One of my favorite reads, definitely a conversation starter, is
The Control of Nature by John McPhee. A bestselling account of places in
the world where people have been engaged in all-out battles with nature.
It is a surprisingly easy and engaging read, and especially for new
adults, it really opens your eyes to what kinds of large-scale operations
are undertaken to control our environment. It provides fuel for an
interesting conversation - maybe the biggest question in
'environmentalism' - the dualism of manipulating nature for our benefit
and at the same time to our detriment.
On Thu, 28 Feb 2008, Tracy Bowerman wrote:
When I was 17 my world view was changed dramatically by Gary Snyder's book
of essays, The Practice of the Wild and David Orr's writing (Ecological
Literacy or other books).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kraemer, George" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 1:34 AM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] summer reading with an ecologic/environmental theme
Our campus theme next year will be "environment." Although it's defined
broadly enough to include all constituencies, it presents the opportunity
to
reach about 500 freshmen with a back-door campaign of environmental
literacy.
I am soliciting the ECOLOG group for suggestions for pre-college summer
reading with an environmental theme. It would have to be something that
would capture the minds of 17-18 year olds, and should lend itself to
discussions that might allow diverse discipline to have a say.
Barbara Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer" or Michael Pollan's books came
first
to mind. But there must be other things out there that I've missed.
Since
this might be of interest to others, please respond to the list.
GPK
George P. Kraemer
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology
Chair, Environmental Studies Program Purchase College (SUNY)
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Tracy Bowerman
Graduate Research Assistant
Utah State University
Logan, UT
