Big-Box Swindle: The true cost of mega-retailers and the fight for America's independent businesses

Following on the tails of my latest read, The Way We Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter, Stacy Mitchell's Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses (2006), was not an intentional companion to Singer and Mason's book on food ethics, but certainly a fated one. Both published in 2006, where The Way We Eat was a primer on all that encompasses the ethics of eating, Big-Box Swindle tackles the hard-core realities of what chain stores do to our local communities and economies... and it isn't pretty.

Here are some highlights. Big-Box (aka chain) stores:

• increase resource demand on local government (fire, police, utility, roads) – studies show that small, local businesses make far less demands on community infrastructure, infrastructure for which its citizens have to pay
• decrease a sense of community - citizens of towns without big box stores are more active in their communities and local governments
• decrease job opportunities – contrary to popular opinion, after initial jobs are gained, small businesses are forced to close their doors and in the end more jobs are lost than gained because of the efficiency of big-box stores (they can do more with less people - not to mention less skilled, lower paid people)
• decrease the amount of revenue changing hands in a community - at least 3 times the amount of money stays in a community when you shop at a locally-owned store; more if you shop direct from a farmer or eat at a local restaurant
• decrease product quality and push jobs overseas – the incessant demand for lower prices forces suppliers to lower their standards and move jobs overseas or else lose a significant source of income when the big-box refuses to sell from that particular supplier (keep in mind Walmart now accounts for 10% of all retail sales. That's serious power!)
• increase urban sprawl leading to increased car use and pollution – big-box stores operate on the fringe of communities, unlike small local businesses which tend to be central to the community, located near homes and restaurants.
• increase the tax burden on local citizens – big-box stores use their size to manipulate local governments into tax breaks which means local businesses and citizens must make up for lost revenue
• decrease the quality of living – big-box jobs are lower in pay and benefits than jobs at local businesses
• increase the threat to the environment – every big box stores comes with its own massive parking lot, one of the biggest sources of highly-concentrated water-way pollutants; big-boxes are famous for clear-cutting land and destroying natural habitats
• decrease individuality by creating cookie-cutter communities
• decreases personalized customer service – salespeople were once experts on their products and knew their customers likes and dislikes, taking the time to get to know their customers, helping best meet individual customer needs. Big-box associates are reprimanded for spending too much time with customer. Their job is to move product as quickly as possible.

Disgusted? Even knowing some of these things, I felt despondent at all the havoc these chain-stores leave in their wake, the manipulation they calculate behind doors at board meetings. And we're not just talking about Wal-Mart here (though they are the easy fall-guy), but Target, Costco, Barnes and Noble, Kroger, Bed Bath and Beyond, Home Depot, Old Navy, Best Buy, PetSmart - you get the idea - are all culprits.

Interesting to note, was that today's growing anti-chain movement is not the first. In the 20's and 30's politicians actually ran on platforms of preventing big-box expansion.

Opponents argued that chains threatened democracy by undermining local economic independence and community self-determination. As they drove out the local merchant – a “loyal and energetic type of citizen” – the chains replaced him with a manager, a “transient,” who was discouraged from independent thought and community involvement, and who served as “merely a representative of a non-resident group of stockholders who pay him according to his ability to line their pockets with silver.

Wow! Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The bottom line is we've reached that time again, where we as citizens (not consumers) need to take a stand on the future of our communities. Thankfully, the book concludes on a positive note, citing examples of successful anti-chain campaigns. There is hope. But like anything else, the first step is awareness, and that awareness is sorely lacking in the U.S. today.

Big-Box Swindle is a powerful ally in the buy-local movement and a must read for those wanting to live a life of mindful consumption. Don't set foot in another chain-store until you read this book. You (and your community) will be glad you did.

