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 Dave Dempsey is an environmental policy consultant and writer who has been active on conservation for more than 25 years. Dave served as environmental advisor to Michigan Governor James J. Blancha... Click here for more information. |
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On the Brink Winner: Dave Dempsey, "The lakes are in peril...in this informative book, he challenges ordinary citizens to demand governmental action to protect the lakes that are central to their lives...." - Donna Marchetti, The Cleveland PLAIN DEALER As one of the world’s great natural treasures, the Great Lakes have also served in recent decades as an early warning system for many emerging environmental problems. In the early twenty-first century, as the Lakes face unprecedented challenges, we need to revisit both the wonder of the Lakes and the perils plaguing them, and to take action to protect this majestic ecosystem. Dave Dempsey weaves the natural character and phenomena of the Great Lakes and stories of the schemes, calamities, and unusual human residents of the Basin with the history of their environmental exploitation and recovery. Contrasting the incomparable beauty and complexity of the Lakes, and the poetry, folklore, and citizen action they have inspired, with the disasters that short-sighted human folly has inflicted on the ecosystem, Dempsey makes this history both engaging and relevant to today’s debates and decisions. Underlying the neglectful treatment of the Lakes are two irreconcilable and faulty human assumptions: that the Lakes are a system so big that human beings cannot do great harm to it, and that the Lakes are a resource that can be bent to the will of humankind. Dempsey finds evidence that, despite great changes in the laws governing the Lakes and public attitudes toward them in the last fifty years, government policy and institutions are still dominated by these dangerous attitudes. A central theme of On the Brink is that citizens, who have displayed an increasing sense of commitment to the Lakes and a growing sense of place, must challenge their leaders to reform Great Lakes institutions. While everything from large-scale water exports to global climate change looms in the future of the Lakes, single-purpose solutions do not suffice—no more than a Band- aid would on a gaping wound. Dempsey shows that it is necessary to create a governing system that reflects the realities of life “on the ground” in communities and that taps into the passion and determination of citizens to protect these treasures. A "Highlighted Title" of Independent Publisher online, May 2004..."to recognize the latest and greatest in independent publishing." www.independentpublisher.com Reviews "Dave Dempsey chronicles current battles with skillfully crafted books that draw on the past for lessons to be heeded by today’s politicians....One good news aspect of Dempsey’s book is especially timely and has been reflected in developments since his book was written: Aboriginal peoples with an ancestral home in the region...increasingly are applying their unique legal leverage as sovereigns to help protect the lakes...." - George Weeks, The Detroit News "Dempsey unmasks the toxic
influence of a post-modern
industrial complex with an
eye on glacial and biological
origins...he is not just a
spectator on the shore. As
Policy Advisor for the
Michigan Environmental
Council, he assumes a
stewardship role. By personal
experience, Dempsey knows
that the convulsive retreat
from the Lakes’ pre-human
past has been met with
countless political blunders.
Governor...Engler’s dual
standard for water diversion
depended only upon whether
Michigan would derive an
economic benefit. Whether his
children would inherit the
grandeur of Lakes seemed to
reside well beyond the
purview of the Governor’s
mansion....On the waterborne
stage of the Great Lakes,
Dempsey identifies a broad
audience. There is something
in this book for everyone;
lighthouse lovers, shipwreck
fans, beachcombers, freighter
geeks...sport anglers,
boaters, and
surfers...." - "...well written and easy to
read...focused, informative,
well-organized, researched
and sourced...." -Loraine Anderson - Traverse City Record-Eagle "...a clarion wake-up call to
the dangers the Great Lakes
ecosystem face today...brings
true environmental history to
life in an exciting
manner...." - Midwest Book Review, Wisconsin Bookwatch "On the Brink is a
classic in-depth review of
natural resource and
conservation history and
mutilation...Like Ruin and
Recovery, On the Brink
belongs in every public
library, in classrooms and in
your hands."
-- Glen Sheppard,
North Woods Call
- "...a compelling history of
the mismanagement of the
Great Lakes along with
inspiring stories of
individuals who successfully
made a difference in
improving the ecosystem of
the lakes...." - Natural
Resources Journal -
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