journey to the short grass, and ghosts - and then back to the east

I went on a journey this autumn, through a real landscape, a metaphorical one, and a literary one. 

 

These four books (below) were parts of the third component. The physical landscape was shortgrass prairie in northeastern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming, southwestern South Dakota, and northwestern Nebraska. There are a lot of missing pieces: one can cover many miles without encountering native people, or bison - and some native bird species are also less common and widespread than formerly. Parts of the landscape are altered in a very thorough sense. In other places, except for the lack of bison and native people, one can get at least a "feel" of the land.

Sandoz wrote Crazy Horse many years ago. But through her words, we can remember how things were. Nerburn's books - especially the trilogy below, bring us closer to present time, but with a hard look at how we have affected generations of native people in cruel and merciless ways.

And yet we're not done, it seems.  Nerburn's books will possibly make you uncomfortable if you're white - and most of us are sorely unaware of many of the things happening in "Indian country" over the past 80-90 years. If you're curious about these facts and the stories where they are embedded, please read one or two or more of them.

Then travel east to Maine, for the PBS production "Dawnland" - for an eye-opening hour:
 http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/dawnland/

The Ashes of Autumn

A coat-of-many-colors
is the ash in autumn.
Will we treasure them 
When their numbers, now
are fewer?
I love their palette,
Ranging from still-green
shades, to gold, orange, and
Purple...exquisite hues.

Ecocentrism: what it is, why scientists & philosophers share in it

"The debate about why we ought to protect nature is much older than the field of conservation science." So say John J. Piccolo, Haydn Washington, Helen Kopnina, and Bron Taylor, in their paper: "Why conservation scientists should re‐embrace their ecocentric roots" in the journal Conservation Biology.

"Although ecosystem‐services arguments may play an important role in stemming the biodiversity crisis, a true transformation of humanity's relationship with nature ought to be based in part on ecocentric valuation. Conservation scientists have played a leading role in initiating this transformation, and they ought to continue to do so."


Read the paper at:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13067

Nature and the Serious Business of Joy

USFWS photo via Wikimedia Commons

Read about Rachel Carson's eloquent look at how we perceive the natural world in this article:

https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/06/07/michael-mccarthy-the-moth-snowstorm-nature-joy/

"There can be occasions when we suddenly and involuntarily find ourselves loving the natural world with a startling intensity, in a burst of emotion which we may not fully understand, and the only word that seems to me to be appropriate for this feeling is joy."

We've never needed this realization more than we do now.

let it take hold of you: The Overstory, by Richard Powers

If you read the first 15 pages of Richard Power's novel, The Overstory, I'm betting you won't turn back.

Read about it:
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/19/602903697/novelist-richard-powers-finds-new-stories-deep-in-old-growth-forests

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/08/the-overstory-richard-powers-review

More on sustainable seafood

 "All reputable seafood guides are based on science. Take these three for example – Seafood Watch, the Safina Center at Stony Brook University's seafood ratings guide, and the Environmental Defense Fund's Seafood Selector. All three use scientific data from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which relies on a team of more than 20 scientists who weigh factors like fish population, harm to habitat, harm to other species, and management practices to determine the sustainability of a fishery. These factors produce ratings of green (best), yellow (good alternative), or red (avoid). Despite this shared source of data, the guides offer similar but different advice."

 How to unpack this information:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/03/15/520023117/i-want-to-eat-fish-responsibly-but-the-seafood-guides-are-so-confusing

Historical photo John Nathan Cobb; Wikim. Comm.

Seafood: know what you're buying and eating

This is an update to a post from 2016: http://ontothepath.blogspot.com/2016/06/seafood-where-does-yours-come-from-is.html

Human Rights and Seafood
 Learning about slavery and seafood in 2018:
 Was Your Seafood Caught With Slave Labor?
 https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/01/582214032/was-your-seafood-caught-with-slave-labor-new-database-helps-retailers-combat-abu

Sustainable Seafood

The Monterey Bay Aquarium SEAFOOD WATCH - Eco-certification
 https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/eco-certification

Greenpeace - Ensuring Sustainable Seafood
 https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/oceans/sustainable-seafood/

human activity speeding the decline of Earth’s biodiversity

 "Healing Earth is an environmental science e-textbook written by women and men who share this awe and concern for the natural world. We are an international group of scientists and humanists who imagine—and work for—a cleaner and healthier planet. We are delighted you are exploring Healing Earth and we invite you to join your hopes for a healthy planet with ours."

 A "second aim of Healing Earth is to help you think ethically as you study environmental science, to reflect on the major moral questions in each chapter topic from the standpoint of a coherent environmental ethic."

Here is the chapter on Biodiversity and Ethics:
https://healingearth.ijep.net/biodiversity/biodiversity-and-ethics

See the entire online resource at  https://healingearth.ijep.net/

 

Defending Biodiversity - new book

A challenging but powerful new book.

Review:

"Imagine that you are an environmentalist who passionately believes that it is wrong to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. How do you convince someone that a decision to drill is wrong? Debates about the environment and how humans ought to treat it have gone on for decades, yet arguments in favor of preserving biodiversity often lack empirical substance or are philosophically naïve, making them far less effective than they could be. This book critically examines arguments that are commonly offered in support of biodiversity conservation. The authors adopt a skeptical viewpoint to thoroughly test the strength of each argument and, by demonstrating how scientific evidence can be integrated with philosophical reasoning, they help environmentalists to better engage with public debate and judiciously inform public policy. " (from http://www.goreadabook.org/book/1295517889/defending-biodiversity )