416 pages
6 x 9
19 photos and illustrations
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy ignited America’s Apollo Project and sparked a revolution in space exploration. Today the New Apollo Energy Project is poised to revolutionize the production of energy and thereby save our planet. The nation that built the world’s most powerful rockets, its most advanced computers, and its most sophisticated life support systems is ready to create the world’s most powerful solar energy systems, its most advanced wind energy turbines, and its most sophisticated hybrid cars. This will result in nothing less than a second American Revolution. Who are the dreamers in California who believe they can use mirrors and liquid metal to wring more electricity from a ray of sunshine than anyone else on earth can?
Who are the innovators who have built a contraption that can turn the energy of a simple wave off the Oregon coast into burnt toast in Idaho? Who are the scientists in Massachusetts who have invented a battery that now runs your hand drill and will soon run your car? Readers will meet them all in this book. They will learn how the new energy economy will grow, the research that is required, and the legislation that must be passed to make the vision a reality.
This is a thoughtful, optimistic book, based on sound facts. No one before has tied together the concepts of economic growth and greenhouse gas reductions with such concrete examples. No one has previously told the real stories of the people who are right now on the front lines of the energy revolution. The co-authors, one a U.S. Congressman who is the primary sponsor of the New Apollo Energy Act, and the other the founder of the Apollo Alliance, have joined their experience, expertise, and passion for a clean energy future to lay out the path to stop global warming and gain energy independence.
"...a passionate argument for the economic shift the authors say is necessary to ease America into a clean-energy revolution."
Associated Press
"Representative Inslee is a nuanced thinker and speaker. . . Apollo's Fire is as characteristically rational and up front."
TreeHugger
"…energetic articulation of a clean-energy future…"
Publishers Weekly
"The book evokes the national focus on reaching the moon in the 1960s to advocate a comprehensive array of policy and technological solutions."
Science News
"Apollo's Fire is one of the more comprehensive, balanced, and upbeat books out there now about America's energy situation… It encourages people to think big, while instilling a sense of urgency. It has a message of hope, not futility."
Toledo Blade
"Apollo's Fire is a ... summons to shake ourselves free from the physical and political corruptions of oil."
Seattle Times
"Apollo's Fire gets the situation almost exactly right."
Bill McKibben, SEED Magazine
"Their vision is true to America's competitive spirit … It is innovation for the improvement of humanity. It is science as stewardship. This is our errand into the wilderness, and it is our obligation to our children and to the global community. Apollo's Fire calls us to our destiny."
President Bill Clinton, in his foreword to "Apollo's Fire"
"Apollo's Fire is a breath of fresh air and optimism about how America's ingenuity and enterprise can stop climate change. Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendricks provide a rousing call for all of us to protect the environment by using the inspiring stories of people around the country who already are."
Donna Brazile, political strategist and analyst
"At Virgin, we know you don't get anywhere without vision. Here in Apollo's Fire is the compelling, bold vision in energy the world needs to beat global warming."
Sir Richard Branson, founder and chairman of the Virgin Group
"For those of you who want to move beyond the doom and gloom of the global warming dialogue, Apollo's Fire fits the bill. Set in a frame of optimism and urgency, this book thinks big and shows that innovation, curiosity, and imagination already are driving the beginnings of an Apollo-like leap toward necessary solutions. The authors' sweeping and attainable vision for America's energy independence shows we can once again reach for higher goals and succeed."
Robert Redford, actor and director
"Apollo's Fire is a brilliant, inspiring book on the need to set goals and find future solutions to achieve clean, efficient energy. It is beautifully written, exciting, and hopeful. It's a must read for every American who wants to save the planet."
Helen Thomas, Hearst Newspapers columnist
"And so Apollo's Fire shares the stories of dozens of dreamers, inventors, scientists and more who are taking global warming seriously, and are doing their part to fight it."
Olympian
Foreword \ President Bill Clinton
The First Apollo Project
Chapter 1. A New Apollo Project for Energy
- Global Warming Comes to the White House—Or Doesn't
- Ten Energy Enlightenments
Chapter 2. Reinventing the Car
- Becoming Mahatma
Chapter 3. Waking Up to the New Solar Dawn
- When Energy Markets Go Wrong: Surviving Enron
Chapter 4. Energy Efficiency: The Distributed Power of Democracy
- Green-Collar Jobs: From the South Bronx to Oakland
Chapter 5. Reenergizing Our Communities, One Project at a Time
- We Don't Need Oil
Chapter 6. Homegrown Energy
- Wind Energy: False Starts on the Road to Success
Chapter 7. Sailing in a Sea of Energy
- A Mind Opened about Mined Coal
Chapter 8. Can Coal or Nuclear Be Part of the Solution?
- The Apollo Alliance: New Coalitions for Change
Chapter 9. What's It Going to Take?
- A Tale of Two Presidents
Chapter 10. An American Energy Policy
- Placing Our Bets on a New Apollo Project
- Lessons of the Mimosa Tree
- Stories from the Field
Epilogue: Launching Apollo
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
On April 22, scientists, science lovers, and others united in marches around the world in the name of science. The largest of the over 600 marches occurred in Washington, DC. This demonstration was particularly important given a political climate which glorifies "alternative facts," and which many fear will lead to scientific data being censored, dismissed, or even destroyed for contradicting political or business interests. To show our support for truth, a few Island Press (IP) staff members and authors made their way to D.C. and took to the streets for the March for Science. Here is what some authors had to say, along with photos of the event that IP staffer Maureen Gately captured.
“As times goes on, as the glaciers recede, as the tundra melts, as the oceans acidify, we must turn more and more to the most enlightening people on the planet - scientists! We need their voices in congress, in state legislatures, in city council meetings, in town hall meetings, and in every corner of the social networks. This has always been true, but never more so than in this unfortunate time of being faced simultaneously with the twin threats of climate change and the willful ignorance represented by climate denial. Thank scientists for their research, but doubly thank them for sharing their knowledge with the public, and triply thank them if they run for office!”
-Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington State, and author of Apollo's Fire
"Despite only covering a few blocks, the March was surprisingly exhausting. When we finally careened to a halt in a parking lot in front of the capital, my jeans were soaked, my throat was hoarse, my cell phone was about dead. I didn't bring my own sign, but a little girl lent me hers, dripping green magic marker. Good thing Maureen Gately brought a goofy umbrella that was easy to spot. We tumbled into Union Pub and I seem to remember that everyone who was there including me somehow agreed it was the best grilled cheese we'd ever had"
-Marc Kuchner, author of Marketing for Scientists
Do you have any reflections on the March for Science? If so, share them in the comments below.
Before Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced his decision to run for President, he and co-author Bracken Hendricks sought to unite our nation by rekindling a sense of common cause around America's clean energy economy. America’s energy and environmental problems will not be solved simply through a light bulb push at Wal-Mart or Live Earth concerts, it will take a dramatic and fundamental economic shift. In Apollo’s Fire, Inslee and Hendricks join their experience, expertise, and passion for a clean energy future to lay out the path to stop global warming and gain energy independence. The book includes a foreword by then-President Bill Clinton echoing the authors’ belief that such a shift offers tremendous economic growth potential for America.
Inslee and Hendricks make the point that a clean energy revolution is not simply needed to address our growing environmental problems and achieve energy independence, it aksi holds the potential to create a new era of economic expansion, good jobs, and strong communities. A clean energy transformation will yield rich rewards, but that America needs a new vision, one that is rooted in innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Check out the Chapter 9 “What's It Going to Take?” below, or download the PDF here.
