This borrowed earth

"Over the last century mankind has irrevocably damaged the environment through the unscrupulous greed of big business and our own willful ignorance. Here are the accounts of disasters whose names live in infamy: Chernobyl, Bhopal, Exxon Valdez, Three Mile Island, Love Canal, Minamata, and others. And, with these, the inspirational stories of the countless men and women who fought bravely to protect the communities and environments at risk."--Jacket. This volume presents a summation of fifteen of the worst man-made catastrophes of modern times. The author reveals similarities between these disasters that can shed light on ways to prevent them in the future. He asserts that the only way to slow the rate of growth of devastating climate change is for governments around the world to assert control over the production of energy in ways that can lift the world out of poverty without destroying it in the process.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.