Rated: 4 out of 5 (I'd give it a 5, but it was so full of data, it was at times hard to concentrate - you have to take your time on this one)

Recommended: to anyone who wants to live a more mindful, citizen-driven (not consumer-driven) life

Novella Carpenter/Farm City Audio Interview

I've always wanted to do this. To post an audio link of an author of a book I love. The link isn't a review, which is what we mainly do here, but there are so many ways in addition to a review to enter a book, a story or to gain new information. And I loved this book so I'm going to do it. Here's the link.

Last Friday Novella Carpenter, the author of Farm City, The Education of an Urban Farmer, was interviewed on KQED, The Forum. Listening to her was as fun as reading the book. I laughed, I learned, I clapped for her while sitting alone in my office.

I hope you do to.

If you've heard a good author interview lately let me know and I'll put a live link to it at the bottom of this post.

Farm City: The Education Of An Urban Farmer

(First posted on 6/25/09 at kaleforsale)

I finished the perfect summer read, Farm City, by Novella Carpenter. The trouble is I finished it on the first day of summer. Now what do I do? I don't think anything is going to beat this book.

Farm City is a memoir but it's also bits and parts of how to, or how not to make a garden in the ghetto; on squatted land with an eventual farm yard of animals. The story reads like a novel. The characters are naturally characters; I fell in love with everyone. Except the prostitute looking butcher - there has to be someone not to like.

Novella is quirky, smart, driven and she has a seriously good heart. She made me laugh a lot and look at my own neighborhood with new eyes. There's a deserted house nearby with a sunny front yard that would be a perfect urban garden. The idea had never crossed my mind before. That's what this book does. Novella finds possibility and assistance in places generally looked away from. All is not pretty on the urban farm. Even when I was laughing.

To start with she's farming in Oakland, not Mayberry. A homeless man watches over the garden and offers constant advice. She hauls in free horse manure, forages from local dumpsters to feed the animals. She meets the neighborhood in the garden, invited and not. Even with the weeds and fish heads, I have to admit though, it sounded like fun.

The cute guy is nearly done with Farm City. He laughs out loud too. Stays up too late reading. "Where are you now?" I hungrily ask him. He tells me and we talk about it. It's almost like getting to read the book again.

Which is what I'm going to do - read the book again. That is unless I find an empty lot I can garden.

Rating: Definitely five stars
Recommended for: Gardeners, Gleaners, Memoir Readers, Social Activists and People-that-like-to-laugh

Food, Inc.

I have a crush on Eric Schlosser. I know he's not a movie star or even a farmer but he's got a way of talking about farm workers rights and corn that makes me soft inside. And then when he says, "Monsanto," and his hand flexes into a fist; what can I say?

I'm his.

I didn't read the book but I saw Food, Inc.. Not only does the movie star Eric Schlosser but Michael Pollan was there too. And so was Joel Salatin. They're the three stooges of the know-your-food movement. And I mean that with the utmost respect. These guys were awesome but they're funny too.

The movie was everything a sustainable food girl could want and yet it was just a taste of how food makes its way to the plate. There was a vignette on factory farmed animals, on the treatment of farm workers, of the growing rates of diabetes as a result of cheap food. There was a vignette on GMO's, on government subsidies, on the source of ingredients in food. The movie stayed succinct but could have taken off in any direction for hours. And I would have stayed for all of it.

There were a couple of times I covered my eyes, a couple of times I covered my heart. And a few times my own fist flexed into a fist and I wanted to punch the air and yell, "Yeah. Tell 'em. Way to go!" And then I would get all googley eyed when Eric Schlosser returned to the screen.

The most surprising information was related to the treatment of the migrant farm workers. Forget about how we treat the animals we eat, or the pesticides and fertilizers being flushed into our water ways. Forget about the destruction of top soil and the inability of farmers to save seeds because a patented GMO seed has blown onto their property. Forget about all of that and there are the human beings that handle the food. I wanted to cover my eyes, my heart and ears all at the same time.

The movie is not doom and gloom however. The Stoneyfield Farms guy is one happy dude. And the guys from Walmart? Complete comedic relief. Sure, there are challenges. When hasn't there been? But Food, Inc. is hopeful for the mere fact that it was made. That it's being distributed to major markets. That's it's been reviewed and talked about and linked all over the place.

