"Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides".they all have one purpose only-- to kill life," writes Firstenberg. "Biocides are everywhere. Our farmland is saturated with them, and therefore our groundwater, rivers, and lakes are contaminated with them."
Firstenberg offers many actions that need to be taken.
He ends "The Earth and I" by declaring that, as for an "addiction".to give one up usually requires recognizing that the dysfunction and disease it is causing are threatening one's life. That has been part of the purpose of this book, to document the disease and connect it home to its causes. The book has also searched below the surface, both inwardly and outwardly, among our sciences and our cultural institutions, for clues to a better understanding of our place in the ecology of the world."
The founder of the Environmental Health Trust, Dr. Devra Davis, said of Firstenberg's death: "The world has lost a pioneer who leaves an invaluable legacy."
Tributes to Firstenberg have come through the years from Dr. William Morton of Oregon Health Sciences University who has said Firstenberg's "work is absolutely essential."
Chellis Glendinning, Ph.D. and author of the book "When Technology Wounds," has said: "Firstenberg is a pioneer in the sense that Rachel Carson was a pioneer."
Teddy Goldsmith, founder of The Ecologist magazine, has said Firstenberg's "cause is a most important one".You mustn't give up."
Gar Smith, long editor of Earth Island Journal, said: "He is one of my valued contributors and a personal hero."
In addition to his books, Firstenberg wrote articles for The New York Times, Mother Jones, Earth Island Journal, The Ecologist, Village Voice, Utne Reader, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Daily News, among other publications.
As an activist, he founded and was president of the Cellular Phone Task Force and administrator of the International Appeal to Stop 5G on Earth and in Space.
Born in Brooklyn, New York to survivors of the Holocaust, Firstenberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University and attended the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, but injury by what he attributed to an x-ray overdose cut short his medical career.
Firstenberg was a resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico starting in 2005. The newspaper Santa Fe New Mexican reported that "people-- some from overseas-- have appended their condolences to an online obituary, remembering him." Comments, it said, included: "What a shining light to the world you were; trying to help save mankind, along with the planet and all of its creatures." Another person wrote: "Your devotion to the welfare of all of us is endlessly appreciated. We honor your life and memory as we continue your good work."
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