I recently came across a recycled paperback titled "Moment in the Sun: A Report on the Deteriorating Quality of the American Environment." What is notable about the book is that it was published in 1967, and it was a best seller at the time, early on in the environmental movement here in the United States. While I don't recommend it as a must-read, I do think it is worthwhile to know about from an historical perspective.

It was written by a husband and wife team of scientists, Robert Rienow and Leona Train Rienow. When I picked it up, I assumed that it would be outdated and irrelevant to my understanding of environmental issues. However, the opposite was true. I found the book highly informative in terms of contextualizing where we are in the longer-term environmental protection movement. This book was written before Earth Day became a thing, and before Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" brought climate change into the mainstream consciousness.

I would recommend it for anyone who is interested in studying the longer historical perspective on the environmental movement. I think the book is noteworthy for its success at the time, as it was a call to action that helped galvanize the environmental movement in the 1970s. It has a scathing tone that asks us why we have allowed our environment to be threatened while society pursues a "creed of exploitation". It discusses how Lake Erie is a "gummy morass" and how the Hudson River is a "sewer."

It has an inflammatory quality combined with careful research that together shocked many people into action. Sometimes people need to be outraged in order to get motivated. As a result, I think the book is a reference point as we contemplate how to rally together as citizens to help our environment today. What will be the next "Moment in the Sun" or "Inconvenient Truth" that will be written by someone in this century to mobilize people into action?