| Green, Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad | 
 enlarge | Author: Christine Catherine Macdonald
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 48231
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 1599214369
Dewey Decimal Number: 333.7206073
EAN: 9781599214368
ASIN: 1599214369
Publication Date: September 16, 2008
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Product Description
In spring 2006, Christine MacDonald left journalism for a dream job at Conservation International, one of the world’s largest environmental organizations. Soon after reporting to the group's Washington offices, however, she realized that something is rotten in today's clubby world of conservationists.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Reverse Greenwash December 12, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book usefully (at first) raises many important issues that might make passionate environmentalists uncomfortable and inspire them to look at their activism in a new light. Conservation organizations have become dependent on large donations from corporate polluters who then mislead the public about their "green" contributions. MacDonald also sheds light on some other unintended consequences like the gamesmanship of carbon credits and the displacement of indigenous peoples from third-world preservation zones sponsored by first-world NGOs.
With that being said, MacDonald claims to be an environmental insider and investigative journalist. But she only succeeds in finger-pointing and scape-goating, and offers absolutely no viable solutions to the problems raised (loudly) throughout the book. One is reminded of a pampered college freshman who learns for the first time that there are problems in the world, and then believes she's making a real difference by simply raving about how poorly-defined villains should be stopped. This type of thinking carries no understanding of the longstanding systematic trends of politics and economics that are at the root of current problems and which would need serious long-term reforms before huge global challenges are resolved.
Like MacDonald, many nature lovers would like to see conservation organizations end their relationships with polluting industries and stop allowing those corporate oligarchs to misuse the spirit of conservation for their own marketing purposes. But unlike MacDonald, many are also aware that we live in a globalized economy with an unfair distribution of wealth and political power, and passionate citizens have to resort to fighting fire with fire. MacDonald equally loathes money-hungry conservationists who have sold out their principles, and power-hungry corporations that abuse the public trust and pretend to be green for the PR benefits. So she blames both, inconsistently, as if they were equally culpable.
MacDonald's unsupported polemics are exemplified in one key passage in Chapter 11, noting that a few scientists have recently found reason to doubt whether all types of trees effectively sequester carbon and thus reduce global warming. MacDonald uses this slight uncertainty to accuse Ducks Unlimited of "misleading" its partners in a years-old voluntary tree-planting program. Earlier, in Chapter 5 MacDonald generally condemns the entire worldwide environmental community for ineffectiveness because environmental problems still exist. In all cases, MacDonald's culprit is money, but she's got no solutions other than finger-pointing at interested conservationists, blaming them for failing to miraculously solve deeply entrenched problems caused by systematic structures in international economics and politics.
So with this disappointing book, the "environmental insider" has merely given ammunition to anti-environmentalists who pounce upon the occasional errors in judgment by conservationists who are forced to work in a political and economic world they never made. Also note that MacDonald's opinions have been made available to the public by an organization she criticizes, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), which endorsed the recycled paper in this book. [~doomsdayer520~]
 Disgruntled ex-employee? December 4, 2008
A sure sign of what's coming is when the author claims no ill-will after losing her job. And it only goes downhill from there. The point of this book seems to be to slam organizations that have grown beyond their birkenstocks. Most of the book revolves around Conservation International - yet 2 of the authors key interviews are with disgruntled ex-CI employees (this is fact, not supposition); and not much fact nor balance about CI or the others. Considering that these environmental groups have brought millions to their causes, positively affected thousands and thousands of lives, protected countless hectares, species, and communities; and drastically changed government and World Bank policies - we could all do without the limited perspective of this disillusioned, disgruntled supposedly objective book.
 Good anecdotal details on a subject better and earlier covered elsewhere November 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Green Inc. is a good insider's look at the problems with Gang Green.
That said, if you find much of what Christine MacDonald has written, as far as broader issues, either new or shocking, you obviously needed to be shocked.
Jeffrey St. Clair has been extensively tackling the problems of the domestic-focused portions of Gang Green (which obviously doesn't include the Conservation International where MacDonald worked) for a decade, and in great detail for much of that time.
That said, although MacDonald is tardy to the game, and writes a slim book not much longer than a two-issue magazine expose, she does have a few good points.
One is the salary structure. Contrary to another reviewer here, the highest-paid Gang Gree CEOs don't get $350K, they get $800K. And, even in NYC of SF, $800K is a LOT of scratch.
