many of the costs are hidden. Kennedy has particular expertise in the commercial meat industry, but everything from timber and gold, to coal and oil, are viable only in this fake market that GWB has spent two terms propping up.
—Armand
