The Environment 4 Books on a Big Topic

The Environment 4 Books on a Big Topic It seems like its been never-ending, hasnt it? First the big recent hurricanes, and then the wildfires. People say the environment has gone crazy, as if Mother Nature could be diagnosed with a mental illness. If were to take the analogy a step further, then wed need to consider treatment. How do you work with a planet that is ill? First, by acknowledging our hand in it, and second, by figuring out what we can do. In a small effort to take responsibility, and because I have just moved to the state where Arbor Day was invented, I have chosen my monthly column to be about the environment. Below, youll find two fiction and two nonfiction books, each of which grapples with our environment in a different way. Please recommend books in the comments that youd add to this reading list! fiction Terrene: the Hidden Valley  by Eric Liu Eric Liu takes on the subject of the environment in this blend of science fiction and fantasy. Flora Karachi lives a double life. In one, she is Flora, living in a world where technology isnt made, but grown. Think organic Battlestar Galactica stuff, but even more so. But in this world, Flora blacks out often, and is an outcast for it. In her blackouts, in another world, Flora is living another life entirely. She is Jane Ingram, a climate scientist living in the US. In both worlds, Flora fights to protect the earth, and in this fight, shell discover the dangerous ties between her realities. All Over Creation  by Ruth Ozeki Focusing on a smaller space than the grand  Terrene,  we have this gorgeous novel by Ruth Ozeki. Yumi Fuller is from a potato-farming community in Idaho, and shes glad to say  from,  as in,  doesnt live there anymore.  Its been 25 years, in fact, since shes seen the place. But with her parents on their deathbeds, shes returned, and will have to face the life she ran away from when she was 15. But theres a lot to distract her from her personal issues, namely the encroachment of Big Farming. The agribusiness is corporate and cold and doesnt understand potatoes, the activists in town protesting would say. Getting wrapped up in the drama, Yumi has to admit theres no place like home not that thats necessarily a good thing. nonfiction Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility  by Dorceta E. Taylor Heres the thing about the environment: it affects everyone. And the more privileged you are, often the less you have to think about it because other people do that work for you. In  Toxic Communities,  Dr. Taylor examines communities across the US living in dangerously polluted areas due to economic segregation and zoning issues that predictably make wealthier communities cleaner. In the field of environmental justice, she introduces new theories on environmental racism, and is an important scholar to keep track of. Silent Spring  by Rachel Carson This book is outdated. Very much so. But that doesnt matter: its a classic of environmental justice literature. Published originally as several essays in  The New Yorker,  the book looks at the danger of pesticides, but goes beyond that. Carson looks at humans, how we affect the environment in general. In beautiful prose, Carson details the effects pesticides have on both nature and humans. She called for real life changes. Even years and years later, when many of those changes have been made, the book is relevant. Were still seeing how big corporations and companies fight to keep information from us. We still see the negative impact we have on the environment.