Chatting With John and Teresa Heinz Kerry about ‘This Moment On Earth’

John and Teresa Heinz Kerry have been busy, busy, busy the past few days promoting their new environmental book, 'This Moment On Earth,' and included in their interviews was a great little chat with Amanda Griscom Little of Grist.



Little starts out her interview with a nice little quip about how John and Teresa met, and the fact that the "environment brought them together." Both John and Teresa have a rich history as environmentalists and now, Little notes, the "the political power couple has refocused on the issue that inspires them both."

The book is emphatically optimistic about the green movement: "environmentalism isn't dead," they write, "it's just being reborn -- the very idea of what it means to be an 'environmentalist' is being revolutionized. People from all walks of life, without concern for party or ideological lines, are coming together in unprecedented numbers across the globe."

The duo introduce readers to people like Ellen Parker, a social worker from Cape Cod who battles cancer-linked pollutants, and Helen Reddout, an orchard owner in Washington state who struggles against fecal runoff from nearby dairy farms. Better-known figures like attorney and activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and green architect and designer Bill McDonough also make appearances. Throughout, the authors weave in their own experiences with the natural world -- from Heinz Kerry's childhood in the wilds of Mozambique to Sen. Kerry's environmental advocacy on Capitol Hill.

Last week they spoke with me from their home in Washington, D.C., about the characters in their book, their 2004 campaign experience, and the role the environment will play in the next presidential election.

The complete Grist interview is available here.

The Kerry’s also took some time out today to do a conference call with a few bloggers in conjunction with their book tour and their upcoming book signing event on Monday, April 2, at the Bagdad Theatre in Portland, OR. Sandy at LightUpTheDarkness.org has a wonderful post on the conference call here and the Rev. Chuck Currie has a post here with a Podcast of the call here. And Rick Albertson of DCP throws in his 2 cents here. Great stuff from all the bloggers!

'This Moment on Earth' has gained some serious momentum in book sales on Amazon.com since it's release on Monday, as of this posting it's ranked #32 in books and is the #1 bestseller on the Amazon.com in Outdoors & Nature books.



The Kerry's book tour will bring them to Seattle, WA on April 3, Los Angeles on April 4, San Francisco on April 5, Austin, TX on April 6, Santa Fe, NM on April 14, Denver, CO on April 15, and Cambridge, MA on April 21.

I just received my copy of 'This Moment On Earth,' today and I plan on digging into it, as soon as this is posted. I'll be at the Los Angeles book event on April 4th and will have a full report here after the event.

I'm thrilled to see the book great such wonderful reviews and happy to see the Kerry's out making the rounds to promote such an important book with such a powerful message. As John Kerry said in a post on the Daily Kos yesterday, referencing the Bush administration, "that even more dangerous about this administration’s assault on the environment is the assumption on which that assault relies: they think people don’t care...

That’s why Teresa and I spent the last year working on our new book. We want to show the true face of the new environmentalism. We talked to a ton of people who are fighting for a clean, safe, healthy environment. They may not label themselves environmentalists or activists but labels aren’t important. What is important is that we’re all fighting for the same thing: a clean, safe healthy environment.

Finally, I want to remind everyone about Teresa Heinz Kerry's upcoming 11th Annual Conference on Women’s Health and the Environment in Pittsburgh on April 20. The Democratic Daily will be featuring an interview with Teresa Heinz Kerry in conjunction with the conference on April 20.

Every moment on this earth is precious. I learned that as a young child growing up in rural Massachusetts decades ago. My parents, children of the depression era had a great love and respect for the earth, our Mother, that they instilled in each of their four daughters and I in turn have managed to instill in my daughter, living here in Los Angeles. Take the time to treat her well, because truly it is the earth that sustains us.