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JUST IN: (Sept. 2020) Francesca Lyman of Solaripedia reviews Byron Kennard’s new memoir on his active environmentalist history. Click here.
Environmental leaders respond to the publication of:
YOU CAN’T FOOL MOTHER NATURE: THE ONCE AND FUTURE TRIUMPH OF ENVIRONMENTALISM by Byron Kennard
“In the present dire circumstances, there’s a uniquely satisfying way for individuals to commemorate Earth Day’s 50th anniversary. That is to read Byron Kennard’s new book, You Can’t Fool Mother Nature, a riveting, rollicking history of the environmental revolution, filled with insights that are rare, fascinating, and amusing.”
— Geoff Webb, Former Political Director, Friends of the Earth
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I’ve received a lot of favorable comments from environmental leaders who have read my new book, You Can’t Fool Mother Nature: The Once and Future Triumph of Environmentalism. I’ve selected a few of these comments because they reflect and reinforce the book’s themes, which pleases me greatly.
Here is a list of the book’s major components with relevant commentary from readers
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- A history of the origins of the environmental movement in the 1960s and its astonishing debut on April 22, 1970 — Earth Day
“This book documents how Earth Day actually emerged and honors all those involved over the years, a tale well told by Byron Kennard, the mastermind and master networker who pulled us all together and was a force of nature in steering the environmental movement!”
— Hazel Henderson, Founder, Ethical Markets Media, LLC (Cofounder in 1964 of Citizens for Clean Air in New York City)
- A history of the environmental revolution that followed Earth Day, transforming society and upgrading civilization
“This book is a joyous celebration of Earth Day and the many grand accomplishments that flowed from it over the past 50 years.
On the intellectual front, Earth Day gave birth to environmental economics, environmental education, environmental science and engineering, environmental health and medicine, environmental architecture and planning.
On the industrial front, Earth Day led to huge advances not only in pollution control, but in organic agriculture, renewable energy, energy efficiency, green construction and building, alternative transportation, and ecotourism.
The arts and and humanities were “greened” and so were pop culture, music, the movies, television, and social media.
All in all, Kennard shows how the environmental revolution touched and transformed almost everything under the sun.
— George Alderson, former Washington representative of Friends of the Earth and The Wilderness Society
- A tribute to the power of local activists to make the whole world better
“Back in the 1960s, I was one of the grassroots organizers working alongside Byron Kennard and other green pioneers to create a new consciousness about the urgent need to protect the environment. We succeeded, and in spades too! Ultimately, the seeds we planted grew into one of the great social and political movements in history, winning the adherence of millions of people the world over.”
— Brock Evans, President, The Endangered Species Coalition
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“It was really, really fun reading about all those wonderful, creative people I knew in the 1970s —all Green Pioneers! It’s inspiring how much we were able to accomplish then and how we laid a basis for a new generation to accomplish much more now.”
— Marion Edey, Founder, League of Conservation Voters
- A tribute to the capability of tinkerers, entrepreneurs, and green small businesses to transform the industrial economy into ecological sustainability
“The hero of Byron Kennard’s book is small business. He claims that small business is perhaps the single best toolwe possess for protecting and restoring the environment. That’s because small business is perhaps the single best toolwe possess for the exercise and application of human ingenuity. To make his point, Byron cites the work of the countless tinkerers and entrepreneurs around the world who are now devising a multitude of innovative solutions to environmental problems.”
— Marilyn D. Landis, President & CEO, Basic Business Concepts, Inc.; former Chair, National Small Business Association
- A call for a conservative approach to environmental restoration and protection
“Bold, upbeat, and witty — but behind the drollery, Kennard is shrewdly advocating the pursuit of radical ecological goals through conservative methods, signifying a sea change in thinking about the politics of the environment.”
— Peter H. Schuck, Professor Emeritus, Yale Law School
- A declaration that new cultural and social values established by environmentalism can overcome political corruption and malfeasance
“Byron Kennard claims that the single most consequential result of Earth Day — one that no one in 1970 could possibly have foreseen — was its influence on the fundamental values of generations yet unborn. Since Earth Day, he argues, each succeeding generation has been greenerthan the one preceding it. Today, the youngest generation, Generation Z — 70 million people born between 1995 and 2012 — is wholly committed to environmental protection and to combating climate change. These kids, Byron predicts, are going to save the world.”
— Joe Handy, Press Officer, US Environmental Protection Agency (1970-1982)
- An assessment of the place of the environmental revolution in the larger context of world history
“This is an elegant and funny book that only a devoted history buff like you could have written. No one but you could link Earth Day so perceptively to the Renaissance, the Reformation, and French Revolution, and to great leaders like Edmund Burke and Winston Churchill. In doing so, you offer up a long view, which we Americans don’t have as a rule, and a way to put the daunting challenges of the present into a useful historical perspective.”
— Cathy Lerza, former editor Environmental Action magazine
- A guide for the young
“It’s a lovely book and will help a new generation or two (or three?) rediscover what the pioneers like you did and why you know so much! With grateful congratulations!”
— Amory Lovins, Co-founder and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute
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Available NOW from Amazon
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“Kennard’s writings should inspire and enable the coming generation to do what is necessary to preserve civilization, indeed life on earth as we know it.
— Gordon Binder, Chief of Staff, US Environmental Protection Agency (1989-93)
- Readers also report You Can’t Fool Mother Nature is engrossing entertainment
“I hope this book was fun to write because it sure is fun to read!”
— June Taylor, Network Management, Environmental Protection Network
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“Byron writes in a style that leaps off the page with wit and humor.”
— Francesca Lyman, investigative journalist, author, The Greenhouse Trap
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“Earlier today I picked up You Can’t Fool Mother Nature. There went the schedule! I simply couldn’t put it down!”
— Bill Drayton, founder and chair of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public; Assistant Administrator of EPA in the Carter Administration
Earth Day 2020 interviews with Byron Kennard:
“Editors’ Pick: An Earth Day Organizer’s Take On Small Business’s Power To Heal The Planet,” by Elaine Pofeldt, FORBES
“Environmental Activist Byron Kennard Reminisces about the First Earth Day” by Amber Todoroff of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute
Don’t miss this on YouTube: A Voicemail from Mother Nature
You want to make Mama happy, don’t you?
