GLIN==> BOOK WRITTEN BY MICHIGAN GREEN LEADER WINS 2011 GREEN BOOK FESTIVAL AWARD

For immediate release: May 31, 2011 

 

Trenton, MI - On May 21st in San Francisco, the Green Book Festival named
Dr. John Hartig's book titled Burning Rivers: Revival of Four
Urban-Industrial Rivers that Caught on Fire as the winner in the
"scientific" category.  This annual competition honors books that contribute
to greater understanding, respect for, and positive action on the changing
worldwide environment.  More information on the Green Book Festival can be
found at: www.greenbookfestival.com/. 

 

Burning Rivers was also named a finalist in the "science/nature/environment"
category of the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.  Next Generation
Indie Book Awards recognize and honor the most exceptional independently
published books in 60 different categories, for a given year, and are
presented by Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group (www.IBPPG.com)
in cooperation with Marilyn Allen of Allen O'Shea Literary Agency.  More
information on the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards can be found at:
http://www.indiebookawards.com/2011_winners_and_finalists.php. 

 

Burning Rivers explores how four rivers in the Great Lakes Basin caught on
fire because of oil pollution, including the infamous Cuyahoga River in
Cleveland, Ohio, the Buffalo River in New York, the Rouge River in southeast
Michigan, and the Chicago River in Illinois.  These four rivers caught on
fire because of gross oil pollution caused by society's indiscriminate use
and abuse of these aquatic ecosystems.  Today, however, each of these rivers
is experiencing substantial environmental improvement and some surprising
ecological revival. 

 

Burning Rivers was written to help teach the lessons of the past, celebrate
the environmental progress, and to help convince people of the urgent need
to address the remaining environmental challenges in order to avoid another
tipping point.  The book was written for a lay audience.  Burning Rivers
tells these most unique environmental stories, translates the science,
provides practical lessons learned in river restoration, and will inspire
people to be good stewards of rivers.  This story of burning rivers/river
revival also gives hope.  If these four river systems can be revived and
made into community assets, there is hope for all rivers and all people and
organizations working to restore their river ecosystems.  Everyone
interested in the environment, quality of life, conservation, and
sustainability will learn something from this book.

 

"This book ably covers what one must learn from the past tragedies, the
successes we must celebrate, and the importance of the plans we must make
for the future of all our waterways so that our children and grandchildren
may love and enjoy them as we do," notes Congressman John D. Dingell.  "The
lessons highlighted in this book are important reading for anyone wishing to
protect and preserve rivers for future generations."

 

"It is the story of how everyday people, working alone or in concert with
others, can move legal, political and bureaucratic mountains to do what is
good and right for all of us," notes Dr. Kirk Heinze of The Green of the
Great Lakes.

 

The book was written under the Ecovision World Monograph Series of the
Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society and published by
Multi-Science Publishing Company, Ltd. in Essex, UK.  Book proceeds go to
the Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society for dissemination of
science. 

 

About the Author: 

 

Dr. John H. Hartig is trained as a limnologist with 30 years of experience
in environmental science and natural resource management.  He currently
serves as Refuge Manager for the Detroit River International Wildlife
Refuge.  Incidentally, the lower Rouge River, one of the burning rivers'
stories in the book, is located within the Refuge's acquisition boundary.
>From 1999 to 2004 Dr. Hartig served as River Navigator for the Greater
Detroit American Heritage River Initiative established by Presidential
Executive Order.  Prior to becoming River Navigator, he spent 12 years
working for the International Joint Commission on the Canada-U.S. Great
Lakes Water Quality Agreement.  Dr. Hartig has been an Adjunct Professor at
Wayne State University where he taught Environmental Management and
Sustainable Development, and has served as President of the International
Association for Great Lakes Research.  He has authored or co-authored over
100 publications on the Great Lakes, including writing Burning Rivers and
co-editing Honoring Our Detroit River, Caring for Our Home and Under RAPs:
Toward Grassroots Ecological Democracy in the Great Lakes Basin.  Dr. Hartig
has received a number of awards for his work, including a 2010 Green Leaders
Award from the Detroit Free Press, a 2005 White House Conference on
Cooperative Conservation Award for Outstanding Leadership and Collaboration
in the Great Lakes, the 2003 Anderson-Everett Award from the International
Association for Great Lakes Research, and the 1993 Sustainable Development
Award for Civic Leadership from Global Tomorrow Coalition. 

 

For more information, contact Dr. John Hartig at 734.692.1532 or
hartigs at wideopenset.com.

 

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