9781478975755
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A Terrible Thing to Waste audiobook

  • By: Harriet A. Washington
  • Narrator: Ron Butler
  • Length: 10 hours 13 minutes
  • Publisher: Hachette Audio
  • Publish date: July 23, 2019
  • Language: English
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(962 ratings)
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A Terrible Thing to Waste Audiobook Summary

A “powerful and indispensable” look at the devastating consequences of environmental racism (Gerald Markowitz) — and what we can do to remedy its toxic effects on marginalized communities.

Did you know…

  • Middle-class African American households with incomes between $50,000 and $60,000 live in neighborhoods that are more polluted than those of very poor white households with incomes below $10,000.
  • When swallowed, a lead-paint chip no larger than a fingernail can send a toddler into a coma — one-tenth of that amount will lower his IQ.
  • Nearly two of every five African American homes in Baltimore are plagued by lead-based paint. Almost all of the 37,500 Baltimore children who suffered lead poisoning between 2003 and 2015 were African American.


From injuries caused by lead poisoning to the devastating effects of atmospheric pollution, infectious disease, and industrial waste, Americans of color are harmed by environmental hazards in staggeringly disproportionate numbers. This systemic onslaught of toxic exposure and institutional negligence causes irreparable physical harm to millions of people across the country-cutting lives tragically short and needlessly burdening our health care system. But these deadly environments create another insidious and often overlooked consequence: robbing communities of color, and America as a whole, of intellectual power.

The 1994 publication of The Bell Curve and its controversial thesis catapulted the topic of genetic racial differences in IQ to the forefront of a renewed and heated debate. Now, in A Terrible Thing to Waste, award-winning science writer Harriet A. Washington adds her incisive analysis to the fray, arguing that IQ is a biased and flawed metric, but that it is useful for tracking cognitive damage. She takes apart the spurious notion of intelligence as an inherited trait, using copious data that instead point to a different cause of the reported African American-white IQ gap: environmental racism – a confluence of racism and other institutional factors that relegate marginalized communities to living and working near sites of toxic waste, pollution, and insufficient sanitation services. She investigates heavy metals, neurotoxins, deficient prenatal care, bad nutrition, and even pathogens as chief agents influencing intelligence to explain why communities of color are disproportionately affected — and what can be done to remedy this devastating problem.

Featuring extensive scientific research and Washington’s sharp, lively reporting, A Terrible Thing to Waste is sure to outrage, transform the conversation, and inspire debate.

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A Terrible Thing to Waste Audiobook Narrator

Ron Butler is the narrator of A Terrible Thing to Waste audiobook that was written by Harriet A. Washington

About the Author(s) of A Terrible Thing to Waste

Harriet A. Washington is the author of A Terrible Thing to Waste

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A Terrible Thing to Waste Full Details

Narrator Ron Butler
Length 10 hours 13 minutes
Author Harriet A. Washington
Publisher Hachette Audio
Release date July 23, 2019
ISBN 9781478975755

Subjects

The publisher of the A Terrible Thing to Waste is Hachette Audio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Science, Environmental Science

Additional info

The publisher of the A Terrible Thing to Waste is Hachette Audio. The imprint is Little, Brown & Company. It is supplied by Hachette Audio. The ISBN-13 is 9781478975755.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

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