A Voyage Long and Strange
At first thought this delightful and well researched book about the “discovery” of America by Europeans seems just like an interesting retracing of the “missing” history between 1492 and 1620 in North America. Tony Horowitz is a very interesting journalist who recounts the travels of Vikings and Conquistadors by traveling their trails and by intermingling their history with life and current events along those routes once taken.
On a deeper level however, the accounts (or reconstituted histories in the case of the Vikings) of those “discoverers” in their own words or those of people who traveled with them reveals attitudes toward land, resources, and people (Native Americans) which are truly disrespectful, selfish and downright rapacious. Granted, our reading of these histories is shaped by our values and judgments, but the quest for gold, the destruction of native crops and societies, and the enslavement of native people as pack animals and sex objects, lays out the basic principles of the worst tendencies in what later becomes American history.
If environmentalism and sustainability are values that we hold paramount, then this more complete, inclusive view of our North American history is instructive for us in today’s world of the quest for riches, the destruction of cultures and societies we do not understand, the “enslavement” of the poor, the disrespect for our environment, and sexploitation.
Hooray for Horowitz who brings our history alive and helps us know more about the past and hence more about ourselves.
Sustainability Book Club
The Sustainability Book Club gathers monthly to discuss writings that address sustainability, including issues related to lifestyle, ecology, and economy. The meetings are generally held on the first Thursday of each month at 6 pm at a member's home with everyone bringing a snack.
For more information about the book club, you may contact the Bread Riot through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Gavine Pitner at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 704-637-1651.
Feb: A Voyage Long And Strange by Tony Horowitz
Mar: Green Manifesto by David Gessner
Apr: Don Coyote by Dayton Hyde
May: Strange as the Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake
June: The Nature Principle by Richard Louv
The Feb meeting will be at Gavin Pitner's house, 630 Wiley Ave, Feb 2 at 6pm.
Knowing Our Place by Barbara Kingsolver
The Sustainability Book Club read and discussed Barbara Kingsolver's essay, "Knowing Our Place," from her book SMALL WONDER (2002). The author stresses the need of humans to have contact with the natural world. She expresses gratitude for having been able to look out upon wildness and to expose her children to it; she regrets generations of children who have not, who do not know where food comes from, or what walking barefoot in grass feels like. There was a lively member discussion, recalling their own early contacts with wildness and how it affected their life attitudes.
Gaylord Nelson, the Man from Clear Lake
By Bill Christofferson, University of Wisconsin Press
Senator Gaylord Nelson, (1916-2005), known as the Father of Earth Day, grew up in Clear Lake, a small community (pop. 1,100) in northwest Wisconsin. His life there among the many lakes and woods shaped his politics and concern for the environment.
Nelson grew up a very political family, supporting the Progressive Party (“the people against special interests”). Wisconsin was an exciting place to be in the 30’s and 40’s. Nelson identified strongly with this party. After receiving his Law Degree from the University of WI, he served in WWII. Upon return he ran for election in 1946 for state assembly; when defeated he joined a Law Firm in Madison, the state Capital. Politics were changing; the modern Democratic party of Wisconsin was born in 1946.
He ran successfully for the Wisconsin State Senate in 1948. Nelson was a gregarious, popular candidate. He was elected Governor in 1958, when many Democrats finally won. He soon laid out a plan for the State to begin buying up land to expand state recreational and conservation use. He saw how overcrowded the few state parks were becoming. Families from the populated areas of Chicago and Northern Illinois were seeking nature retreats in Wisconsin. He served two terms as Governor.
In 1962, he was elected US Senator, a position that he held for 18 years. He loved a good debate – many of these were held in Washington bars and restaurants as well as the many parties held at his home. His wife Carrie was known as a great hostess. Always “a small town boy”, he befriended senators on both sides of the aisle. Personal relationships paid dividends and often trumped political and philosophical differences in the Senate.
He started introducing legislation to protect the environment almost immediately upon arriving in the Senate. He introduced many bills, most of which were ignored! Others were promoted by others without giving him credit, which seemed OK with him. Most of them took years and years to become law.
He got the idea to have an “Earth Day” in 1969 while watching the Teach-Ins during the Vietnam War. Using that model he set up an organization and contacted college campuses to set up “Environmental Teach-Ins”. The movement grew spontaneously and much beyond any expectations. The small office staff assembled for it gave few instructions and encouraged people to “do something”. They did! As a result the 1970’s saw 28 major environmental laws passed and hundreds of other public lands bills to protect and conserve natural resources.
The Reagan Republican landslide in 1980 removed Nelson and many other liberals from the Senate. Soon after, he became Chairman of the Wilderness Society, an organization devoted to preserving American’s public lands and keeping them wild. This was an ideal job for Nelson, a position in which he would serve until his mid-80’s. I was struck by a few things:
- Republicans and Democrats are still arguing about the same things.
- It takes a long time to get your ideas through.
- One person, with persistence, can have an impact.
Reviewed for the Sustainability Book Club, affiliated with Bread Riot, by Dottie Hoy, January 2012
Two In the Far North
Sustainability Book Club Selection for August
Two In the Far North, by Margaret Murie
How far north is the Far North? Minnesota? Upper British Columbia? How about ALASKA and points north of the Arctic Circle!
Mardy shares her journey as a nine-year old traveling to Fairbanks, Alaska with her mother in 1911. It is a long and wonderful journey from there to her marriage to Olaus Murie, a biologist who would later become the first director of the Wilderness Society.
Fairbanks, the only town Mardy knew as a child (being 8 days by horse sleigh or 10 days by river steamer to another town) was a “…busy place…happy-go-lucky place…no place for too much concern over morals-plenty of room for all the characters.” She adroitly observed that “On the frontier, before the wives arrived, I don’t think Society was organized.”
Hers is a joyous memoir of life with her new husband, a scientist who tracked caribou, and their rough-and-tumble, often dangerous, dog sled runs to caribou country. She asked herself often, and then asked the US Congress when in her 70’s, “Having been the basis of all our sophisticated society, doesn’t wilderness itself have a right to live on?” Their work transformed into law as Mardy stood in the White House Rose Garden to see President Johnson sign the Wilderness Act of 1964 into law.
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