Loving This Planet: Leading Thinkers Talk About How to Make a Better World

Caldicott (Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer), a physician and environmental advocate, addresses urgent global challenges in a series of interviews adapted from her weekly radio show, If You Love This Planet. The book is a treasure trove of anecdotes featuring high-profile politicians, academics, and celebrities, including Martin Sheen, Lily Tomlin, Bob Herbert, and Lester Brown. Caldicott tells Sheen of visiting President Ronald Reagan in a downstairs library at the White House and explaining the scientific complexities of nuclear weapons with regards to their impact on humans and the Earth, after which she “quickly established a doctor-patient relationship with him.” Alongside the celebrity sightings runs the thread of a growing urgency to change our energy, environmental, and military policies in the United States and on a global scale. Surprising statistics about nuclear waste storage, rising sea levels, and military spending serve as an alarm, but Caldicott and her collaborators also offer many innovative solutions. Though Caldicott’s extensive expertise in this area can sometimes hinder her interviewing skills (she sometimes asks leading questions and stays within her own realm of experience), the book is an informative and powerful motivator for change. Agent: Faith Hamlin, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Sept.)