What do you think?
Rate this book
Trashing the Planet: How Science Can Help Us Deal With Acid Rain, Depletion of the Ozone, and the Soviet Threat Among Other Things
Exposes how little the public actually knows about the environment
Hardcover
First published August 15, 1990
4 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Dixy Lee Ray
12 books3 followersDixy Lee Ray (September 3, 1914–January 2, 1994) was the 17th Governor of the U.S. State of Washington. She was Washington's first female governor.
She was born Marguerite Ray in Tacoma to Frances Adams Ray and Alvis Marion Ray (a commercial printer). Marguerite was second in a family of five girls. In 1930 she changed her name to "Dixy Lee". She attended Tacoma's Stadium High School, graduated as valedictorian from Mills College in Oakland, California in 1937, and with a master's degree in 1938 with her thesis entitled "A Comparative Study of the Life Habits of Some Species of Burrowing Eumalacostraca". She earned her PhD from Stanford University in Palo Alto. Her doctoral dissertation was "The peripheral nervous system of Lampanyctus leucopsarus," completed in 1945 at the Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, California.
Academic career
Ray was a marine biologist and taught at the University of Washington from 1947 until 1972. In 1952 she received a prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship grant for Biology.
From 1963 until 1972, Dr. Ray became the director of Seattle's Pacific Science Center, guiding its future after the founding as part of the 1962 World's Fair. An advocate of nuclear power, she was appointed by Richard Nixon to chair the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1973 and was the only woman to serve as chair of the AEC.
In 1975, Dr. Ray was appointed and served as the first Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.
Political career
Ray was elected governor of Washington in 1976 as a Democrat. She quickly astonished her supporters with her strongly conservative views. She was governor when Mount St. Helens started volcanic activity after a 123 year dormant or inactive phase. As volcanic activity increased, the mountain attracted scientists and sightseers. On April 3, 1980, she declared a state of emergency and urged people to stay away from the mountain. This declaration allowed the National Guard to assist State Patrol troopers and sheriffs deputies from Cowlitz County and Skamania County. Ray also issued an executive order that restricted access to extremely dangerous areas of Mount St. Helens and its surrounds. The "red zone" restrictions would be credited by Forest Service respondents to a post-eruption 'Warning and Response Survey' with keeping between 5,000 and 30,000 potential decedents out of the blast area.
In 1980, she lost in the Democratic primary election to then-State Senator Jim McDermott, who went on to lose in the general election to moderate Republican John D. Spellman. Ray left the governor's office in January 1981 when her successor took the Oath of Office.
Death and legacy
Dixie Lee Ray died on January 2, 1994 at Fox Island, Washington.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) established an award in Dixy Lee Ray's honor for engineering contributions to the field of environmental protection in 1998. The award, which consists of a bronze medal with the governor's likeness and $1000 was first given to Clyde W. Frank in 1999 and has been made annually since.
She co-authored two books critical of the environmentalist movement with Lou Guzzo. Her papers are archived at the Hoover Institution and are catalogued online.
She was born Marguerite Ray in Tacoma to Frances Adams Ray and Alvis Marion Ray (a commercial printer). Marguerite was second in a family of five girls. In 1930 she changed her name to "Dixy Lee". She attended Tacoma's Stadium High School, graduated as valedictorian from Mills College in Oakland, California in 1937, and with a master's degree in 1938 with her thesis entitled "A Comparative Study of the Life Habits of Some Species of Burrowing Eumalacostraca". She earned her PhD from Stanford University in Palo Alto. Her doctoral dissertation was "The peripheral nervous system of Lampanyctus leucopsarus," completed in 1945 at the Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, California.
Academic career
Ray was a marine biologist and taught at the University of Washington from 1947 until 1972. In 1952 she received a prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship grant for Biology.
From 1963 until 1972, Dr. Ray became the director of Seattle's Pacific Science Center, guiding its future after the founding as part of the 1962 World's Fair. An advocate of nuclear power, she was appointed by Richard Nixon to chair the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1973 and was the only woman to serve as chair of the AEC.
