Hard Greens will take heart from Tony Hiss’s Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth. Mr. Hiss, a former staff writer for the New Yorker whose previous books include The Experience of Place, is no conservative, and he occasionally lapses into Soft Green doomsaying about endangered humanity and planetary catastrophe. But the book is mostly an upbeat and engaging account of the remarkable progress being made to preserve vast wild spaces for animals to roam ... Mr. Hiss is an indefatigable reporter and graceful writer, traversing the continent to observe the animals being saved and profile their saviors ... Mr. Hiss tells a good story, whether he’s describing his traipses through the wild or chronicling the history of the conservation movement ... however long it takes, this inspiring book shows that there are plenty of Hard Greens hard at work to make it happen.
In Rescuing the Planet, author Tony Hiss advocates setting aside 50 percent of North America’s land over the next 30 years as protected wild area ... Hiss’ new book is a how-to — based on proven conservation practices — for protecting the earth before the global population explodes to a projected 11 billion by 2100 ... By highlighting the work of important groups both public and private, Hiss has crafted a valuable overview and inventory of land-use conservation ... Be warned, though: Rescuing the Planet isn’t an easy read for one not versed in the complexities of American environmentalism. It contains a mountain of facts, ideas, and personal experiences that can be frustrating at times. And the final chapter is disappointing: Rather than provide an end-of-book conclusion, Hiss offers instead a long list of those who have helped him see the planet from a new angle. These are small caveats, however, compared to the book’s great educational value.
With its combination of passion, inspiration, and rigor, this makes a good companion to Bill Gates’ How To Avoid a Climate Disaster. Excellent natural history and more optimistic than usual.
