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August 30, 2006

Read this blog, then read this book

BY: maureen

If you’ve spent the last few months reading trashy novels and even trashier magazines on the beach – you’re forgiven. After all, that’s what summer is all about. But summer is coming to an end (don’t blame the messenger!) and it’s time to start reading literature that will actually stimulate your brain cells. A good place to start is with Killing Our Oceans: Dealing with the Mass Extinction of Marine Life by Professor John Kunich.

When John isn’t teaching at the Appalachian School of Law, he’s researching the current crisis in ocean biodiversity. His new book not only outlines what is happening to our oceans, but also why it’s happening.

We are now experiencing the first mass extinction in 65 million years (you get a gold star if you can name the last one) both in the oceans and on land. But this time it’s not caused by a meteor (hint, hint), the blame fall squarely on the shoulders of human beings.

Highly destructive industrialized fishing practices have wiped out 90 percent of all large predatory fishes – disrupting the balance between predator and prey populations. And in the process of killing the fish they seek, industrial vessels also indiscriminately kill unintentional catch like fish, marine mammals, sea turtles and birds.

In Killing Our Oceans, John calls on the United States to lead the way to end the extinction crisis in the world’s oceans. Through a detailed U.S. legal action plan we can identify key marine hotspots and provide positive incentives for other nations to stop destroying them.

After reading the book, Gerry Spence, trial lawyer and author of How to Argue and Win Every Time noted, “Professor Kunich’s words are as if they escaped from out of the ethos. We have choices. We can listen and act, or we can die with the oceans.”

To learn more and buy the book, visit Greenwood.com