E-grāmata: Contract with the Earth

The former Speaker of the House and an eminent conservationist discuss what Americans need to know about the environmental crisis, including the nature of the problem and how to fix it, the cost of inaction, and the many benefits that follow if action is taken.

Former Republican Speaker of the House Gingrich, teaming up with Maple (conservation and behavior, Georgia Institute of Technology), addresses environmental issues by rhetorically reprising his signature Contract with America legislative agenda of the 1990s. The new Contract with the Earth rests on 10 key principals: affirm US leadership on environmental issues; provide incentives to "environmental entrepreneurs;" move towards clean technologies; make government a facilitator for entrepreneurial, private sector innovation and private-public partnerships; become "aspirational and inspirational" by reducing the "arbitrary power of our federal bureaucracy;" mobilize the American public behind agreed-on policies; encourage scientific and technical literacy; promote non-partisanship on the environment; encourage strategic environmental philanthropy; and "enlist the nation." Gingrich and Maple defend and expand upon these principals and discuss some of the issues connected with its implementation over the course of the text. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Focusing the environmental debate on the principle of common commitment, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and eminent conservationist Terry L. Maple present A Contract with the Earth. They declare a need for bipartisan environmentalism -- a new era of environmental stewardship with principles that they believe most Americans will share.

While acknowledging that liberals and conservatives do not see eye to eye on many issues, Gingrich and Maple argue successfully that environmental stewardship is a mainstream value that transcends partisan politics. Their thoughtful approaches to our environmental challenges are based on three main premises: environmental leadership is integral to America's role in the world, technologically savvy environmental entrepreneurs can and should be the cornerstone of environmental solutions, and cooperation and incentives must be dramatically increased to achieve workable and broadly supported environmental solutions.

Gingrich and Maple believe that most people -- regardless of how they categorize themselves politically -- are weary of the legal and political conflicts that prevent individuals and communities from realizing the benefits of environmental conservation. The foundation of the book -- a ten-point Contract with the Earth -- promotes ingenuity over rhetoric as the way forward.