Earth Day Eating

Since I already covered environmental-type books in the Monday post, I got to thinking, as I often do, about food. Our lovely planet has so far provided enough food to support us, though we humans have some difficulties with distribution, but that provision wasn't without lots of human intervention and wrangling and general "sweat of the brow."

Hunter-Gatherers: Food Just Lying Around, Almost
It's been a long while since hunting-and-gathering supported any huge portion of the population, and Michael Pollan's description of his hunted-and-gathered meal in THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA illustrates why pre-agricultural folks had to spend just about all their time searching for food.
* Also good, anything by Mark Kurlansky, including SALT, COD: A BIOGRAPHY, and THE BIG OYSTER: HISTORY ON THE HALF SHELL.

Farming is a Rough Way to Make a Living
* Willa Cather's MY ANTONIA or O, PIONEERS
* Pearl Buck's THE GOOD EARTH
* Steinbeck's THE GRAPES OF WRATH (all those dumped oranges!)
* the LITTLE HOUSE books ("Pa, there's some kind of funny cloud in the sky that's moving too fast!" Those would be locusts, Half-Pint, come to eat all the crops.)

And, Are You Really Going to Eat That?
* Anything by Michael Pollan
* Nina Planck's REAL FOOD
* Of course, Eric Schlosser's FAST FOOD NATION ("Would you like SUPERSIZE ME with that?")
* Samuel Fromartz's ORGANIC, INC.
* Steve Ettlinger's TWINKIE, DECONSTRUCTED (it made me fear baking powder)

Happy Earth Day!

The Good Earth

Yes, I know. Earth Day is actually Wednesday. But what if you wanted to read a book in honor of Earth Day? By posting this Monday, you'll have time to run by the library (literally, without powering up your SUV), pay your overdue fines, get the book, and read a goodly portion before Wednesday.

For anyone interested in filming a nature documentary, here is the formula: two parts wonders-of-the-earth followed by one part gloom-and-doom, with the transition between being someone taking a chainsaw to a tree that's been around since Jesus and felling it in thirty seconds. Watch any nature documentary and tell me I'm lying.

Actually, I'm lying. I just thought of the wonderful Planet Earth series which was more like nine parts wonders-of-the-earth to one part gloom-and-doom, and not a chainsaw to be seen. But that may only have been because the creators had a fascination that verged on obsession with animals eating each other. Seriously. The show should have been subtitled "Really Cool Animals and the Animals that Eat Them."

In any case, back to the "books" part of this "Books and Beyond" blog. Here are some recent earth-related ones I've enjoyed, followed by their gloom-and-doom rating:

* THE WEATHER MAKERS by Tim Flannery. A very readable, very well-supported examination of our changing climate and the ecosystems and species already affected. Gloom Rating: 10 (you may want to keep a noose handy and have someone standing by to kick away the stool).

* COAL: A HUMAN HISTORY by Barbara Freese. Fascinating jaunt through history and one of humankind's favored sources of energy. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you come away feeling smug because, heck, most of our power is hydroelectric, and nobody minds that but the salmon. Gloom Rating: 6.

* THE WILD TREES by Richard Preston. Had this on my website. A look at the truly giant redwoods and the folks who study and climb them. Gloom Rating: 3 (because no one is cutting down these beauties anymore. The damage is mostly past).

* THE GOLDEN SPRUCE by John Vaillant. Not really an earth book so much as a history of how an extreme, ex-logger-turned-environmentalist did huge sentimental and environmental damage to "get back at" the logging companies. Gloom Rating: 5 (who knew you could get so bummed about one tree?).

* THE CREATION by E. O. Wilson. If you read any books about nature or biology, the writers are forever quoting Wilson. This renowned biologist writes this book as a plea to the right-wing, Wal-Mart-shopping, Hummer-caravan-driving, old-growth-clear-cutting, NRA-lifetime-membership-holding, Christian fundamentalists of America. Please, you nutjobs, he writes (in so many words), please take care of the earth because it's cool. While you may disagree with his portrayal of Christians, it turns out the earth is, in fact, pretty cool. A little too much on worms and bugs, for my taste, but otherwise interesting. Gloom Rating: 5.

Let me know if you have some favorites!