In 1975, Dr. Ray was appointed and served as the first Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.
Political career
Ray was elected governor of Washington in 1976 as a Democrat. She quickly astonished her supporters with her strongly conservative views. She was governor when Mount St. Helens started volcanic activity after a 123 year dormant or inactive phase. As volcanic activity increased, the mountain attracted scientists and sightseers. On April 3, 1980, she declared a state of emergency and urged people to stay away from the mountain. This declaration allowed the National Guard to assist State Patrol troopers and sheriffs deputies from Cowlitz County and Skamania County. Ray also issued an executive order that restricted access to extremely dangerous areas of Mount St. Helens and its surrounds. The "red zone" restrictions would be credited by Forest Service respondents to a post-eruption 'Warning and Response Survey' with keeping between 5,000 and 30,000 potential decedents out of the blast area.
In 1980, she lost in the Democratic primary election to then-State Senator Jim McDermott, who went on to lose in the general election to moderate Republican John D. Spellman. Ray left the governor's office in January 1981 when her successor took the Oath of Office.
Death and legacy
Dixie Lee Ray died on January 2, 1994 at Fox Island, Washington.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) established an award in Dixy Lee Ray's honor for engineering contributions to the field of environmental protection in 1998. The award, which consists of a bronze medal with the governor's likeness and $1000 was first given to Clyde W. Frank in 1999 and has been made annually since.
She co-authored two books critical of the environmentalist movement with Lou Guzzo. Her papers are archived at the Hoover Institution and are catalogued online.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Read
July 29, 2011Makes one wonder if we, as a society, are "thinking" about the environmental options and selecting the best or are we just going from one band wagon to another without thinking. Reading the book made me see that we have options.
March 31, 2024
THE NUCLEAR POWER ADVOCATE RECOMMENDS A ‘HEALTHY SKEPTICISM’
Dixy Lee Ray (1914-1994) was the governor of Washington from 1977 to 1981, and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) from 1973 until it was abolished in 1975.
She wrote in the Preface to this 1990 book, “This book was written because I believe too many people are losing touch with common sense… From simple scare stories about carcinogens lurking in everything we eat, breathe, and touch to truly stupendous claims or earth-destroying holes in the sky, global changes in climate, and doom for Western society, we have been panicked into spending billions of dollars to cure problems without knowing whether they are real. Whatever happened to healthy skepticism?... From the Luddites of the early days of the Industrial Revolution to the environmental extremists of today, opposition to the introduction of anything new has been a way to protect the status quo… But if fear had won out, we wouldn’t have had the Industrial Age of the world of high technology that we know today… With today’s more vocal opponents of technology, the motivation may be obscure, but the tactic is to frighten people of possible future consequences, however unlikely they may be. This book is an effort to clarify environmental issued, to separate fact from factoid, to unmask the doom-crying opponents of all progress, and to re-establish a sense of reason and balance with respect to the environment and modern technology.”
