The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life


Arthur Firstenberg - 2020
    The Invisible Rainbow is the groundbreaking story of electricity as it's never been told before--exposing its very real impact on the biosphere and human health.100,000 copies sold!Over the last 220 years, society has evolved a universal belief that electricity is 'safe' for humanity and the planet. Scientist and journalist Arthur Firstenberg disrupts this conviction by telling the story of electricity in a way it has never been told before--from an environmental point of view--by detailing the effects that this fundamental societal building block has had on our health and our planet.In The Invisible Rainbow, Firstenberg traces the history of electricity from the early eighteenth century to the present, making a compelling case that many environmental problems, as well as the major diseases of industrialized civilization--heart disease, diabetes, and cancer--are related to electrical pollution.Few individuals today are able to grasp the entirety of a scientific subject and present it in a highly engaging manner . . . Firstenberg has done just that with one of the most pressing but neglected problems of our technological age.--BRADLEY JOHNSON, MD, Amen Clinic, San Francisco[A] masterpiece.--Celia Farber, investigative journalistThis seminal book...will transform your understanding ...of the environmental and health effects of electricity and radio frequencies--Paradigm Explorer

Nuclear 2.0: Why A Green Future Needs Nuclear Power


Mark Lynas - 2013
    This is just as well, according to Mark Lynas in Nuclear 2.0, because nuclear energy is essential to avoid catastrophic global warming. Using the latest world energy statistics Lynas shows that with wind and solar still at only about 1 percent of global primary energy, asking renewables to deliver all the world’s power is “dangerously delusional”. Moreover, there is no possibility of using less energy, he reminds us, when the developing world is fast extricating itself from poverty and adding the equivalent of a new Brazil to global electricity consumption each year. The anti-nuclear movement of the 1970s and 80s succeeded only in making the world more dependent on fossil fuels, he shows: its history is “not lit by sunshine, but shrouded in coal smoke”. Instead of making the same mistake again, all those who want to see a low-carbon future need to join forces, he insists, concluding the book with an ambitious proposal for an Apollo Program-style combined investment in wind, solar and nuclear power. Mark Lynas is an environmental writer and campaigner. His previous books have drawn attention to the perils of global warming, and he was Climate Advisor to the President of the Maldives from 2009-2011. He is a Visiting Research Associate at Oxford University’s School of Geography and the Environment, and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies. He recently featured in the movie documentary Pandora’s Promise, which inspired the writing of this book.