“ 'The battle for conservation must go on endlessly,’ John Muir famously wrote. ‘It is part of the universal warfare between right and wrong.’ But in Blueprint for Going Green, Gerald McCarthy, the former head of the Virginia Environmental Endowment, shows another path. In this shining example of turning lemons into lemonade, funds from the monumental 1977 Kepone water pollution settlement (thank you, Judge Merhige) meet inspired thinking, humble leadership, and grassroots resolve to bring adversaries together and to transform the state’s handling of its environmental affairs—making it a model for the nation. Read this insightful book, Citizens, and take note, whether it’s for the preservation of nature or other burning issues:
reason + civility= progress!”
—Dean King, nationally best-selling author of Skeletons on the Zahara and Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship That Saved Yosemite
“Far too often, environmental history focuses on combative advocacy and neglects the incremental construction of enduring environmental protection. Mr. McCarthy’s account is essential to an understanding of environmental history at the state level.”
—William Kovarik, Radford University, author of Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age