A friend told me a year and a half ago that the sustainable food movement would never go mainstream. "It's just a trend," this friend said. This movie is not however a trend. It's ambitious, it's smart and hopefully it will whet the appetite for mainstream to start lifting the veil between kitchen tables and food producers everywhere. Hopefully it will raise the momentum of people voting with their forks for fair food that is considerate of all beings.

But mainstream better stay away from Eric Schlosser. He's mine!

Recommended: For people who eat.
Rated: 4 Stars (I don't want to set expectations too high and parts of it are a bit corny!)

Book Review: The Green Collar Economy

Last fall I won the book The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones in a give-away right here on The Bookworm. I intended to read it and pass it along, but when I received the book, I was thrilled to see that it was a signed copy. Sorry, guys, I’m keeping it!

The Green Collar Economy is a blueprint for how to solve two problems at once: help the environment by increasing conservation and green power generation while creating of hundreds of thousands of green jobs, mostly filled by people at the lower end of the economic scale. The proposal is idealistic, but it is a real solution and if we could do it, it really would solve both problems.

I was particularly impressed by Jones’s understanding and commitment to helping less advantaged groups. He correctly points out that the environment cannot be saved solely by those with higher incomes who care about saving polar bears. We have to reach everybody in order to make a real change. Corporations know this, and they exploit the poor for their own purposes by scaring them that environmental legistration will cost them their jobs.

This book and the proposals in it would make great reading for every member of Congress and the current administration. By some things I’ve heard, I wonder if Obama has already read it. I would recommend, even require that everyone in elected office and their staff read The Green Collar Economy. 5 out of 5 stars.

For some reason, it took me months to get through the book and just as long to write my review. I don’t think that’s a commentary on the book, but rather I’ve observed that when books get too heavy into economics, I slow down. If you enjoy reading about economics, by all means you should read this book. If not, check it out from the library and skim. It’s good stuff.

Book Review: Big-Box Swindle (a second opinion)

Big-Box Swindle by Stacy Mitchell is a revolutionary book in the style of Omnivore’s Dilemma. Mitchell investigates the effect of big-box stores on the economy and her discoveries range from illuminating to infuriating. Big-Box Swindle covers about 100 years of retail business history. I am too young to remember a time before there were malls, but I found Mitchell’s observations to be fascinating since I live in a place that perfectly illustrates many of her points. She traces the history of retail sales from the time of "Main Streets" lined with locally-owned shops, to the addition of strip malls farther away, to the development of shopping malls, to big-box stores, to bigger-box stores and malls of big-box stores. At each stage, the retail business moves farther out from the city center and customers move from the previous stores to the newest stores, leaving empty stores behind. Each stage also requires a longer drive to get there. This book goes a long way towards explaining why our lifestyle uses so much more oil than that of the Europeans.

Big-Box Swindle covers what has happened to our country and briefly touches on how the big-box retailers have moved into other countries like Mexico. This section left me livid since I can imagine the suffering Wal-mart, particularly, has caused to the indigent cultures. Even Costco, who I’ve always regarded as one of the "good" boxes because they pay their employees better, ought to be ashamed of itself. Beyond that, Mitchell writes about how the big-box stores treat their domestic and overseas suppliers (not good). The way they use predatory pricing to drive their competitors out of business should be illegal and the laws should be enforced. I don't know how these people sleep at night.

The last part of the book concerns how our government at all levels has actually helped the big-boxes take over. The short-sightedness is so bad it’s baffling. But then Mitchell outlines strategies that cities have used to successfully take back control of their communities and she devotes a chapter to successful strategies that independent retailers are using to fight back. I think this book ought to be required reading for all members of city councils and planning commissions. It might even help the officials in my own city understand why they’ve been unsuccessful in their numerous attempts to revitalize downtown.

