Half-Earth by Edward O. Wilson

 

Summary (Amazon): 

In his most urgent book to date, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and world-renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson states that in order to stave off the mass extinction of species, including our own, we must move swiftly to preserve the biodiversity of our planet. In this "visionary blueprint for saving the planet" (Stephen Greenblatt), Half-Earth argues that the situation facing us is too large to be solved piecemeal and proposes a solution commensurate with the magnitude of the problem: dedicate fully half the surface of the Earth to nature. Identifying actual regions of the planet that can still be reclaimed―such as the California redwood forest, the Amazon River basin, and grasslands of the Serengeti, among others―Wilson puts aside the prevailing pessimism of our times and "speaks with a humane eloquence which calls to us all"

Edward Wilson Biodiversity Foundation: https://www.half-earthproject.org/; https://eowilsonfoundation.org/half-earth-our-planet-s-fight-for-life/

Reviews:

1. The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/11/half-earth-planets-fight-for-life-edward-o-wilson-review

2. Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/edward-o-wilson/half-earth/

3. NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/01/science/e-o-wilson-half-earth-biodiversity.html

(NY Times)

Interview:

PBS: https://www.half-earthproject.org/half-earth-book/#pbs

October 22, 2021 Half Earth Day Virtual Summit

 Registration: https://eowilsonfoundation.org/page/4/

Bialowieza Forest (Wilderness Society)

Discussion Questions:

French Guiana (wiki)

Erosion: Essays of Undoing by Terry Tempest Williams

 

Summary: (Amazon) Terry Tempest Williams's fierce, spirited, and magnificent essays are a howl in the desert. She sizes up the continuing assaults on America's public lands and the erosion of our commitment to the open space of democracy. She asks: "How do we find the strength to not look away from all that is breaking our hearts?"

We know the elements of erosion: wind, water, and time. They have shaped the spectacular physical landscape of our nation. Here, Williams bravely and brilliantly explores the many forms of erosion we face: of democracy, science, compassion, and trust. She examines the dire cultural and environmental implications of the gutting of Bear Ears National Monument―sacred lands to Native Peoples of the American Southwest; of the undermining of the Endangered Species Act; of the relentless press by the fossil fuel industry that has led to a panorama in which "oil rigs light up the horizon." And she testifies that the climate crisis is not an abstraction, offering as evidence the drought outside her door and, at times, within herself.

These essays are Williams's call to action, blazing a way forward through difficult and dispiriting times. We will find new territory―emotional, geographical, communal. The erosion of desert lands exposes the truth of change. What has been weathered, worn, and whittled away is as powerful as what remains. Our undoing is also our becoming.

Erosion is a book for this moment, political and spiritual at once, written by one of our greatest naturalists, essayists, and defenders of the environment. She reminds us that beauty is its own form of resistance, and that water can crack stone.

(latimes.com)

Reviews: 

NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/books/review/erosion-terry-tempest-williams.html

Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/terry-tempest-williams-erosion-essays-of-undoing/

Professor Peaton: https://profpeaton.com/2019/12/28/terry-tempest-williams-erosion-essays-of-undoing/

National Park Traveler.org: https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/review/2020/03%E2%80%8B/erosion-essays-undoing

terrain.org: https://www.terrain.org/2020/reviews-reads/erosion/

Interviews:

Sierra Club: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/terry-tempest-williams-erosion

Politics and Prose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn-2hAQ9buk

Bioneers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGlotWB2BLg

(terrain.org)

Supporting Material:

1. Endangered Species Act: 

a. https://defenders.org/endangered-species-act

b. Attack on the ESA: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/climate/endangered-species-act-changes.html

c. Biden's rollback and review of ESA: https://www.audubon.org/news/biden-wields-his-pen-day-one-reverse-trumps-environmental-rollbacks

2. Invoking the Pause project: https://invokingthepause.org/

a. Council of the Pronghorn: https://invokingthepause.org/council-of-pronghorn-amp-cathedral-of-st-john-the-divine_grant-partners-list_7434.html

3. Tim DeChristopher: https://www.timdechristopher.org/

a. Peaceful Uprising: http://www.peacefuluprising.org/

Discussion Questions: (Heidi will the lead the discussion)

(bioneers.org)

Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insect by A. Sverdrup-Thygeson

Summary: (Amazon) Insects comprise roughly half of the animal kingdom. They live everywhere—deep inside caves, 18,000 feet high in the Himalayas, inside computers, in Yellowstone’s hot springs, and in the ears and nostrils of much larger creatures. There are insects that have ears on their knees, eyes on their penises, and tongues under their feet. Most of us think life would be better without bugs. In fact, life would be impossible without them.

Most of us know that we would not have honey without honeybees, but without the pinhead-sized chocolate midge, cocoa flowers would not pollinate. No cocoa, no chocolate. The ink that was used to write the Declaration of Independence was derived from galls on oak trees, which are induced by a small wasp. The fruit fly was essential to medical and biological research experiments that resulted in six Nobel prizes. Blowfly larva can clean difficult wounds; flour beetle larva can digest plastic; several species of insects have been essential to the development of antibiotics. Insects turn dead plants and animals into soil. They pollinate flowers, including crops that we depend on. They provide food for other animals, such as birds and bats. They control organisms that are harmful to humans. Life as we know it depends on these small creatures.

With ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson as our capable, entertaining guide into the insect world, we’ll learn that there is more variety among insects than we can even imagine and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become.

