THE GREEN AMENDMENT

A treatise on the current environmental crisis by committed attorney.

This timely, expanded second edition of van Rossum’s 2017 brief for environmental reform contains extra chapters and forewords by actor and activist Mark Ruffalo and Kerri Evelyn Harris, former candidate for the U.S. Senate from Delaware. In it, van Rossum takes a strong personal and professional stand against corporations’ profiting from exploitation of natural resources. From the start, she draws on numerous anecdotes to make her points, such as a visit she made to her late mother’s forested property in Central Pennsylvania, during which she heard that oil companies were buying up surrounding property, and the story of one of the nation’s most polluted elementary schools, in Manchester, Texas. Van Rossum uses these accounts to advocate for protective “constitutional environmental rights”—or “Green Amendments”—in every state’s constitution. The author combines experts’ evaluations with historical context and personal tales from her decades of nonprofit work to paint a clear picture of where the nation stands. And the verdict of this research is critical: More people die annually from pollution than from war, she points out, citing a report from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. National laws often accommodate corporations, she asserts, despite evidence of their contributions to the environmental crisis. Fracking, gas pipelines, and overdevelopment are all shown to bear deadly consequences. For van Rossum, however, there’s hope. While addressing counterarguments and economic fears, the author insists that “Democracy will reign, our natural environments will be protected, and our economies will grow and prosper.” In this convincing argument for environmental reform, she presents complex principles in lay terms, and a concluding chapter that will likely encourage many readers to take concrete action in favor of the Green Amendments; it not only provides specifics on how each state amends its constitution but also offers practical ways to get other people enthusiastic about the cause. The volume can sometimes be repetitive, but van Rossum expertly balances science, law, and an engaging narrative to convey an urgent need for reform.

An optimistic and often enthralling book of advocacy for environmental justice.