Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge - Softcover

Mexico, the home of countless animal and plant species, is the third most biologically diverse nation on the planet. Yet even with growing international concern for biodiversity and habitat preservation, Simon writes, Mexico's environmental crisis continues to worsen. The most obvious problem is air pollution; on windless days, Simon notes, ten thousand tons of "toxic gunk"--made up of car exhaust, industrial particulates, blowing dirt from deforested hillsides, and fecal dust--choke Mexico City's 30 million residents. Other problems are less well known: the continuing destruction of farmland through overgrazing and the devastation of old-growth forests. If matters do not improve, Simon suggests, then Mexicans will continue to flee the site of so much loss for safer, cleaner places--namely, the United States. Environmentalists have much to ponder in Simon's pages.

developing countries everywhere--this comprehensive look at Mexico's environmental crisis shows how a degraded ecosystem gives rise to political turmoil and economic chaos that threaten Mexico's very existence as a state.