Articles by Terry Tamminen

Terry Tamminen is the former secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency and is now a policy adviser and author. His latest book is Watercolors: How JJ the Whale Saved Us.

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A review Fast Food Nation

Given my distaste for fast food and the general knowledge of its detrimental effect on the American diet, I didn't expect to find any revelations in Fast Food Nation. But journalist Eric Schlosser's thoroughly researched and well-written probe into the industry that has transformed American roadsides, eating patterns, and agriculture was actually an eye-opener.

Terry Tamminen Cities
A review of Arctic Refuge

First, the facts. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge covers about 19 million acres in northeastern Alaska, almost all north of the Arctic Circle. It was created in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which renamed and more than doubled the size of an existing wildlife range, designated about 8 million acres within the refuge as wilderness, and prohibited oil and gas production in the refuge unless authorized by Congress.

Terry Tamminen Politics
A review of A Whale Hunt

For countless generations the Makah Indians have lived on the shores of Neah Bay, in the corner of Washington's Olympic Peninsula, the northwesternmost tip of the 48 states. Until the 1920s, hunting the gray whales that swam past this stretch of coastline as they migrated between Baja California and Alaska's Bering Sea had been a Makah tradition for 2,000 years.

Terry Tamminen Uncategorized
A review of Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource

The underlying premise is simple: without water we die. As a Turkish businessman quoted in Marq de Villiers' impressive book, Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource, says, "Millions have lived without love. No one has lived without water."

Terry Tamminen Food and Agriculture