So I thought the book was really valuable and important. It’s well researched with a blend of facts, figures, legalities and case studies. It’s a little thick, but it's readable and it kept my interest. All the way through, though, I kept thinking it was missing something. I could summarize the whole book in four words: Chain = bad, Independent = good. I think there's a lot of middle ground that is completely overlooked. Mitchell isn't just against Wal-mart, she's also against shopping malls, Starbucks, and every chain business from the beginning of time (somewhere in the early 1900's). She gives illustrations so I will, too.

Case 1: One of the biggest criticisms of chain stores is that the dollars don’t stay in the community. My son’s first babysitter was a highschooler who happened to be one of my students. I was aware that her father owned several fast-food franchises here in town, but it wasn’t until we visited her house one day that I realized how well off they were. I didn’t even know that such a mansion, on such an estate, existed in my town! I don't mean to endorse fast-food chains -- I ususally avoid them because of where they source their food -- but believe me, in this case a lot of the profit stayed right here.

Case 2: Mitchell praises communities that put limits on the size of stores and limit the numbers of "formula (chain) businesses." One of my favorite grocery stores is over 100,000 square feet, a size condemned in the book, and it is an employee-owned chain. My town's beloved hardware store is locally owned, and bigger than a Home Depot. For nearly everything else, I shop at Bi-Mart, a box chain here in the pacific northwest. Bi-Mart was acquired by an out-of-state developer a while back, but the employees banded together to buy it back and now it's employee-owned, which means a couple family friends are part owners. My favorite restaurant is Burgerville, a pacific northwest fast-food chain that works hard to source their ingredients from local farmers. By Mitchell’s logic, all of these businesses are bad. Maybe I'm being a little too hard on her, but she never acknowledges a case where a box store or a chain might actually be good.

Case 3: About seven years ago, our out-of-work next-door neighbor went to a garage sale and inquired about a double-wide refrigerator. He was told that it was being sold with the business, an independent restaurant that happened to be on our neighbor’s speed-dial. So he bought the restaurant. How local is that! He changed the location and business took off. So he opened another, and another. Some are in other communities and often someone asks him if they can purchase a franchise. If he becomes a chain, does that make him a Bad Guy?

These are some of the questions that bothered me as I read Big-Box Swindle. So yes, I thought it was good and I got a lot out of it. I already knew many of Wal-mart's transgressions, but now I will also avoid Target and the like (although I'll still shop at Staples since it's so much more pleasant than being stared at by the people in the local stationery store). And I agree with most of what Mitchell said. I encourage everyone to read this book, but consider that life might not be quite so cut-and-dried as the author makes it out to be. I’ll give it 4 out of 5, and I’d love to hear some more feedback. If you'd like to read another review, check out Green Bean's right here.

Book Review: Big Box Swindle

Last December, I wrote an article on the importance of buying local for my city's green newsletter. I played up the importance of supporting neighbors in a bad economy, the fact that local businesses give 350% more support to non-profits than do non locally owned businesses, and the value of preserving local culture.

Within hours of sending out the newsletter, a very active and very green citizen shot me a blistering email. She found my article divisive and offensive. What was more, she hated our downtown. It was too expensive and didn't carry some of the items that her 17 year old niece wanted for Christmas. She scoffed at donations made by local businesses to our schools and community organizations. They couldn't possibly compare, in size, to the 5% that Targets allegedly give back to their communities. And she wanted a Target in our town, darn it! A green one, that she could walk to. Never mind that there is a Target the next town over. She needed one here.

I put together a lengthy and, I hoped, eloquent response, declaring my allegiance to Main Street. The other green task force members piped in with positive thoughts about buying within the city limits but it was the response from the task force's fearless leader that made the biggest impression.

"Mary, have you read Big Box Swindle? Let me send a you a copy so that you can better understand the importance of supporting locally owned businesses and the impact of big box stores."

Here I sat, a green bookworm if ever there was one. Heck, I even blog at a place devoted entirely to green reads and yet I'd never heard of this book much less read it.

