Unlikely Environmentalist: The Donna Madaras Cuthbert Story

by Kelly Jameson, Lewis Cuthbert

Her battleground was the Tri-County region surrounding her hometown in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia and 20 miles southeast of Reading, on the Schuylkill River. An alarming number of children and adults who lived in the area surrounded by the three major polluters that formed the “Toxic Triangle”—the Pottstown Landfill, Occidental Chemical, and the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant—were getting sick and dying from cancers. This didn’t sit right with Donna Madaras Cuthbert, a long-time resident of Pottstown. In 1995, Donna became an unlikely environmentalist while she was also working 12-hour days in her small town women’s clothing store. In 2000, on the verge of retirement from a fashion career that spanned 50 years, she pivoted full-time into her “other” career, fighting polluters in her community up until the day she herself passed away from cancer in 2017. An “ordinary” citizen, Donna became one of the most persistent and shrewd activists her opponents had ever faced. Her husband, Dr. Lewis Cuthbert, a respected former college professor and school superintendent, joined her in the fight. After a decade-long battle, they achieved the “impossible” and got the toxic landfill closed in 2005, the same year Occidental Chemical was fined a million dollars for over a dozen violations and closed their vinyl resins business and moved to Texas. Donna also stopped a toxic landfill gas pipeline from dangerously threading her already ravaged community. And then she started to educate her community about the dangers of radiation from the twin Limerick nuclear reactors, which she could see every day from her living room window as they belched ominous grey plumes of steam into the sky. Donna’s story will resonate with everyone waking up to pollution in their own backyards and inspire them to organize and fight back against the greed and deceptions of corporate, profit-driven polluters who view them, and their children, as collateral damage. UNLIKELY ENVIRONMENTALIST is a real-life David and Goliath story chock-full of letters and lessons; eye-opening interviews with experts who helped along the way; intrigues and insights; and triumphs over tragedies. It is a must read for those learning to stand up, speak out, and strike back against environmental polluters.

325 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 22, 2020

About the author

Kelly Jameson is the author of 24 books, including:

SPELLBOUND
(Hot Highlands Romance series, Book 1)

"An unforgettable highland warrior seeking revenge, an innocent maiden brave enough to confront him. Spellbound is a terrific novel filled with passion, intrigue, vengeance, and all-consuming love. Readers will clamor for a sequel." Kat Martin, New York Times best-selling author with over 13 million books in print

TO TAME A ROGUE

"Sizzling with sexual tension, filled with passion, an old-fashioned romance. Fast-paced and fun to read." Kat Martin, New York Times best-selling author

Other Novels by Kelly Jameson (Award-winning dark suspense, urban fiction, zombie parody, short stories)

DEAD ON

DEAD ON is "Brilliant. A chilling erotic suspense that will send shivers down your spine. A sensuous, gripping tale of murder through the ages."
--Kat Martin, New York Times Best-Selling Author

SHARDS OF SUMMER

SHARDS OF SUMMER is "The Great Gatsby for the beach generation." Ken Bruen, best-selling crime noir author (LONDON BOULEVARD, THE GUARDS, HEADSTONE)

WHAT REMAINED OF KATRINA: A NOVEL OF NEW ORLEANS

"WHAT REMAINED OF KATRINA becomes a powerful story of the city's underclass, the one seldom reported by the media, the one seldom visited by tourists. This is Jameson's third novel, and may be the best one yet." Walter Brasch, Journalist/Author, Before the First Snow: Stories From the Revolution

MOBY D*CKHEAD: OR THE WHITE ZOMBIE WHALE (A zombie MASHUP by Herman Melville and Kelly Jameson)

"There are books about sea life and whales. There are books about zombies.
But Kelly Jameson may be the first person to write a book about a zombie whale. MOBY D*CKHEAD OR THE WHITE ZOMBIE WHALE is an interesting parody of the most famous whale in literature. And, just like the original, this one is interesting and has many layers to peel through. It may be as terrifying as the original, but this one is a little more suggestive and a lot more fun."
--Walter Brasch, Before the First Snow: Stories from the Revolution

JerZey
"A wacky and hilarious slice of zombie goodness. Wicked and deranged, it's TIME BANDITS meets SHAUN OF THE DEAD with a big dose of just-plain-nuts. Highly recommended" --Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of DEAD OF NIGHT and PATIENT ZERO

Horrorphilia reviewer Gabino Iglesias says JerZey "...starts weird and finishes strong. The prose is packed with humor and there's an underlying message about what it means to be human that readers should discover by themselves. Pick up a copy today."

Some of her published short stories are collected in an anthology called DESPERATE, DISTURBED, DERANGED, AND DOUBLE-LATTED. She has also been published in Maxim Jakubowski's the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica (vol 8 & 9), Sex in the City Paris, and the Mammoth Book of Erotic Romance and Domination.

"Jameson's prose is raw, cut-to-the-chase and knife-at-the-jugular. I especially like monkey stories, and she has a doozy of a monkey story in this collection. But that's not all. The collection is loaded with interesting characters who raise personal debasement and self-deprecation to an art form, and yet we smile all the way through it because the writing is so powerful. These people are flawed, and we get to see 'em at their worst. Caution: Leave one's inhibitions on the doorstep when reading these rich, flavorful offerings. Not for the faint of heart." C. G. Bauer, author