In Earth’s Emergency Room, author, attorney, and environmental historian Lowell E. Baier celebrates 50 years of the landmark Endangered Species Act of 1973, a bipartisan law passed by Congress and signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon. Baier provides an insightful and entertaining history of the ESA’s dramatic highs and lows. His own work with the ESA from its inception to the present, and with the key figures who shaped its history, from field biologists to Presidents of the United States, give the book a unique, human element. He looks back at a lifetime of environmental advocacy and tackles one of today’s leading challenges: the unprecedented decline in species due to climate change. Drawing from his extensive experience as a negotiator and activist, Baier argues that the ESA is flexible enough to ameliorate the biodiversity crisis while still respecting landowners, states, and industries. He ultimately calls on all Americans to embrace a spirit of bipartisanship and conservation to strengthen the law that has been Earth’s emergency room for half a century.
Lowell E. Baier is an attorney as well as a legal and environmental historian and author. He has worked in Washington, D.C., throughout his 60-year career as a tireless advocate for natural resources and wildlife conservation. He holds five doctorate degrees. Baier was recognized as the Conservationist of the Year by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2008, by Outdoor Life Magazine in 2010, and by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in 2013. In 2016, the National Wildlife Federation awarded him their highest honor, the Jay N. "Ding" Darling Conservation Award for a lifetime of conservation service.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Early Controversies
Chapter 2: The Command-and-Control Generation and the Green Revolution
Chapter 3: Beyond the 100th Meridian
Chapter 4: Babbitt’s Jujitsu
Chapter 5: The Far Left’s Listing Wars
Chapter 6: The Apex Predator Problem
Chapter 7: The Price Tag for the Endangered Species Act
Chapter 8: Securing Our Future – Funding Wildlife Conservation
Chapter 9: Making Conservation Strategies Flexible
Chapter 10: Partnerships: The Secret to Success
Chapter 11: America Rallies Again – The Promise of the Future
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Appendix A: Endangered Species Act Timeline
Appendix B: Federal Environmental and Consumer Protection Statutes and Agencies Established during the 1960s and 1970s Green Revolution
Bibliography
Index
Biography of Lowell E. Baier
Earths flora and fauna are increasingly imperiled by climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution. More than 1,600 species in the U.S. are currently designated as threatened. Already, populations of pollinators (bees, birds, butterflies) are precipitously declining. Conservationist and attorney Baier reviews the history and impact of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) passed in 1973. Comprehensive and at times controversial, this law provides protections for jeopardized animals and plants. Baier likens the ESA to an “emergency room” in that it allows species to sufficiently recover and increase their numbers. He presents examples of the ESAs many successes and cites a study showing that this law has thwarted the extinction of almost 300 species. He details difficulties arising from the ESA, including state government versus federal government disputes, costs and sources of funding, and balancing the regulation of species and land management. Personalities, partisanship, and policy matters associated with the ESA are well-covered. Ecological and biodiversity crises are intensifying. If we fail to act wisely, the wildlife of our planet is going to require even more than an emergency room. Theyll need an intensive care unit.
— Booklist
From the foreword: “Lowell Baier writes in this impassioned book of critical care and collaborative actions on behalf of threatened and endangered species. This is a call to action of the obligations to ourselves, our families, and society for making extinction, biodiversity, and the Endangered Species Act a national priority again. We can and we must. We are living in the Sixth Extinction. This is not just a political crisis, or even an ecological crisis, it is a spiritual one.”
— Terry Tempest Williams
“As we confront an unprecedented global biodiversity crisis, its never been more important to understand the full history of the Endangered Species Act. With Earths Emergency Room, Lowell Baier takes us on an epic half-century journey that explores both the awe-inspiring successes to prevent extinction and the unfulfilled promise to recover imperiled listed species. Understanding this full complexity – and the many solutions at our fingertips – is critical to ensuring that the full diversity of wildlife and plants thrive for future generations.”
— Collin OMara, President and CEO, National Wildlife Federation; Secretary of Natural Resources and Environmental Control for Delaware (2009-2014)
