Saleem H. Ali’s book “Earthly Order” is out now! All the royalties from the sales will go towards environmental education efforts in Pakistan. Mr. Saleem is a member of APF’s President’s Council and is a Professor of Energy and the Environment at the University of Delaware. He received his doctorate in Environmental Planning from MIT and we are excited to share his incredible findings and work with our readership.
The Covid-19 Pandemic brought forth global anxiety about linkages between the environment and society at a fundamental structural level. "Earthly Order: How Natural Laws Define Human Life" provides an accessible exposition of the latest foundational knowledge on how natural and social systems science can inform planetary crises. Humanity has either tried to conquer or capitulate to natural order, whereas we should be seeking to understand latent structures and patterns that permeate all systems and develop an "earthly order," that is socially functional and sustainable.
Author Saleem H. Ali provides a readable synthesis with practical guidance for the public with a host of current examples around environmental decision-making by consumers, the government and industry. To give one example from his book, in Pakistan landfill waste is often discarded in sewage canals (ganda-nalas), when items like old batteries are discarded in a water body like the sewage canal, lead and other harmful toxins seep into the water system. Water from the sewage canals then seeps in the ground to become the ground water that provides a main source of water for households. When this water is consumed for drinking we have a created a health problem. Groundwater is a necessity, but when toxins meant to be go to landfills mix with the drinking water sources we are left with a health crisis. This problem would not arise if the public and law enforcers had the simple pieces of knowledge needed to make better choices. With knowledge of the consequences of a seemingly innocuous act of mixing solid waste with liquid waste we would be able to prevent an issue from arising. The effort of this book is to bridge such knowledge gaps to help Pakistan and the world move towards an Earthly Order that sustains healthy human life.
Sometimes the solution to a problem is simply having knowledge about where the problem is arising from. We appreciate Mr. Saleem for all his years of work and research that must have gone into writing this comprehensive book uncovering our environmental knowledge gaps.