(NY Times)

Reviews:

1. Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/anne-sverdrup-thygeson/buzz-sting-bite/

2. NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/books/review/mosquito-timothy-winegard-buzz-sting-bite-anne-sverdup-thygeson.html

3. Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCCfzOuxeAQ

Interviews:

NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/07/29/746205720/bugged-by-insects-buzz-sting-bite-makes-the-case-for-6-legged-friends

Publisher and Author information: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Buzz-Sting-Bite/Anne-Sverdrup-Thygeson/9781982112875

Author's Site (in English): https://www.nmbu.no/fakultet/mina/forskning/prosjekter/anne-sverdrup-thygeson/anne/in-english

Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPUoDnnk54E

Online Course: Bugs 101: https://www.coursera.org/learn/bugs-101

Discussion Questions: Discussion cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

(science.aardnews.com)

The Green Amendment by Maya K. van Rossum

 

Summary (Amazon): For decades, activists have relied on federal and state legislation to fight for a cleaner environment. And for decades, they’ve been fighting a losing battle. The sad truth is, our laws are designed to accommodate pollution rather than prevent it. It’s no wonder people feel powerless when it comes to preserving the quality of their water, air, public parks, and special natural spaces.

But there is a solution, argues veteran environmentalist Maya K. van Rossum: bypass the laws and turn to the ultimate authority—our state and federal constitutions.

In 2013, van Rossum and her team won a watershed legal victory that not only protected Pennsylvania communities from ruthless frackers but affirmed the constitutional right of people in the state to a clean and healthy environment. Following this victory, van Rossum inaugurated the Green Amendment movement, dedicated to empowering every American community to mobilize for constitutional change.

Now, with The Green Amendment, van Rossum lays out an inspiring new agenda for environmental advocacy, one that will finally empower people, level the playing field, and provide real hope for communities everywhere. Readers will discover:

• how legislative environmentalism has failed communities across America,
• the transformational difference environmental constitutionalism can make,
• the economic imperative of environmental constitutionalism, and
• how to take action in their communities.

We all have the right to pure water, clean air, and a healthy environment. It’s time to claim that right—for our own sake and that of future generations.

Author's Site: http://www.mayavanrossum.green/

Reviews:

Kirkus: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/maya-k-van-rossum/green-amendment/

Maryland considering adopting a Green Amendment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99jXgqNCJis

Quotes: 
"Water is more important than gas."

"Over a ten year period, when comparing an equal weight of the two gases (carbon dioxide and methane), methane is 100 times more powerful in trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere."

"In 2011, the prestigious journal Climatic Change published their paper (R.W. Howarth, R. Santoro and A. Ingraffea, "Methane and the Greenhouse Gas Footprint of Natural Gas from Shale Formations.") and its startling conclusion: natural gas, harvested from shale, was worse for the climate than coal."

"You have a right to pure water, clean air and a healthy environment. This right is inherent and indefeasible. It belongs to you."

PA State's Constitution Environmental Rights Amendment: 

"The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people."  https://conservationadvocate.org/pennsylvanias-environmental-rights-amendment/

Interviews: 

WNYC: Radio Interview: https://www.wnyc.org/story/how-environmental-laws-can-protect-people-not-polluters/

Delaware Riverkeepers: http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/

For the Generations website: http://forthegenerations.org/

DISCUSSION MEETING PLACE LOCATION FOR THIS MONTH: Bucks County Audubon Society Visitor Center at Honey Hollow Environmental Center at 2877 Creamery Road, New Hope 18938, starting at 6:15 p.m.

Discussion Questions: 

1. Despite states having environmental right amendments, such as here in PA, why do we continue to have to battle oil, gas and chemical companies for clean water, etc.? (p. 15, 82-)

2. Discuss some of the critical environmental issues, highlighted by the author and many of which are local to PA and the area, including stories about fracking, pipeline construction and infrastructure, water contamination and excessive real estate development (PennEast pipeline, p. 122, DuPont, p. 134, Bishop’s Tube in Chester, p. 174, PFOS water contamination in Warrington, Warminster, p. 154, etc.).

3. What are some of the statistics that surprised you, such as perhaps, methane’s impact on the climate(p. 88), mineral rights, water use for fracking (p. 73, 79), % of Americans wanting the environment protected (p. 217), etc.

4. Discuss a state versus a federal constitutional environmental amendment, their role and significances. (p. 12)

5. Discuss the different players, who make powerful decisions about our resources each day: DRBC, FERC, EPA, NEUP(108). There are many acronyms and what do they all mean?

6. Laws don’t ban pollution or development, but because of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, a permit is now needed to do so. (p. 42) Discuss the different chemicals that are dumped into our environment legally or illegally: PFOA, PFOS (153), PCB (141), TCE (175).

7. In the final chapter, the author discusses how states can create or strengthen environmental provisions for their state constitutions. Pennsylvania already possesses environmental provisions, but is of varying strength and rigor. What are some actions needed to strengthen our provision here in PA? (See page 9-10, 62, Chapter 2) This is what it states as of 1971, Article 1, Section 27–the Environmental Rights Amendment:

“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”

8. What are some actions, that each of us can take, to help secure our rights to a clean environment?

Please feel free to bring your own questions to our discussion on April 26 at 6:15 p.m. at the Bucks County Audubon Society’s Honey Hollow Environmental Center and/or also to ask Maya after her presentation and book signing on May 5, 1:00 p.m. at the Doylestown Bookshop.

(http://news.kgnu.org)