She states, “With the exception of childhood leukemia… cancer is a malady that afflicts predominantly older adults and the aged… If we look at the fatality records… the total of carcinogenic substances targeted by the EPA---including chemicals in the work place, environment, food additives, and industrial products---cause fewer than EIGHT PERCENT of all cancer deaths in America.” (Pg. 5)
She asserts, “The scientific community judges very strictly its members who are at the top of their profession, but it ignores the incompetents and no-goods at the bottom… Dr. [Karl] Morgan and Dr. [John] Gofman are still making a very good living as consultants and court witnesses for anti-nuclear groups. Dr. Ernest Sternglass, another person who is much quoted by the media on radiation matters, has never published his claims about the hazardous effects of low-level radiation in a peer-reviewed journal… But his opinions, long since dismissed by knowledgeable scientists in his field, are still actively sought and quoted by the popular press.” (Pg. 12)
She observes, “CO2 and the other major greenhouse gases are on the rise, increasing their concentration in the air at a rate of about one percent per year. CO2 is responsible for about half of the increase. Analysis of air bubbles trapped in glacial ice and of carbon isotopes… indicate that … CO2 concentration have varied widely (by 20 percent) as the earth has passed through glacial and interglacial periods. While today’s 25 percent increase in CO2 can be accounted for by the burning of fossil fuels, what caused the much greater increases in the prehistoric past?” (Pg. 33)
She suggests, “since the greenhouse gases are increasing, what’s keeping the earth from warming up? There are a number of possible explanations. Perhaps there is some countervailing phenomenon that hasn’t been taken into account; perhaps the oceans exert greater lag than expected and the warming is just postponed… perhaps the increase in CO2 stimulates more plant growth and removal of more CO2 than calculated; perhaps there is some other greenhouse gas, like water vapor, that is more important than CO2… The fact is, there is simply not enough good data om most of these processes to know for sure what is happening in these enormous, turbulent, interlinked, dynamic systems… The only thing that can be stated with certainty is that they do affect the weather.” (Pg. 35)
She argues, “When we consider all of the complex geophysical phenomena that might affect the weather the climate on earth, from changes in ocean temperatures and currents, volcanic eruptions, solar storms, and cyclic movements of heavenly bodies, it is clear that none of these is under human control or could be influenced by human activity… Until the supporters of the man-produced-CO2-caused-global-warming-theory can explain warm and cold episodes in the past, we should remain skeptical.” (Pg. 41)
She continues, “The alteration of the chemical content of the air by HUMAN production of greenhouse gases, however, is something that man CAN control. And … it is reasonable and responsible to reduce human contribution wherever possible. Fortunately, there are ways to accomplish this. For starters, we can phase out the use of fossil fuel for making electricity and turn to the established and proven technology that has no adverse impact on the atmosphere---nuclear power.” (Pg. 41-42)
She argues, “Does acid rain … really damage forests, lakes, streams, fish, buildings, and monuments? Yes, in some instances, but not as the primary or only cause. Can the adverse effects that have been attributed to acid rain, whatever the real cause, be mitigated by reducing the amount of sulfur oxide emitted to the atmosphere from industrial sources? No. What evidence there is suggests that it will not make much difference. Is enough known … to warrant spending billions in public funds on supposed corrective measures? Certainly not.” (Pg. 49)
She states, “nature is responsible for putting large quantities of sulfates and nitrates into the atmosphere… But so, of course, is man. Industrial activity, transportation, and burning fossil fuel for commercial and domestic purposes all contribute sulfate, nitrates, and other pollutants to the atmosphere. Since the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970, there has been an overall reduction of more than 40 percent in factory and utility sulfur dioxide production. But… nitrogen emissions are increasing, primarily from oil burning and the oil used in transportation… Thus, singling out sulfur dioxide produced by human activities as the major cause of acid rain is not only a gross oversimplification, but probably wrong.” (Pg. 58-59)
She minimizes the dangers of radiation exposure: “the risk is very small. Let’s compare the odds to those of a lottery… we know that a high enough exposure can cause cancer, So, how much is high enough?... Cancer will result in half of the cases at exposures of 400,000 millirems. As a result of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident, the surrounding population received an additional radiation exposure of 1.2 millirems. Compare this to the natural background … [for which] The totals are about 360 millirems per year for every American…” (Pg. 99)
Of radioactivity exposure of miners, she comments, “the American Journal of Cancer, 1932, [reported] that there were not lung cancers in any of the working miners---only among the ‘pensioners,’ two-thirds of whom died of lung cancer. The average life expectancy then was 55 years; the miners lived longer and retired at 65! The moral is, if you worked the mines and breathed radon, you got lung cancer---but only AFTER you outlived the general population!” (Pg. 103)
She says, “Speaking as a marine biologist, I join the great majority of ocean scientists in maintaining that the ocean, the dep ocean---the BOTTOM of the deep ocean---is the proper place for waste disposal, both nuclear and chemical.” (Pg. 156)
She concludes, “what can the common… taxpaying citizen do? Here are some suggestions: First, a person can put pressure… [on] the legislative branch… to refrain from acting precipitously on expensive ‘cures’ for unproven environmental ills…. Second, don’t succumb to the argument … that action must be taken in advance of understanding the problem, ‘just in case.’ … Third, keep a sense of perspective. This old earth has been through a lot, including drastic climate changes… Finally, humans cannot live on earth without altering it and without using natural resources.” (Pg. 171)
Those who are critical of environmentalists will probably like this book.
