Earth in Balance

In a thoughtful, compelling primer, Gore, Democratic senator from Tennessee, attempts to explain environmentalism to a benighted American public that, as he discovered in his 1988 presidential bid, gives environmental issues low or no priority. Unraveling the grave dangers posed by global warming, thinning of the ozone layer, destruction of tropical rain forests, overuse of pesticides, incineration of municipal wastes and other human-made disasters, Gore takes on head-in-the-sand skeptics who try to minimize the severity of these ecological crises. Attacking Bush and Congress for failing to assume a leadership role in environmental problems, he outlines a ``global Marshall Plan,'' a cooperative international effort to stabilize world population, create and share environmentally appropriate technologies, educate the public and institute accountability for polluters. The Superfund law that Gore coauthored in 1980 to clean up the nation's hazardous chemical dump sites has been an utter failure, partly due to lax EPA enforcement, he notes. The general proposals Gore sets forth here represent an important, bold step in the right direction. Author tour. (Jan.)