You Are Here

By: Thomas M. Kostigen

Narrated by: Thomas M. Kostigen

In this groundbreaking book, the New York Times best-selling co-author of The Green Book, Thomas M. Kostigen, reveals the vital missing link in today's environmental crisis: how we as individuals are connected to the most tenuous geography on the planet. Despite the recent prominence of "green" issues in the news, we continue to ignore the raw relationship between the earth and our actions. But the seemingly insignificant things we do every day have the power to literally alter the landscape in the ongoing battle to resuscitate the planet.

Kostigen writes: "We may reduce, reuse, recycle. So we save a tree. We use less gas. We conserve power. What effect do those actions really have on the world? So much of this information is in a vacuum without the necessary context. We have been told, not shown, what issues matter and why. Read on and you will be taken to the frontlines of the environmental battlegrounds. This isn't about conjecture or the future....We travel to distant and exotic locales to make clear the price of our current actions."

Starting with Jerusalem, where we see history crumbling before our eyes, Kostigen then takes us to what well may be a glimpse of our future in Linfen City, China, one of the most polluted cities on the planet. From a garbage patch twice the size of Texas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, to the melting arctic ice shelf, to the flood zone that is Mumbai, India, to the dwindling rainforests of the Amazon, You Are Here describes the environmental crisis in a way we can feel, see, and touch.

Kostigen presents us with opportunities for change and shows us how to take action on the spot, wherever we are. Combining groundbreaking research and frontline reporting, Kostigen pulls back the curtain on the most pressing and provocative issues of the day - and in so doing, we see the earth and our place on it in brand new light.

©2008 Thomas M. Kostigen (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

You can have an impact book

So why this book over other environmental books? Tom does an exceptional job bringing home the affect of our local actions on the rest of the world and the effect of others on the US. The book does not just address the issues from the security of an office but rather Tom takes the reader to the hot spots around the world. He looks at a lot of issues that are known. What is not know is how exactly our action affect the word. For instance, what would happen if I reused each plastic bottle of water just once? If we all did this the impact would be substantial. The book is not another droning "humans bad" environmental book. It is a "you can have an impact and do so easily book. I highly recommend the book. I will probably use it in my next conservation class. The recording itself is excellent and as Tom reads it, the annunciation matches the authors feeling. Narrating the obvious concerns of author facing surgery via machete in the middle of the rainforest can only be properly conveyed by the author himself.

A fun journey

This book was pretty interesting; some great statistics, though not so many that it was overwhelming. An easy read- I just wish it was longer!

Inspirational in a way I did not expect

If you could sum up You Are Here in three words, what would they be?

Thoughtful. Thoughtful. Thoughtful.

What was one of the most memorable moments of You Are Here?

His descriptions of how the distribution of garbage works. How computers from the LA schools sit in land fills in India, and how something like 25% of the polution in LA is from China.

He creates a whole picture .... but it is not dark, morbid and fanatic. It is thoughtful and well informed. Simple and to the point.

What does the narrator bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

not sure

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Garbage, without judgement

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this book. Growing up on a farm, I am very aware of what comes around goes around. I am also aware, that to go to one extreme or the other is pointless. I would never not use antibiotics when an animal was sick, nor would I keep the animals constantly on antibiotics so that I could keep them in unhealthy conditions.

This book finds just that balance