By Linda E. Platts
Greenhaven Press has launched a new series of books for young people called "Critical Thinking about Environmental Issues." Unlike many environmental books found in schools today, this series offers objective and balanced discussions of controversial issues. PERC Senior Associate Jane S. Shaw is the editor for the series as well as the author of this book.
Each book squarely addresses the controversies surrounding its topic. In Forest Fires, Platts examines the issue of whether forest fires are a natural and necessary function to achieve healthy forests. She discusses the threat wildfires present to human life and property as well as the alternatives to fire such logging and thinning the forests. She discusses how scientists are exploring the question of whether fires should be allowed to burn and risks to human health.
Greenhaven Press
Farmington Hills, Michigan
2004, 96 pp.
$18

Founded 30 years ago in Bozeman, Montana, PERC—the Property and Environment Research Center—is the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to improving environmental quality through property rights and markets.
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