Environment Issues

The purpose of this paper will be to review and discuss two books representing very different points of view in relation to the environment. The titles are: Trashing the Planet by Dr. Dixie Lee Ray (1990) and Earth in the Balance by Vice President Al Gore (1993). A description of each book and its issues will be presented as well as the author's perspective, biases and objectives. Further, the books will be compared and contrasted as to their opinions, attitudes and approaches to the environment. Lastly, the specific impacts these two books have on business decisions like product design, product processes and promotion, will be presented.

Ray's varied background provides a unique perspective for analyzing the environmental issues of today. A scientist as well as a politician, she has been exposed to differing sides of the argument swirling around the state of the planet, all of which have created what Ray calls a "hyperbole" of information used to incite and frighte

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Gore, on the other hand, approaches the subject matter from a political and social perspective. As a liberal democrat growing up in a political family, he was exposed at an early age to social issues. And, as a product of the sixties, he was influenced by and predisposed to the environmental issues as they grew, evolved and coalesced into a political movement in the seventies. While Ray calls for a balanced approach in viewing technology as it relates to the environment, Gore centers his book around the concept of "balance" in the name of the environment. Further, while discussing many of the environmental issues, Gore focuses on political solutions to solving these problems. In addition, he believes before any of these solutions can be made, we must first look at the whole of nature as opposed to compartmentalizing its elements. And, to do this, we must consider that the "human part of nature has an increasingly powerful influence over the whole of nature that we are, in effect, a natural force just like the winds and the tides" (Gore, 1993, p. 2). According to Gore, if we fail to take this view, "then we will not be able to see how dangerously we are threatening to push the earth out of balance" (Gore, 1993, p. 2).
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Approximate Word count = 1804
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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