THE SHRINKING OUTDOORS

More viewing with alarm of the earth's vanishing wildlife, diminishing greenery, and increasing pollution and population. It's now an oft-told story, but Jennings' piling up of example after shocking example renews concern, and his quoted descriptions of ""the world we had"" (when colonists, met by blossoms floating on the water, found the entire East Coast a garden of ""fair and odoriferous"" flowers, when California was ""one smooth, continuous bed of honey bloom"" and the air of Los Angeles seemed ""the elixir of life"") offers telling contrast. The most substantial sections are on air and water pollution where Jennings avoids simplistic polemic but documents the resistance of industry and the indifference of government agencies to effective solutions. This view beneath the surface of official statements makes the book rare among juvenile surveys.