I immediately logged into my library's online reservation and reserved a copy of Big Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight to Save America's Independent Businesses by Stacy Mitchell.

Before reading it, I had intuitively known that local businesses provide more interest, more diversity in the marketplace and I had supported other bloggers who felt the same. I had read, with great interest, the chapter in Affluenza that pointed out how chain businesses erode our communities and ship our dollars to corporate headquarters instead of to city hall. I had nodded in agreement with Bill McKibben when he explained, in Deep Economy, that, when chain stores come to town, the individual benefits (through cheaper socks and shampoo) but the community suffers. Indeed, I had immediately agreed with Katrina, from Kale for Sale, when she suggested that, at The Blogging Bookworm, the book list link to independent bookstores instead of Amazon. And the first ad we ever put up at The Green Phone Booth was for IndieBound, an online cooperative of independent bookstores across the country.

But knowing, or suspecting, that it is better to support local businesses is one thing. Having the marketplace laid bare, with all its secrets and swindles set forth, is another.

For me, Big Box Swindle is the next The Omnivore's Dilemma. It rocked my world and opened eyes in a way no other book has since I plodded along with Michael Pollan through factory farm feedlots and the fields of PolyFace Farm.

In Big Box Swindle, the author systematically explains how chain stores have changed American culture. They've moved us out of our downtowns, into our cars, and out to the fringes where we buy things shipped from Asia, made with toxic ingredients by people paid unethical wages, and rung up by a cashier who works full time but lives below the poverty line.

They've ripped up our forests, torn down our historic buildings, and polluted our rivers and streams as they pave over more and more of the country.

They've limited our selection. We wear the clothes, dance to the music, and read the books that an ever-shrinking group of people choose for us. "The pressure [the mega retailers] place on manufacturers to lower costs has sharply curtailed investment in product research and development." (138).

They've taken subsidies from well meaning but ill informed city councils and demanded tax breaks in return as they bring in lower paying jobs and drive local businesses out of business.

They've stripped our country of its meeting places, whittled away at the idea of community and left us paying the same price for shampoo as we did before - but with a smaller paycheck, fewer community amenities and for a lesser product.

If you care about rebuilding your community, about rebounding from this economic collapse, about preserving those beautiful natural spaces and those binding community places, if you want to have more choice in what you use to wash hair or paint your walls, if your city is struggling to pay it teachers or keep its park and rec classes open, this book is for you.

It is impossible to move forward without truth. And of truth, this book offers plenty. But it also offers solutions. Ways to overcome the big box syndrome sweeping the country. Ways to fight it within your own community. And ways to support those independently owned businesses the provide our country with the beauty, the diversity, the flavor the heart that makes up America.

The politicians have bickered enough about bailouts and stimulus packages. This book provides the blue print for the only one that matters but the only folks who can do it. Together, we can bail out Main Street and get back the community we all want.

Rating: 10 out of 5.
Recommended: For everyone who has ever paid for anything.

Book Review: The Green Collar Economy

Dear Mr. President-Elect.

In less than two weeks, you will be inaugurated and will have more power to change the world than most of us dream of. I am sure you are being bombarded by pleas, petitions, and emails. Well, I know you are because I've signed a number of those.

The American people have big plans for you and a lot of hope. We are looking for real change and you have signaled that, at a minimum, with respect to Climate Change, you will give it. You are proposing billions of dollars for new green jobs in an effort to stimulate the economy. A Green New Deal, in effect.

I hope that, before making that proposal, you and/or your advisers read The Green Collar Economy by Oakland activist, Van Jones. It's a great book that emphasizes the importance of growing a greener, cleaner economy and doing it by including all segments of the population - those in the inner cities, the rural dwellers, the incarcerated, the highly educated and those without a degree. Mr. Jones explains that, to be successful, this movement needs to be about providing economic opportunities and a better life, and not just "saving the earth."

