Books & Blog Carnivals

Should PinesAboveSnow host a nature book blog carnival? My blogging mentor says yes, having just hosted his first, a far-ranging gathering of posts on political conflicts large and small over at Talk-Lab. Now Mike over at 10,000 Birds has posted Top Five Ways Blog Carnivals Make Blogging Better. Carnivals, says Mike, increase traffic and links to your site but also nurture more personal connections and even lead to the development of community. As he puts it, “Many successful blog carnivals provide the nucleus for genuine online communities that often translate to gratifying offline networks.” Since creating an on- & off-line community of nature book aficionados & activists is one of my goals of PinesAboveSnow, maybe a carnival would be a good idea.

I’d be delighted to hear what others think about the possibilities of a nature book carnival. At the moment, I’ll just keep my eyes open as I click around the blogsophere (especially at existing carnivals) for good book-related writing out there. Today, I found via Tangled Bank a review of Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action by J. Matthew Sleeth. Posted by Jeremy at Voltage Gate, the review turns a skeptical eye on the recent flurry of evangelical conservatives converting to the environmental cause. While Jeremy applauds the book’s anti-materialist ethical stance, he cringes at its anti-science undercurrents. He writes, “Without good science, however, we have no basis for making any decisions regarding the environment, moral or not.” Given the growing numbers of fundamentalist churches espousing green-er views, and the deepening need to work with everyone toward environmental solutions, this is an especially welcome analysis. Also welcome will be the series of reviews of popular conservation and ecology books being promised by Voltage Gate. I’ll keep checking in for ‘em.

And I would be remiss not to mention a carnival with a post from PAS, Learning in the Great Outdoors. You’ll also find there posts on how to do some nature writing of your own, via journaling, and environmental book recommendations from an experienced educator, plus a link to yet another blog carnival, Festival of Trees. With so much cool stuff out there, it’s no wonder I need your help to find good book reviews and other writing about writing out there. Thanks!

No (Book) Impact Man

Who wouldn't want to read almost daily about "A guilty liberal [who] finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, composts his poop and, while living in New York City, generally turns into a tree-hugging lunatic"? That irresistible character is No Impact Man, author of one of my very favorite blogs. Since his posts started arriving in my inbox a month ago, NIM has chronicled adventures such as saving electricity by stomping his laundry like grapes in the tub and waxed philosophic about the pollution-induced death of a minke whale in New York harbor. Though I sometimes can't even imagine following his example (we have wayward ants, but no composting worms, in our kitchen), he always gives me something to ponder and often a laugh or two.

You can imagine my suspense upon reading today's headline--"Worse Than Giving up Toilet Paper." What could be worse? NIM is starting a new phase of his energy-efficient living experiment, which he calls the "sustainable consumption stage." A writer and book glutton of long standing, NIM began seeing his bulging shelves as antithetical to his sustainability goals. Yet the prospect of parting with objects of such varied and rich values left him feeling panicked. Will NIM get rid of some or all of his treasured books? Should others seeking to save the planet follow suit? And what should be done with books demeaned unworthy of one's own shelves? I won't spoil his story by telling you. But I'd love to hear what you think about his decision and about the comments on that thread of NIM's discussion. Like NIM, I think that what to do about buying, keeping, and purging accumulated books are vital questions in determining how books can and could be used to slow climate change and generally save the earth.

Urban Campus--People & Nature in Place

Writing is keeping me mostly indoors this weekend. I’m hurrying to catch up on a couple of projects, and this morning I attended a children’s book writers’ brunch. Luckily, the latter event was held at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. Founded in 1867, it’s a small, liberal arts college perched on a hill overlooking rural (but rapidly suburbanizing) countryside. My college-hunting elder daughter might say the architecture is “too red brick-y,” but the pastoral landscaping was a welcome respite from the classroom today. My relief outdoors reminded me of Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted’s belief in the restorative power of natural scenery. As he put it, “The enjoyment of scenery employs the mind without fatigue and yet exercises it; tranquilizes and yet enlivens it; and thus, through the influence of the mind over the body gives the effect of refreshing rest and reinvigoration of the whole system.”

Which brings me to a recent post by my blogging mentor over at Talk-Lab. The Speeker argues that cars, among their many detriments, divide our communities, and it’s time to redesign cities to look and function more like car-free college campuses. McDaniel’s grounds exemplify that ideal. We left our cars behind and climbed uphill to a separate space, with lawns for Frisbee or picnics, shaded benches for chatting, and nooks for admiring sculpture or views of the Catoctin Mountains. Just one road would have disrupted the paradoxically tranquilizing and enlivening atmosphere that students, faculty, and visitors find so valuable to learning and enjoying a day.

Which brings me to a recent book by my grad school advisor, Stephen R. Kellert: Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection(Island Press, 2005). A sociologist, Kellert goes beyond the laudable efforts of other authors who advocate “green” building technologies and materials to focus on the need to design buildings, neighborhoods, and cities that bring humans into contact with nature. Kellert accepts E.O. Wilson’s contention that humans have an evolutionary need for natural experiences, and here he presents research and theory elucidating how our lives are diminished by a built environment that ignores these needs. His aim is to ensure that good ideas, such as The Speeker’s, to improve our cities, go further through what he calls “restorative environmental design.” In Kellert's view, redesign is not an aesthetic or technological issue but a fundamental need for individual health and social function. And reading Kellert’s visionary work, I’m reminded that Aldo Leopold attended high school on a campus designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Coincidence?

Outdoor Online Book Clubs

Frustrating! Just when it’s almost impossible to stay inside hooked to the internet, I’m signing on for another online book club. This one’s at Crunchy Chicken and will be discussing Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A History of Four Meals. Published in spring, 2006 to much excitement, Omnivore’s Dilemma takes an uncommonly close look at that most prosaic question, “What shall we have for dinner?” Though I haven’t read Pollan’s latest book, The Washington Post says of him, “His cause is just, his thinking is clear, and his writing is compelling.” Crunchy Chicken has already posted questions to stimulate lively discussion, and I hope to join you over there to exchanges views on what we should eat and where it should come from.


Since March, I’ve also been immersed in an online book discussion focusing on Rachel Carson’s works. That group got started in March, so you’ll have to check the book club archives to read our chats about Silent Spring. But now we’re reading a brand new book of essays, Courage for the Earth: Writers, Scientists, and Activists Celebrate the Life and Writing of Rachel Carson about Carson’s impact, 45 years after her landmark book appeared. That book I have read, but I don’t want to prejudice your approach to it with a rave review here. Instead, I’ll rave about the group, especially as a place to interact with expert moderators, notably Linda Lear, Carson’s esteemed biographer, and Freeman House, author of one of the most disturbing but eloquent essays in Courage for the Earth. Looking closely at Carson’s work with the help of these guides and companions for two months has led me to a deeper appreciation of her as a scientist, activist, writer, and emblem of hope. If any fellow RC Book Clubbers are reading this, thanks!


Two other online nature book opportunities are worth mentioning. Sierra Magazine has an online book and film club, Let’s Talk. All I know so far is that the May/June selection is a film about environmental justice issues related to the coffee trade, called Black Gold. And novelist & essayist Barbara Kingsolver was on a radio talk show today to publicize her new book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, about her family’s experiment in eating locally. I only heard snatches of the conversation, but one cool twist that I haven’t heard from other “locavores” is that the Kingsolver clan is raising heirloom poultry as part of their culinary adventures. If you’d like to tune into the show, however belatedly, visit the WAMU radio archives. Maybe you can download it to your iPod and listen outdoors.