Dixy Lee Ray (1914-1994) was the governor of Washington from 1977 to 1981, and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) from 1973 until it was abolished in 1975.
She wrote in the Preface to this 1990 book, “This book was written because I believe too many people are losing touch with common sense… From simple scare stories about carcinogens lurking in everything we eat, breathe, and touch to truly stupendous claims or earth-destroying holes in the sky, global changes in climate, and doom for Western society, we have been panicked into spending billions of dollars to cure problems without knowing whether they are real. Whatever happened to healthy skepticism?... From the Luddites of the early days of the Industrial Revolution to the environmental extremists of today, opposition to the introduction of anything new has been a way to protect the status quo… But if fear had won out, we wouldn’t have had the Industrial Age of the world of high technology that we know today… With today’s more vocal opponents of technology, the motivation may be obscure, but the tactic is to frighten people of possible future consequences, however unlikely they may be. This book is an effort to clarify environmental issued, to separate fact from factoid, to unmask the doom-crying opponents of all progress, and to re-establish a sense of reason and balance with respect to the environment and modern technology.”
She states, “With the exception of childhood leukemia… cancer is a malady that afflicts predominantly older adults and the aged… If we look at the fatality records… the total of carcinogenic substances targeted by the EPA---including chemicals in the work place, environment, food additives, and industrial products---cause fewer than EIGHT PERCENT of all cancer deaths in America.” (Pg. 5)
She asserts, “The scientific community judges very strictly its members who are at the top of their profession, but it ignores the incompetents and no-goods at the bottom… Dr. [Karl] Morgan and Dr. [John] Gofman are still making a very good living as consultants and court witnesses for anti-nuclear groups. Dr. Ernest Sternglass, another person who is much quoted by the media on radiation matters, has never published his claims about the hazardous effects of low-level radiation in a peer-reviewed journal… But his opinions, long since dismissed by knowledgeable scientists in his field, are still actively sought and quoted by the popular press.” (Pg. 12)
She observes, “CO2 and the other major greenhouse gases are on the rise, increasing their concentration in the air at a rate of about one percent per year. CO2 is responsible for about half of the increase. Analysis of air bubbles trapped in glacial ice and of carbon isotopes… indicate that … CO2 concentration have varied widely (by 20 percent) as the earth has passed through glacial and interglacial periods. While today’s 25 percent increase in CO2 can be accounted for by the burning of fossil fuels, what caused the much greater increases in the prehistoric past?” (Pg. 33)
She suggests, “since the greenhouse gases are increasing, what’s keeping the earth from warming up? There are a number of possible explanations. Perhaps there is some countervailing phenomenon that hasn’t been taken into account; perhaps the oceans exert greater lag than expected and the warming is just postponed… perhaps the increase in CO2 stimulates more plant growth and removal of more CO2 than calculated; perhaps there is some other greenhouse gas, like water vapor, that is more important than CO2… The fact is, there is simply not enough good data om most of these processes to know for sure what is happening in these enormous, turbulent, interlinked, dynamic systems… The only thing that can be stated with certainty is that they do affect the weather.” (Pg. 35)
She argues, “When we consider all of the complex geophysical phenomena that might affect the weather the climate on earth, from changes in ocean temperatures and currents, volcanic eruptions, solar storms, and cyclic movements of heavenly bodies, it is clear that none of these is under human control or could be influenced by human activity… Until the supporters of the man-produced-CO2-caused-global-warming-theory can explain warm and cold episodes in the past, we should remain skeptical.” (Pg. 41)
She continues, “The alteration of the chemical content of the air by HUMAN production of greenhouse gases, however, is something that man CAN control. And … it is reasonable and responsible to reduce human contribution wherever possible. Fortunately, there are ways to accomplish this. For starters, we can phase out the use of fossil fuel for making electricity and turn to the established and proven technology that has no adverse impact on the atmosphere---nuclear power.” (Pg. 41-42)
