“95".”! __ _
‘The Gulf War was like teenage sex. We got in too soon and out too soon.‘ US Senator Tom Harkin looks forward to a second date in Iraq. this time with lessforeplay.
‘He accepts packaging for the media. Polls seem to dominate his thinking. At times he thrusts his chin out like Mussolini.‘
The late Eric I 1 ego M l’ castigates his party leader. .Vcil Kinnock. in his posthumousmemoirs. Never .4 Yes Man.
‘I am the product of the welfare state. educated in a local school. Forty years later. I stand here addressing a conference. Without state education it is doubtful I would be addressing envelopes.‘
Actress (ilenda Jackson goes to the top ofthe class at the annual Labour Party conference.
‘These men in power. who use a prostitute‘s services and often have some respect for her in private. are the very persons who are criminalising and stigmatising these women in public.’
[)r (iail l’heterson. an
A msterdam-based social /).s"\'cltologi.st. shows up the hypocrisy tltatjolloivs in the wake ofthe l)l’l’ scandal.
"l‘hey wanted to have more period instruments used on the score. so that it would blend in with the film. I said. ‘We don't want lutes and tnandolins on this — this is a pop record."
Bryan A dams explains hon" ltts record-breaking No. I might have sounded had the studio executives had their way.
4'I'he List I l — 2-1 October 1991
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Bringing the world to book
With the publication of his new book Save the Earth. Jonathon Porritt launches the latest crusade for environmental salvation. Sue
is undoubtedly a beautiful book. put together with love and honourable intentions. But can it live up to its title? Save the Earth is a big. glossy. coffee-table tome. chock-a-block with stunning photographs — ‘wondrous glimpses of life in our fragile ecosystems‘ in jacket-blurb speak. It bristles with apocalyptic scenarios of what‘s going to happen. what‘s already happening. as we go our merry destructive way. polluting the air and the seas. cutting down the forests. eroding and contaminating the soil. altering the weather— it‘s a familiar litany by now. Barely a week goes by without another verdant volume offering planetary salvation launched upon a confused and worried public. So. apart from international distribution and the fact that all royalties go to Friends ofthe Earth. rather than lining the pockets of that 90s oxymoron. the green capitalist. what makes Save the Earth different?
We’re talking about green drops in a very grey ocean. My general approach is a sort of constructive pessimism.
Well. it's full of famous names. for a start. Vaclav Havel. David Attenborough. Robert Redford. Desmond Tutu. Paul McCartney (inevitable. really). Prince Charles (ditto). and many more. all expressing their wishes. hOpes and fears for the planet. Jonathon Porritt. to many people the public face ofthe British environmental movement and one of the prime movers behind the Save The Earth project. explains the rationale behind the book.
‘I think the main thing which makes the book different is its simultaneous appeal to the head — through the factually accurate information from the scientists who wrote the main chapters — and to the heart. through the beauty ofthe images and the more emotional messages from other contributors] he says. ‘Also. and very
Wilson assesses his chances ofsuccess.
Smog hover Sao Paulo. Brazil (left), is a major Concefn lorJOflalhOfl Pom" (right).
[ importantly. although we deliberately chose the
coffee-table format. we wanted to make it an action-orientated book. hence the Action Pack.‘
The Action Pack accompanying the book asks each reader to choose from six ‘earth pledges‘ — use less energy. recycle. reduce ear mileage. plant ten trees — and to fill out two postcards. one to the Prime Minister demanding government action. and one to decision-makers at next year's ‘Earth Summit’. gathering of world leaders. Again. it‘s largely familiar stuff. Isn‘t there a danger now of people believing that every individual doing their bit will be enough in itselfto reverse the destructive tide. when what‘s urgently needed is concerted action on a massive scale by governments and business‘.’
‘We have to achieve a fine balance here.‘ says Porritt. ‘We can‘t do without that sense of personal responsibility: no political measures will be effective unless people make them work in their own lives. But on its own. yes. it's utterly inadequate. That‘s why we‘ve included the lobbying cards. to remind governments that they have an even bigger responsibility to help find
those solutions. Its only when politicians realise
that they‘re dealing with majorities of people who want to see real change. that they‘ll start to move.‘
It seems a somewhat naive view of modern ‘democracies‘ for one experienced in the hard knocks ofa skint minority party in a non-PR system. but Porritt knows what he‘s up against. “()fcourse public opinion isn't going to transform politicians' and businessmen‘s‘ behaviour overnight. We‘re talking about green drops in a very grey ocean. My general approach is a sort of constructive pessimism.‘ Nevertheless. it‘s easy to see the Save the liarth project as a grandly 2 romantic gesture. a bold attempt to prove the pen
mightier than the profit motive. For all our sakes. g let‘s hope it comes off.
’ Save The Earth is published by [)orling
Kinderslev at £14. 9‘).
J