Mr. Jones lays out all kinds of green jobs - from increasing energy efficiency and building renewables to mass transit, reducing waste and farming, the greenest job of all. He explores how we can train a legion of new green collar workers and how we can transition more highly skilled workers into greener careers.

I'd be happy to lend you my copy of the book but my husband wants to read it first. He's interested in green business ideas and boy, oh boy, is this book overflowing with lots of those. For instance, Mr. Jones talks about a Los Angeles-based group called Tree-People that works to reduce water pollution by building cisterns to capture water and reduce polluted storm run off while creating hundreds of jobs. It is estimated that, over a period of thirty years, the city and country will save $300 million in water and other costs. Imagine if we expanded that from the LA area to state or country-wide. We'd be rolling in green dough and reveling in fresh water.

The great thing about this book is that Mr. Jones gets it. He understands that we are in the midst of an economic melt down. That we are facing a dramatically heating planet with dwindling resources. But he also gets that if we all work together - and that includes the government, Mr. Obama - then we can come up with some really inventive solutions that will not only create jobs and stimulate the economy but also provide us with a cleaner, healthier planet and a better lifestyle.

You might want to ask all members of your Cabinet to read this and, heck, go ahead and recommend it to the public at large. Everyone can find something useful from this book. Personally, I'd rank it 4.5 out of 5 and recommend it for anyone interested in living green or getting a job.

Good luck in the next four years. I'm counting on some real green changes.

Sincerely,

Green Bean

Vital Signs 2007-2008

I found a fantastic little handbook that takes the pulse of our globe in only 166 pages if you read the notes and bibliography. Vital Signs 2007-2008 from the WorldWatch Institute provides a clear overview of an extensive range of scientific data on key indicators across our planet. The bibliography of scientific studies stretches for 35 pages with every indicator studies backed up by cold, hard facts.

The introduction provides a profound quote from Utah Phillips, an American Labor organizer and folk singer. He said: "The earth is not dying. It is being killed, and the people killing it have names and addresses." Vital signs goes on to say, and to prove that the planet is not dying, but "ecological systems are. And the names of people killing them include political leaders, corporate executives, and millions of ordinary people who are part of an unsustainable consumer economy." (p. 9)

Vital Signs tracks a variety of key indicators for global health. I"m shamelessly pulled this from their web site as they document it nicely:

Food and Agriculture Trends
Grain Production Falls and Prices Surge
Soybean Demand Continues to Drive Production
Meat Output and Consumption Grow
Seafood Increasingly Popular and Scarce
Irrigated Area Stays Stable

Energy and Climate Trends
Fossil Fuel Use Up Again
Nuclear Power Virtually Unchanged
Wind Power Still Soaring
Solar Power Shining Bright
Biofuel Flows Surge
Carbon Emissions Continue Unrelenting Rise
Weather-related Disasters Climb
Ozone Layer Stabilizing But Not Recovered

Social and Economic Trends
Population Rise Slows But Continues
World is Soon Half Urban
Economy and Strain on Environment Both Grow
Steel Production Soars
Aluminum Production Continues Upward
Gold Mining Output Drops Slightly
Roundwood Production Up

Transportation and Communications Trends
Vehicle Production Rises Sharply
Bicycle Production Up Slightly
Air Travel Reaches New Heights
Cell Phones Widely Used, Internet Growth Slows

Conflict and Peace Trends
Number of Violent Conflicts Steady
Peacekeeping Expenditures Hit New Record
Nuclear Weapons Treaty Eroding

Food and Agriculture Features
Agribusinesses Consolidate Power
Egg Production Doubles Since 1990
Avian Flu Spreads

Environment Features
Climate Change Affects Terrestrial Biodiversity
Threats to Species Accelerate
Invasive Species Drive Biodiversity Loss
Ocean Pollution Worsens and Spreads
Bottled Water Consumption Jumps
Sustainable Communities Become More Popular