She argues, “Does acid rain … really damage forests, lakes, streams, fish, buildings, and monuments? Yes, in some instances, but not as the primary or only cause. Can the adverse effects that have been attributed to acid rain, whatever the real cause, be mitigated by reducing the amount of sulfur oxide emitted to the atmosphere from industrial sources? No. What evidence there is suggests that it will not make much difference. Is enough known … to warrant spending billions in public funds on supposed corrective measures? Certainly not.” (Pg. 49)
She states, “nature is responsible for putting large quantities of sulfates and nitrates into the atmosphere… But so, of course, is man. Industrial activity, transportation, and burning fossil fuel for commercial and domestic purposes all contribute sulfate, nitrates, and other pollutants to the atmosphere. Since the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970, there has been an overall reduction of more than 40 percent in factory and utility sulfur dioxide production. But… nitrogen emissions are increasing, primarily from oil burning and the oil used in transportation… Thus, singling out sulfur dioxide produced by human activities as the major cause of acid rain is not only a gross oversimplification, but probably wrong.” (Pg. 58-59)
She minimizes the dangers of radiation exposure: “the risk is very small. Let’s compare the odds to those of a lottery… we know that a high enough exposure can cause cancer, So, how much is high enough?... Cancer will result in half of the cases at exposures of 400,000 millirems. As a result of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident, the surrounding population received an additional radiation exposure of 1.2 millirems. Compare this to the natural background … [for which] The totals are about 360 millirems per year for every American…” (Pg. 99)
Of radioactivity exposure of miners, she comments, “the American Journal of Cancer, 1932, [reported] that there were not lung cancers in any of the working miners---only among the ‘pensioners,’ two-thirds of whom died of lung cancer. The average life expectancy then was 55 years; the miners lived longer and retired at 65! The moral is, if you worked the mines and breathed radon, you got lung cancer---but only AFTER you outlived the general population!” (Pg. 103)
She says, “Speaking as a marine biologist, I join the great majority of ocean scientists in maintaining that the ocean, the dep ocean---the BOTTOM of the deep ocean---is the proper place for waste disposal, both nuclear and chemical.” (Pg. 156)
She concludes, “what can the common… taxpaying citizen do? Here are some suggestions: First, a person can put pressure… [on] the legislative branch… to refrain from acting precipitously on expensive ‘cures’ for unproven environmental ills…. Second, don’t succumb to the argument … that action must be taken in advance of understanding the problem, ‘just in case.’ … Third, keep a sense of perspective. This old earth has been through a lot, including drastic climate changes… Finally, humans cannot live on earth without altering it and without using natural resources.” (Pg. 171)
Those who are critical of environmentalists will probably like this book.
October 15, 2019
This book was so interesting on two levels. First, her points on science and politics and media and who has the truth and who people should listen to is very interesting. Ray is a scientist turned politician.
But the most interesting part was this book, written by a Democrat in 1990 would easily pass for a conservative Republicans argument today.
I read this in the midst of the Democrats 2020 Primaries and the extremists who must be shunned in this book are now running her party. It was really fascinating. Oh and all the predictions that were made in the 80s that didn’t come about.
Short but very technical read.
But the most interesting part was this book, written by a Democrat in 1990 would easily pass for a conservative Republicans argument today.
I read this in the midst of the Democrats 2020 Primaries and the extremists who must be shunned in this book are now running her party. It was really fascinating. Oh and all the predictions that were made in the 80s that didn’t come about.
Short but very technical read.
Read
August 14, 2023She seems to use the alienating tactics of the environmentalists to serve her own point of view. "more civilians were killed in fire-bombing of Tokyo then the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." p.19
September 19, 2021
Mix Science with blinders and failure to see what is in front of them for capital reasons, You get this book. Over all its a good book, and accurate from a one view.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews