ABOUT THE BOOK
Ignoring the Evidence:
Glyphosate, Deer and the Abuse of Power
Ignoring the Evidence highlights the journey of Rod Cumberland growing up as the son of a renowned deer hunter in Charlotte County, NB and how he fell in love with both the outdoors, and the white-tailed deer in his younger days. It follows his colorful life growing up in small town NB, the experiences that strengthened him into a person of principle standing up to injustice, following him all the way through his travails through university enroute to becoming the province’s deer specialist. The book uncovers his investigation into dwindling deer numbers across Crown Land in the Province during his tenure at NBDNR. Convinced by the growing evidence that glyphosate spraying was causing dramatic declines in deer food, he embarked on a mission to educate colleagues, government officials and politicians as to the negative impacts, only to become the target of the forestry oligarchy in the province that was highly dependant on the economic benefits from glyphosate use.
Rod became embroiled in the battle for the Conservation Forest in the province and watched as political pressure began to impact the debate, and the careers of colleagues and other professionals in the province. As his career shifted to employment at a forestry college, influence from the powerful forest industry affected management at the college and would cause not only a decline of the college programs, but eventually the career of a well-intentioned professional sticking to his morals, values and evidence.
“Part memoir, part expose – Cumberland lays out a twisted tale of how power and politics and corrupted science endanger our natural world, and how hard it is to fight back.”
—Carey Gillam, investigative journalist and author.
Customer Reviews
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Incredible book! Rod’s are of storytelling is impeccable. Learning about his childhood and what shaped him into the person he needed to be to tackle this. He really paints the pictures in exquisite detail, and you can put yourself in these places with him along the journey. Thank you for bringing more awareness to this topic! Thank you for giving us pieces of you and your story.
Melanie
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is Rod Cumberland’s first published book and is sure to become a classic. Having followed the story of his run-ins with entrenched titans of industry and government as it unfolded in the media, I was eager to learn his side of the story first-hand. In the first part of the book, Rod tells the reader about his experiences growing up in rural New Brunswick, Canada, in the 1960s and 70s. It is a tale rich in emotion and nostalgia, describing how his strong convictions and values were instilled, along with his love of wildlife and the great outdoors. As someone who can relate to the same kind of childhood, spent outside and surrounded by hard-working salt-of-the earth types, I found myself reminiscing a lot about my own formative years. His writing style is engaging, entertaining, and highly illustrative, and I could see him making a foray into fiction someday. The final two parts of the book detail the ethical battles which resulted in him losing two careers within less than a decade, for nothing more than standing up for what he believed in, what was right, and what was true. While the subject matter here is more dense, the author uses suspense and foreshadowing to pull the reader in. In an age where the smartphone has wreaked havoc on my attention span and ability to commit the time necessary to finishing the type of longer book I once churned through regularly, I had no such problems with this one and read the entire 424 pages in a few sessions. All in all, the book was a pleasure to read and provides a fulsome account of the author’s character, motivations, and personality. We often think that political interference and corruption are things that go on in far-away places or big cities but Cumberland’s solid accounting of the facts dispels that notion entirely. The book is both a touching memoir and a rally call to all those who feel that the institutions which made our society great are crumbling. It is hard to read this book and not be motivated to seek out injustice and attempt to correct it, as Rod did despite the great cost to his livelihood and reputation. The last line of the book hints that a sequel is in the works, which I am very much looking forward to!
Jim
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Ignoring the Evidence is one of the best books I have ever read. I can appreciate all the work put in to piecing together years of trying to do a good job and being roadblocked by so many persons of misguided authority. Battling so much greed and insatiable egos. I witnessed much of these types of incidents myself while working in the Forestry/Wildlife sector of NBDNR. So many of us were appalled at the injustices being done. It seemed hopeless to try to stop any of it as the power behind these greed based decisions seemed unstoppable. And being both government and industry they had their bases covered. One can only hope that this extremely well written account of a career that was stomped on by evil doers of this magnitude, will open the door to future inquiries and hold people accountable. In regard to the Maritime Forest Ranger School (now MCFT)- when I attended many years ago, it had a reputation that other learning academies could only dream of. The graduates were highly sought after by companies and governments across the land. Sadly it has lost that status. Many old school grads would not recommend it. The changes and lack of respect that is clearly spoken of in Rod’s book shows it has lost what made it so great.
Gail Duncan
