Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound

Book Description

This acidly funny account of the battle over an offshore wind farm is both a fascinating window on the business and politics of energy and a scathing portrait of the ruling class.

When Jim Gordon set out to build a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, he knew some people might object. But there was a lot of merit in creating a privately funded, clean energy source for energy-starved New England, and he felt sure most people would recognize it eventually. Instead, all Hell broke loose. Gordon had unwittingly challenged the privileges of some of America's richest and most politically connected people, and they would fight him tooth and nail, no matter what it cost, and even when it made no sense.

Cape Wind is a rollicking tale of democracy in action and plutocracy in the raw as played out among colorful and glamorous characters on one of our country's most historic and renowned pieces of coastline. As steeped in American history and local color as The Prince of Providence; as biting, revealing and fun as Philistines at the Hedgerow, it is also a cautionary tale about how money can hijack democracy while America lags behind the rest of the developed world in adopting clean energy.

Customer Reviews:

Outrageous Hypocrisy Revealed.......2007-09-07

Well researched and written. This book should be read by everyone who is really concerned about the reduction in use of fossil fuels. The outrageous hypocrisy of politicians of both parties as well as some of the beautiful people who claim to support the development of alternative energy sources is laid out for all to see.

A must read for any energy entrepreneur.......2007-09-03

It would be shame for an energy entrepreneur to be tripped up by the obfuscation described in this great book without its warning. Extensively researched, masterfully written, a lesson of the times. Read it and learn! Bet you won't be able to put it down,

Cutting edge history in the making.......2007-08-21

Cape Wind is a brilliant account of a project that has the potential to revolutionize the energy future of the US. It couldn't be more timely, given the current energy crisis, the need for serious and concrete solutions and the fact that the controversy over the project is happening at this very moment.

The authors provide a powerful experience - the opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of the politics and history of this project as it unfolds every day. The presentation of the facts and players is fascinating; their delivery of the story is incredibly entertaining.

Read it now and stay tuned to the project - History is being made!

Amazing... We need a documentary on this!!!.......2007-08-21

There's too much happening here to not have a well executed and informative documentary on this. It may seem like a small issue to those outside of it, but it's implications reach much further than the Cape.

Read this easy to follow and well written account of this project and engage yourself into todays questions about our planet and our political stratosphere.

Tad over the top- but very valuable for students & voters.......2007-08-20

We used the Cape Wind story in public policy class this winter (b4 this book came out), & students were fascinated. This book does illuminate the major actors, and provides in depth background for why a policy with this many public benefits has been stalled for years. Romney, the Kennedys, Alaskan politicians, and the Cape Cod Times (although they are good about my letters when I go home)should be ashamed of themselves.

Nuclear Choices: A Citizen's Guide to Nuclear Technology (New Liberal Arts)

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Nuclear Choices: A Citizen's Guide to Nuclear Technology (New Liberal Arts)
Richard Wolfson
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
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ASIN: 0262731088

Book Description

The benefits of nuclear technology are real. So are the dangers. In Nuclear Choices, physicist Richard Wolfson provides the background needed to make informed choices about nuclear technologies, introducing concepts that can be used for evaluating the claims of both proponents and opponents. Wolfson clearly and concisely explains the basics of nuclear energy, radiation, and nuclear power (electricity, reactors, nuclear waste, and alternatives to nuclear fission). For this edition he has completely revised the chapter on nuclear weapons (their history, technology, effects, delivery systems, strategy, and control). Readers are encouraged to make their own judgments on controversial nuclear issues.

Richard Wolfson is Professor of Physics at Middlebury College.

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A case study on New York politics
a simple compound for a complex city
Water for Gotham Illustrates the Folly of Public Officials
Water For Gotham
A new book tells the epic tale of Old New York

Water for Gotham: A History
Gerard T. Koeppel
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691089760

Amazon.com

"The chief disadvantage of New York," observed the Swedish botanist Peter Kalm in the mid-18th century, "is the want of good water." The Dutch farmers who settled on Manhattan in the 1600s found the island, which is fronted by a salty inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, to have only small quantities of surface water. Hampered by the hard rock that underlay the island, subsequent generations of Manhattanites had difficulty sinking wells, and many had to make do with polluted, dangerous sources of drinking water.

