Every person on our home planet is affected by a worldwide deluge of man-made chemicals and pollutants - most of which have never been tested for safety. Our chemical emissions are six times larger than our total greenhouse gas emissions. They are in our food, our water, the air we breathe, our homes and workplaces, the things we use each day. This universal poisoning affects our minds, our bodies, our genes, our grandkids, and all life on Earth. Julian Cribb describes the full scale of the chemical catastrophe we have unleashed. He proposes a new Human Right - not to be poisoned. He maps an empowering and hopeful way forward: to rid our planet of these toxins and return Earth to the clean, healthy condition which our forebears enjoyed, and our grandchildren should too.
Author(s): Julian Cribb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 330
City: Cambridge
Cover
Half-title
Reviews
Title page
Copyright information
Dedication
Contents
Preface
1 Chemical Avalanche
Chemical Flood
Nutrient Cascade
Mineral Landslide
Energy Exposure
Weaponised Chemicals
Nuclear Legacy
Eating Garbage
Chemical Deluge
2 Poisoning a Planet
Local or Global?
Cancer from the Sky
Every Breath You Take
Polluted Poles
Distant Domains
Plastic Surgery
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Stagnant Seas
Six Rivers
Toxic Blindfold
3 Are You a Contaminated Site?
Polluted People
BPA Babies
Baneful Beauty
Food Fears
Toxic Tap Water, Dubious Drinks
Ageing Accumulators
Postmortem Pollution
The Toxic Toll
4 Diabolic Cocktail
Mixture Troubles
Billions of Mixtures
Mixtures and Health
'Environmental' Chemicals
5 Unseen Risks
Nanopollution
Nutrient Nightmare
Novel Pesticides
Chemical Intensification
Megakillers
Criminal Chemicals
Seeing the Unseen
6 Sick Society
A Dumber Race?
Chemical Disruption
The Poisoned Generation
Not Paying Attention
Asthma Attack
Mystery Plagues
Old Plagues Ascendant
Cancerous Growth
A Melancholy Tale
Chemical Obesity
Lethal Legacy
Preventable Problem
7 Getting Away with Murder
Bureaucratic Intervention
Evading Responsibility
Bitter Lessons
Dirty Dozen
Torn Safety Nets
Seeking Standards
When Rules Fail
Who Is Responsible?
8 Clean Up Society
'And the Winner Is . . .'
Safer Singapore
Super Clean-Up
Going Global
Clean Rules
Clean-Up Methods
Professional Standards
Gender Toxicity
Can We Adapt?
Reducing the Burden
Taking Responsibility
9 Clean Up the Earth
Global Democracy
Thinking as a Species
A Global Detox Alliance
A Matter of Science
A Matter of Ethics
A Matter of Rights
Detox the Earth: A Ten Point Plan
10 Preventing Catastrophe
Postscript: A Cautionary Tale from Deep Time
Notes
Chapter 1: Chemical Avalanche
Chapter 2: Poisoning a Planet
Chapter 3: Are You a Contaminated Site?
Chapter 4: Diabolic Cocktail
Chapter 5: Unseen Risks
Chapter 6: Sick Society
Chapter 7: Getting Away with Murder
Chapter 8: Clean Up Society
Chapter 9: Clean Up the Earth
Chapter 10: Preventing Catastrophe
Postscript
Index
