Ask An Environmentalist
Anne Woiwode, director of Michigan's Mackinaw
Chapter of the Sierra Club, picks top five
environmental books.
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| Director Anne Woiwode |
1. The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss (1971):
Where does the grickle-grass grow and the wind smell slow-and-sour? In this cautionary tale of greed and destruction, the author explores how industry and production interfere with preserving the environment.
AW: “We sometimes think that the kinds of concerns we have to have about the environment have to be complex, but Dr. Seuss explains it in a clear and concise way.”
2. A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold (1949):
This non-fiction piece includes Leopold’s observations on the Wisconsin countryside as well as his travels through U.S woodlands.
AW: “It is a simple book, written in small pieces, but it gives you a sense of detail about wild places and things.”
3. The Hidden Forest: The Biography of an Ecosystem, by Jon R. Luoma (2006):
In 1948, the U.S. Forest Service set aside the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon’s Cascade Range as a living laboratory. This book focuses on
how research at the lab is revolutionizing forest management.
AW: “What I particularly like about it is … we often see end products of scientific work, without seeing the missteps. Science is about trial and error. He shows where they got it wrong.”
4. The Diversity of Life, by Edward O. Wilson (1992):
This book follows the evolution and adaptation of species and the cataclysmic events that interfered with them.
AW: Wilson is considered a “premiere scientist in the world on ecosystems and ecology.” Woiwode especially liked the book because he “describes things beautifully.”
5. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan (2006):
The author develops a portrait of the American way of eating by tracing foods from source to table. The result portrays the implications that food choices have on human health and the future of the planet.
AW: “People often feel disconnected from their own impacts. [They think] it’s done by factories and big companies. I’ve yet to read this, but it’s on my table at home.”
Kerri Jo Molitor is a freshman studying journalism at MSU. This is her first appearance in EJ. Contact her at molitork@msu.edu
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