In Water for Gotham, Gerard T. Koeppel relates the complex history of how the metropolis came to acquire dependable sources of water for an ever-expanding population. Those sources lay far from the city, but engineering problems were much less difficult to overcome than was the political opposition to this reliance on the world beyond Manhattan Island. Even after a cholera outbreak killed scores of New Yorkers in 1832, some of the city's leading financiers insisted that the old wells would do just fine. Finally, Koeppel writes, through the efforts of DeWitt Clinton and other farsighted civic leaders, New York raised money to build a system of canals and aqueducts leading up the Hudson and Croton river valleys into the water-rich Catskill Mountains, getting the funds for the construction from European banks and private bondholders. Nearly a century later, all five boroughs were finally well served by pipes that brought in nearly 400 million gallons of fresh water a day--scarcely a third of the present metropolis's demands.

Water for Gotham is, well, dry at times, but it does a fine job overall of making sense of an overlooked aspect of New York's history. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Water for Gotham tells the spirited story of New York's evolution as a great city by examining its struggle for that vital and basic element--clean water. Drawing on primary sources, personal narratives, and anecdotes, Gerard Koeppel demonstrates how quickly the shallow wells of Dutch New Amsterdam were overwhelmed, leaving the English and American city beleaguered by filth, epidemics, and fires. This situation changed only when an outside water source was finally secured in 1842--the Croton Aqueduct, a model for urban water supplies in the United States.

As the fertile wilderness enjoyed by the first Europeans in Manhattan vanishes and the magnitude of New York's water problem grows, the reader is introduced to the plans of Christopher Colles, builder of the first American steam engine, and of Joseph Browne, the first to call for a mainland water source for this island-city. In this vividly written true-life fable of the "Fools of Gotham," the chief obstacle to the aqueduct is the Manhattan Company. Masterminded by Aaron Burr, with the complicity of Alexander Hamilton and other leading New Yorkers, the company was a ruse, serving as the charter for a bank--today's Chase Manhattan. The cholera epidemic of 1832 and the great fire three years later were instrumental in forcing the city's leaders to finally unite and regain New York's water rights.

Koeppel's account of the developments leading up to the Croton Aqueduct reveals it as a triumph not only of inspired technology but of political will. With over forty archival photographs and drawings, Water for Gotham demonstrates the deep interconnections between natural resource management, urban planning, and civic leadership. As New York today retakes its waterfront and boasts famous tap water, this book is a valuable reminder of how much vision and fortitude are required to make a great city function and thrive.

Customer Reviews:

A case study on New York politics.......2006-11-14

In "Water for Gotham," Gerard Koeppel tells in a compelling way what could have been--ahem--a dry story. Its focus is on the civic history of a nascent metropolis thirsty for water, the self-interested politicians who used that thirst for their own ends, and the few dedicated visionaries who labored against man and nature to bring cold, clean water to Manhattan. Koeppel paints a vivid picture of life in New York from colonial days through the early-1800s, when the Croton Aqueduct was opened.

One of the few significant criticisms I have about the book is that while it frequently discusses structures, equipment, and emerging technologies, little effort is made to clearly explain and describe them. While the book is not meant to be a technical or engineering review, better explanations (as opposed to cursory descriptions) of some of the methods of construction (e.g., dams, the aqueduct) would have been appreciated.

A second criticism is that the book ends too abruptly with the arrival of water through the Croton Aqueduct, with only passing mention of later developments to the City's extensive water supply system. An additional chapter on how the other reservoirs in the system were created--sometimes through contentious legal battles and property condemnation--and the disposition of some of the original Croton structures, would have been welcome.

Notwithstanding these minor quibbles, the book is enjoyable, informative and enlightening. Recommended.

a simple compound for a complex city.......2004-01-05

Gerard Koeppel has done a remarkable job of ferretng out material and documents which demonstrate how long it took, how much cash it took, how much politicking it took to get the simple compound H2O to complex NYC. I don't mean to be glib about this. As one reviewer has noted, Manhattan without fresh supplies of water would've been another unliveable coastal town.

Just like DeWitt Clinton's Erie Canal brought goods in and out of the city, the many visionaries (Burr[for politicial and banking reasons] and Colden [for practical reasons]) gave the city an enormous insurance policy for its future which is difficult to ignore.

This book is a compelling dedication to the people who saw the need for the reservoir system and made it a reality. Sometimes the book gets bogged down with details, but that's to be expected. What wasn't expected, by this reader, was the author's perserverance and dedication to this important matter, and for that he deserves the highest accolades.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS, and THE FIVE POINTS CONCLUDED, A Novel

