Arthur Firstenberg spent his childhood summers studying nature and learning wilderness skills in upstate New York, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, in the mountains of Yosemite National Park, and on an island off the coast of Newfoundland. In college he studied physics, mathematics, ancient civilizations, and foreign languages, while spending half his time hiking, canoeing, skiing, and rock-climbing. After graduating, he lived with small farmers on the coast of northern Norway, and among the traditional Maya of Guatemala.
 
In 1986, he walked across the United States as part of the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament, and with every step witnessed what was happening to the Earth he loved and all its creatures. And when he tried to escape to the Canadian Arctic, he saw it was happening there too. He researched and wrote this book in an effort to learn why. Thirty years later, the answers have not changed; they have only become more urgent. He has thoroughly updated this book to show how, and again, why, and what each individual who shares our planet can do to save it.
 
Arthur is a scientist, journalist, and practitioner of several healing arts. He is the author of the bestselling book, The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life.