The collection is arranged chronologically, giving an excellent overview of the growth of environmentalism. There are, of course, contributions from Thoreau, whom most consider the father of environmental writing and also luminaries such as John Muir and John Burroughs. McKibben, the anthology's editor, included an excerpt from his 1989 book, The End of Nature. Al Gore contributed the foreword to the anthology and his speech at the Kyoto Climate Change Conference. There are many more: Walt Whitman, Rebecca Solnit, Michael Pollan, Paul Hawken – even Philip K. Dick has a spot. There's an excerpt from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, his classic sci-fi story, which paints a bleak future devoid of animal life.
From Thoreau onward, environmental writers engender a desire to be at peace with this world. Who doesn't long for the quietude of the mountains or the tranquility of the lakeside or even to experience rainstorms in the forest? This is what we were made to enjoy. That is what commercial greed is threatening.
A note on the the book itself, aside from its content: it is attractively bound and compact enough to not be a burden though it is laden with heavy essays. Appropriately, it is printed on paper which contains fifty percent post-consumer waste. Even the ink utilized was environmentally sound, being soy or vegetable based.
This book deserves a place on all bookshelves. Visit your local library and seek it out (and, while you're there, check out some other books by the above authors). Find some way to consider its important message.
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