Kerry's new book hails everyday people saving the environment

 HYPERLINK "http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/03/10/kerrys_new_book_hails_everyday_people_saving_the_environment/" http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/03/10/kerrys_new_book_hails_everyday_people_saving_the_environment/

By Andrew Miga, Associated Press Writer  

March 10, 2007

WASHINGTON --Sen. John Kerry was dealt a bitter loss in 2004, but he also found inspiration for a new book during the long, grueling presidential campaign.

In town after town, he was deeply moved by the energy and enthusiasm he discovered among everyday citizens who were fighting to save the environment, Kerry said.

"There's real urgency to getting things done," said a relaxed Kerry, who snacked on cookies during a recent interview with The Associated Press in his Senate office. "It's not a Republican-Democrat kind of thing. ... We were inspired by that."

More than two years after his campaign, Kerry celebrates ordinary people who have created innovative solutions to pressing environmental problems in a book co-authored with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. The book is due out later this month.

Many of the new-breed environmentalists profiled in "This Moment on Earth" are pragmatic types who tapped into local, grass roots support to tackle pollution-related problems with little or no government help.

Among those highlighted in the book are a former Marine and ex-commercial fisherman in North Carolina who is targeting local polluters, a fifth-generation New Mexican rancher who took on big energy companies and a young woman in New York's South Bronx who went door-to-door to organize a community waterfront cleanup.

Kerry, D-Mass., said such personal stories struck a deep chord with him.

"I'm inspired by a guy who's a (former) Marine, who's 68 years old and could be sitting on the back porch drinking beer and watching the ballgame and doing a whole bunch of other things, protecting a river every day," he said. "That's pretty inspiring."

Also profiled are Cape Codders Ellen Parker, an oncology social worker, and Cheryl Osimo, a former elementary school teacher, who became alarmed about high breast cancer rates on the Cape. The two women helped form an advocacy group that boosted public awareness of the issue, pushed for a cure and launched research into links between chemicals and cancer.

Kerry hailed the activists as "rock-bed salt-of-the-earth everyday Americans" who are often forced to take action because government isn't doing its job.

"Folks fill the void," he said. "They wind up being the enforcers."

Kerry and his wife have long been active on environmental issues. They met on Earth Day in 1990. Heinz Kerry, who is heir to the Heinz food fortune, has championed environmental causes for many years.

"I think it's a lifetime of experience that brings us to (the book)," he said.

Kerry said frustrations that environmental issues were largely overshadowed during the 2004 campaign also provided motivation for the book.

Kerry, who has decided not to run again for president in 2008, said he will push environmental issues with the current crop of presidential contenders. He plans to send a copy of his book to all the candidates and hopes to meet with them personally.

"I'm going to sit with every one of the candidates and I'm going to urge them with every ounce that I have to make this a central issue," Kerry said. "I think it is critical."

Kerry said that although his 2004 campaign staged events related to environmental issues in every state, it never really stirred voters.

"It's a question of repetition, repetition, repetition," he said.

Kerry said he and his wife have been working to make their homes more energy efficient, and have begun purchasing so-called "carbon offsets." People can buy carbon offsets at a price equal to the amount of global warming pollution they create. The money they pay for the offsets can be an investment in renewable energy projects.

"We now are buying carbon offsets for the things that we do," he said. "And we should. When we fly on the airplane, or when we are in our cars."

Kerry and his wife praise former Vice President Al Gore in their book for stirring public awareness about global climate change with "An Inconvenient Truth," Gore's book and movie, which won an Oscar.

Todd Domke, a veteran GOP analyst in Massachusetts, said Kerry is simply following Gore's lead. He said Kerry's new book is more about image rehabilitation from his losing 2004 campaign than anything else.

"It looks like he's copying Al Gore," Domke said. "The political analysis here is Kerry's looking for global rehabilitation of his image. ... And it's a vehicle for him to still be a player in the (2008) presidential race." INCLUDEPICTURE "http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/File-Based_Image_Resource/dingbat_story_end_icon.gif" \* MERGEFORMATINET