Two is her look at the international scene on US/Western European Gang Gree folks in developing nations is an area St. Clair hasn't at all covered.
The fact that native activists, in many places, basically detest Gang Green operatives and organizations SHOULD BE an eye-opener to the enviro groups that make up Gang Green. But, it's not.
In fact, in many cases, they say local activists have brought this on themselves.
That said, there's one error of fact and a couple of grammar in the book.
Texas' state bird is the mockingbird, not the Attwater prairie chicken. Where MacDonald got that idea, I don't know.
"Ally," the word she uses in one place, is NOT "allay."
And, it's a minor spelling mistake, but about a HUGE word in global warming - its "Arctic," not "artic" (sic on the lack of capitalization by MacDonald, too).
The mistakes and slim size alone would have knocked this book off the five-star level.
It's a solid 3.5 stars or a bit above, as is. We still can't do half-star ratings here, so it gets bumped to a 4.
For more on Gang Green, including its membership list, go to SourceWatch.org
Clearly there is something terribly wrong with this picture! November 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Big cars, fancy office, lots of talk and nothing to show for it." This scathing indictment of the environmental group Conservation International was made by United Nations investigators during a 2006 probe into the disappearance of funds earmarked for a community marine center in the island nation of Papua New Guinea. It seems that the project ran out of money while Conservation International executives were squandering huge sums on frivilous things. There is mounting evidence that this was by no means an islolated incident. Christine MacDonald is a journalist who has worked for such prominent newspapers as The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Morning News. In 2006 MacDonald decided to give up reporting to accept a job as a manager with Conservation International's Global Communications Division. What she would discover during her brief stint with this organization would greatly disturb her. "Green Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How A Good Cause Has Gone Bad" chronicles what Christine MacDonald has uncovered about some of the world's largest and best known environmental organizations. What she has to say will likely shake your confidence in these organizations to the core!
"Green, Inc" focuses the spotlight on some of the most familiar and trusted environmental organizations in the nation including Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, The Natural Resources Defense Council, The Conservation Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, National Audubon Society, and Greenpeace. What Christine MacDonald discovered is that many of these organizations accept donations from some of the world's most notorious polluters including E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., General Electric, Eastman Kodak, Nissan, Dow Chemical, Wal-Mart and even ExxonMobil of Exxon Valdez fame. The highly compensated leaders of these environmental behemoths justify these relationships by making the argument that such relationships only serve to encourage these companies to operate in a more environmental friendly manner. Sadly, the preponderance of available evidence would suggest otherwise. Most of these companies appear to enter into such agreements primarily for public relations reasons.
In the meantime, Christine MacDonald spends a considerable amount of time in "Green, Inc." focusing on the pay, perks and extravagant lifestyles of many of the CEO's and top executives of these same environmental organizations. Many of these individuals earn salaries in excess of $350,000 placing them in the top 1% of all U.S. taxpayers. Even more outrageous is the fact that the CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Foundation, Steven Henderson, and James Maddy at the National Park Foundation both earn in excess of $800,000 in salary and fringe benefits! And when you discover some of the frivolous perks and exotic junkets that some of these folks partake in one really does have to wonder just what the priorities are.
In the book, Christine MacDonald points out that there are more than 12,000 environmental non-profits operating in America today. One has to wonder why we need so many of these organizations in the first place. What "Green Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How A Good Cause Has Gone Bad" makes crystal clear is that considerable reform is needed in the structure and oversight of many of these organizations. "Green Inc." also serves as a warning to those who donate to such groups: Donor beware! At this point I would certainly refrain from financially supporting many of these organizations. This a real shame because there are a great many dedicated people hard at work in the lower echelons of these organizations who will suffer from the negative publicity generated by this book. Other pertinent issues covered in the book are open-pit mines, urban sprawl, the whole idea of "sustainable growth" and something called "greenwashing". "Green, Inc." takes a comprehensive look at these and many other important issues.
Is "Green, Inc." nothing more than sour grapes from a disgruntled ex-employee or is Christine MacDonald on to something here? Read her book and judge for yourself. In my opinion, "Green, Inc: An Environmental Insider Reveals How A Good Cause Has Gone Bad" is a book well worth your time and careful consideration. Highly recommended!
 Eye opening! October 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A controversial topic will always attract negative reviews. I applaud this author for taking the time to bring awareness to little known facts. Well worth the read!
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