Water for Gotham Illustrates the Folly of Public Officials.......2000-08-27

The book illustrates the folly of trusting our elected officials. How often did they use a public fear to enrich their own pockets? The sordid ancestory of the Chase Manahattan Bank is a case in point that Gerard Koepell, a person who I shared classrooms with when we were growing up, brings out particularly well. The point of history is for us to learn from our collective experiences and Gerard lays it all out for us. Gerard points out that at first no one knew about cholera and it's relationship to contaminated water. I had no idea that well into the 1800s people from New York had no running water or toilets and used the streets as their "trash" depositories. What else did the book teach me? Politicians in the past had no stomach for a long-term project or long-term thinking ... Politicians were/are corrupt and weak-minded and despite the huge legislative bodies, politicians are overwhelmed and the real laws and decisions are made by 1 or 2 people and everyone else is, at best, a yes-person. The status quo is often very comfortable. In old New York, beer was a relatively safe drink because of the brewing process (ie boiling) and New York had great economic incentive to keep people drinking beer instead of water. What are the present day unrecognized-evils? Air quality? I worry that the tremendous rise in urban asthma will eventually transform into an increased risk of lung cancer, even in the non-smokers. What interests are happy with the status quo of our air? Automobile manufacturers? Oil companies? The Advertising Industry? The Media? The Pharmaceutical Industry? Anyway the book is great food for thought. Gramatically some of the sentences, particularly in the early chapters are attention grabbing gems. And that is from someone who was hit with a tennis raquet by the author. Good work Gerard! END

Water For Gotham.......2000-06-08

It is about time that an in-depth book on the subject of New York's water supply was completed. The author has done a fabulous job of putting a highly readable work together that brings to life a period we rarely think about and a topic hardly considered in our hurried modern lives. Reality, however, is that New York without water would be just another coastal town. Those interested in a photographic history of the same topic should seek The Croton Dams and Aqueduct which will be publihsed by Arcadia Press in August of 2000.

A new book tells the epic tale of Old New York.......2000-03-27

When we turn on the tap we take it for granted that pure and wholesome water is supposed to come out. For Americans in the early 1800's, the supply of fresh water to New York City was an achievement on the order of the moon landing in our era -- carrying a river for 40 miles through hills and valleys and across rivers to a desperate island city.

The amazing story of New York's water supply has long been known to historians, infrastructure buffs and residents of the Westchester villages through which the beautiful Old Croton Aqueduct still passes. Gerard Koeppel's new book, Water for Gotham: a History, makes this story accessible to all.

Unlike previous works on the subject, which have emphasized the engineering accomplishments of the Croton Aqueduct, this book explores New York City's social and political history with a liveliness and wit that make the turbulent decades following the American Revolution come to life. Experience the terror of cholera and great fires, the antics of scoundrels and demagogues, and the heights of idealism, dedication and genius that are all intertwined in this epic tale.

Book Description

This book explores the changes that are leading to a new century of natural resources management. It places the current situation in historical perspective, analyzes the forces that are propelling change, and describes and examines the specific changes in goals, policy, and practice that are transforming all aspects of natural resources management.

A New Century for Natural Resources Management is an important overview for wildlife biologists, foresters, and others working for public land agencies; professors and students of natural resources; and all those whose livelihood depends on the use of public natural resources.

Customer Reviews:

amazing, but ..........2006-01-13

in the ten years since this was published, there still hasn't been a book (that I know of) published that is better than this one at putting public lands management in an historic-then-contemporary context. it's also nice that it's an edited collection, b/c readers (i.e, students!) don't get lulled into complacent reading by single sytle or approach. highly recommended, though of course, needs to be supplemented with newer readings, particularly dealing with collaborative conservation and political ecology.

True Gardens of the Gods: Californian-Australian Environmental Reform, 1860-1930

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Excellent comparative history

True Gardens of the Gods: Californian-Australian Environmental Reform, 1860-1930
Ian Tyrrell
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0520213467

Book Description

One of the most critical environmental challenges facing both Californians and Australians in the 1860s involved the aftermath of the gold rushes. Settlers on both continents faced the disruptive impacts of mining, grazing, and agriculture; in response to these challenges, environmental reformers attempted to remake the natural environment into an idealized garden landscape. As this cutting-edge history shows, an important result of this nineteenth-century effort to "renovate" nature was a far-reaching exchange of ideas between the United States--especially in California--and Australia. Ian Tyrrell demonstrates how Californians and Australians shared plants, insects, personnel, technology, and dreams, creating a system of environmental exchange that transcended national and natural boundaries. True Gardens of the Gods traces a new nineteenth-century environmental sensibility that emerged from the collision of European expansion with these frontier environments.
Tyrrell traces historical ideas and personalities, provides in-depth discussions of introduced plants species (such as the eucalyptus and Monterey Pine), looks at a number of scientific programs of the time, and measures the impact of race, class, and gender on environmental policy. The book represents a new trend toward studying American history from a transnational perspective, focusing especially on a comparison of American history with the history of similar settler societies. Through the use of original research and an innovative methodology, this book offers a new look at the history of environmentalism on a regional and global scale.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent comparative history.......2003-11-15

For anyone interested in the Pacific Rim, and in comparative history, this book provides a fascinating introduction to the beginnings of an environmental consciousness in the West and in Australia. Centred on plants and water, Tyrrell provides a convincing number of examples of shared problems between California and Australia; he also highlights the vexed issues of introduced species, and the aesthetic ideologies which accompany the use of "exotic" plants.
It is solid history, but also fun to read.

