"Red Diamonds, Grey Gold" is a book about the adventures of a young surveyor in the Amazon rainforest of Venezuela but it is also a stark reminder of what gold mining with mercury pollution is doing to one of the last pristine environments on the planet. Unfortunately since Juan was at the Amazon in the early 80s the situation has deteriorated significantly in this region, particularly due to rampant illegal mining, but also through the industrialization of what was then a rudimentary and artisanal process. Today hundreds of professional grade barges continually pollute the rivers at an alarming rate under the apathetical eye of the authorities. Not only is mercury pollution an issue of great concern, but habitat destruction and excessively high water turbidity are a serious threat to the local ecology and the livelihood of indigenous people ." Dr. Rudolf Jaffe George Barley Professor of Environmental Chemistry Florida International University