Social and Economic Features
Progress Toward the MDGs Is Mixed
Literacy Improves Worldwide
Child Labor Harms Many Young Lives
Informal Economy Thrives in Cities
Socially Responsible Investment Grows Rapidly

Health Features
HIV/AIDS Continues Worldwide Climb
Malaria Remains a Threat
Male Reproductive Health Declines

This little handbook isn't necessarily uplifting, but it provides me with clear data to incorporate in my own research and writing. It also dispels many of the willy-nilly statements I hear about skewed data and/or cyclical cycles. (And there are some, but it doesn't account for everything that we see in our systems). I also loved the charts, graphs and photographs that capture the data in a very usable manner.

Vital Signs also provides for narrative facts that are useful and intriguing. For example, the Inuits in the Arctic are now using air conditioners for the very first time. (p. 42) Fishing employs 38 million people worldwide, and as many species are farmed out and our oceans are polluted we have vast economic and job related issues to consider as well as a concern about food source. (p. 26) The portion of adults in the world that have basic reading and writing skills is now up to 82% (p. 110) and I say hooray to that.

I know it isn't a book of joy for the most part, but it is a book of clarity in data and issues. As a lover of facts and figures from time to time I found it an interesting though eye opening read. If you are a lover of data and part of a Green-centric movement, then this may be a valuable resource for you.

An Unreasonable Woman, A True Story of Shrimpers Politicos Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas

I didn't intend to read An Unreasonable Woman a second time; in six months. But that's what's happening. I picked it up three nights ago to skim and refresh my memory to write a review. The mistake may have been starting on the first page although wherever I open this book I'm drawn in. I'm a third of the way into it now and there's no question I'll read it again to the end.

The first time I already knew how it ended. A high school educated, third generation shrimper, mother of five, Diane Wilson, takes on a multi-billion dollar chemical company polluting the environment of her home town, Seadrift, Texas. She has one friend on her side, Donna Sue, and get this - she wins. But all the way through the book it's impossible she could have an impact. That she could make a difference. I've read the book. I don't know how she did it.

If the book were only about environmental justice I wouldn't be reading it a second time. But Diane Wilson has one of the most original honest voices on the page I've come across. Her voice isn't schooled, you don't learn writing like this, it was born with her. There's no other explanation.

On the opening page she describes a man's face as, quiet as an onion peel. Later four white boots on the desk are likened to, snow geese in a rice field. And a few pages after that she writes, Like most conversations around a fish house, ours started nowhere and meandered like a lost, starving cat.

Diane's writing is like her activism, it moves forward quietly, steadily, without pretension or ego. The woman never has a plan. She sits quiet, listens. And then does what needs to be done from the inside out. She makes progress against insurmountable odds.

Several times while reading this book I wanted to give up. Not give up on reading the book, I never wanted to put the book down; but give up caring about anything. Caring seemed too lonely, too hard. One day, after reading for an hour, I walked home from the bus, up the stairs into bed, and fully dressed got under the covers. I felt like I'd been living in a cave and stepped outside to the glare of the sun. And it burned my vision. I don't know how Diane Wilson kept on at times but I'm glad she did.

Weeks later I saw Diane speak. She was exactly how I'd pictured her: dusty cowboy boots, a cup of coffee in her hands.

After her talk, the full house of which held their breath, shouted out, stood up, let tears fall; I knelt to the level of the table Diane sat at and asked a question. I don't remember her answer, but she looked me in the eye when she spoke, and calm as the descriptions in her book I knew she told me the truth. That she was incapable of anything else.

And I remember how desperately I didn't want that to be the case, that I wanted her to be an unbelieveable loon. Because living with the truth and politics of deadly pollution is harder than living with its lies, which Ms. Wilson so straight forwardly reveals.

As Molly Ivins said on the cover of the book, "A stunning achievement."

Rated: 18 out of 5 stars.

Recommended for every woman who knows she can make a difference, the women who aren't sure and all of us who live in the pollution of the every day silence of acquiescence.