In Search of the Rain Forest (New Ecologies for the Twenty-First Century)

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In Search of the Rain Forest (New Ecologies for the Twenty-First Century)

Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0822332183

Book Description

The essays collected here offer important new reflections on the multiple images of and rhetoric surrounding the rain forest. The slogan “Save the Rain Forest!”—emblazoned on glossy posters of tall trees wreathed in vines and studded with monkeys and parrots—promotes the popular image of a marvelously wild and vulnerable rain forest. Although representations like these have fueled laudable rescue efforts, in many ways they have done more harm than good, as these essays show. Such icons tend to conceal both the biological variety of rain forests and the diversity of their human inhabitants. They also frequently obscure the specific local and global interactions that are as much a part of today’s rain forests as are the array of plants and animals. In attending to these complexities, this volume focuses on specific portrayals of rain forests and the consequences of these characterizations for both forest inhabitants and outsiders.

From diverse disciplines—history, archaeology, sociology, literature, law, and cultural anthropology—the contributors provide case studies from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. They point the way toward a search for a rain forest that is both a natural entity and a social history, an inhabited place and a shifting set of ideas. The essayists demonstrate how the single image of a wild and yet fragile forest became fixed in the popular mind in the late twentieth century, thereby influencing the policies of corporations, environmental groups, and governments. Such simplistic conceptions, In Search of the Rain Forest shows, might lead companies to tout their “green” technologies even as they try to downplay the dissenting voices of native populations. Or they might cause a government to create a tiger reserve that displaces peaceful peasants while opening the doors to poachers and bandits. By encouraging a nuanced understanding of distinctive, constantly evolving forests with different social and natural histories, this volume provides an important impetus for protection efforts that take into account the rain forest in all of its complexity.

Contributors. Scott Fedick, Alex Greene, Paul Greenough, Nancy Peluso, Suzana Sawyer, Candace Slater, Charles Zerner

The New Deal and Public Policy (The World of the Roosevelts)

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The New Deal and Public Policy (The World of the Roosevelts)

Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

The New Deal remains as controversial today as when introduced. 50 years after his death, the largest FDR Presidency conference ever held drew 120 scholars to Louisiana State University in Shreveport for a retrospective evaluation. In The New Deal and Public Policy, the papers from that award-winning conference are preserved.

The Allotment Movement in England, 1793-1873 (Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series)

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The Allotment Movement in England, 1793-1873 (Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series)
Jeremy Burchardt
Manufacturer: Royal Historical Society
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0861932560

Book Description

The living standards of the rural poor suffered a severe decline in the first half of the nineteenth century as a result of high population growth, changing agricultural practices, enclosure and the decline of rural industries. Allotment provision was the most important counterweight to the pressures. This book offers the first systematic analysis of the early nineteenth-century allotment movement, providing new data on the chronology of the movement and on the number, geographical distribution, size, rents, cultivation yields and effect on living standards of allotments, showing how the movement brought the culture of the rural labouring poor more closely into line with the mainstream values of respectable mid-Victorian England. This book casts new light on central aspects of early and mid-nineteenth-century social and economic history, agriculture and rural society. JEREMY BURCHARDT is lecturer in Rural History, University of Reading.

Challenges for the New Water Policies for the XXI Century Proceedings of the Seminar on Challenges of the New Water Policies for the 21st Century, Valencia, 29-31 October 2002

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Challenges for the New Water Policies for the XXI Century Proceedings of the Seminar on Challenges of the New Water Policies for the 21st Century, Valencia, 29-31 October 2002
Enrique Cabrera , and R. Cobacho
Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
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Binding: Hardcover

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The concept of sustainable development promotes a progress capable of satisfying the necessities of present and future generations; it is assumed that a sustainable management of water is still one of the problems to be solved in this century. This is the starting point of this book. Main political aspects are developed such as the EU Water Framework Directive, the globalization and privatization of fresh water, and the case of the new Australian structure for water regulation. A second part of the book is devoted to practical aspects including the effects of climate change and the implications of water sustainability on agriculture and cities, emphasizing the experience of the Environment Agency in UK.

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