by Umbra Fisk
Send your question to Umbra!
Q. Dear Umbra,
I hate to bother
you, but I tried doing a Grist search to answer my question and nothing really
turned up.
I was hoping you
could recommend some environmentally aware fiction writers or books. I love Barbara
Kingsolver, but have read everything of hers twice already. 🙂 (I’d especially
appreciate a recommendation for some female writers.)
Thank you!
lilacwine
Evanston, Ill.
A. Dearest
lilacwine,
Photo: timetrax23 via FlickrReaders
are never a bother. Well, not usually. It is occasionally tedious to read about
so many people beating themselves up over the teeniest of eco-conundrums—or
beating me up for actually bothering to answer them. But yours is to wonder why,
mine is to answer. Or try, as I always say.
Thusly,
your question is a bit of fresh air—a nice momentary breather from heavy,
albeit very important, environmental issues such as the massive Gulf oil spill
(see the last question in this week’s column). I did a little searching through
the Grist archives as well and came
up with this piece from
February,
which reviews the novels Far North by Marcel Theroux and Primitive by Mark Nykanen—both are worth a look, for
sure.
Additionally,
with a little help from my fellow Gristians, I’ve compiled a list—by no means
comprehensive—of some environmentally tinged fiction by both female and male
authors to whet your eco-literary appetite.
Margaret
Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and its companion novel The
Year of the Flood,
both dystopian-future tales with genetic and biotech experiments gone awry and
a massive eco and health catastrophe threatening humankind
Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres, a modern
retelling of King Lear and a devastating
but beautifully written account of industrial farming
Ian
McEwan’s Solar, in which a Nobel prize-winning physicist
struggles with his fifth failing marriage and attempts to save the planet from
environmental disaster
Vapor Trails by R.P. Siegel and Roger Saillant, about
an oil exec who is unable to reconcile his financial success with the
destruction he’s caused (hmm…)
Edward
Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang, about a former
Green Beret who returns from war to find his much-loved desert threatened by
industrial development
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn,
which is about an extraordinary teacher—a gorilla—with a story to tell about
how humans came to treat the earth the way they do and the possibility of a
still-salvageable future
If
you’re looking to simply wade rather than dive into the world of environmental
fiction, I’d recommend a short story. A few that are worth a gander: A
Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, A
White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett, and It’s
Such a Beautiful Day by Isaac Asimov.
And
then there are always the much-loved classics The
Little Prince by Antoine de de Saint-Exupéry and The
Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Never underestimate the power of a quality children’s book:
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get
better. It’s not.”
Bibliophile-ly,
Umbra
Q. Dear Umbra,
You might check out
a funny novel by Cordelia Strube entitled Planet Reese, all about what happens to an environmentalist who
short-circuits.
Barry H.
Toronto, Ontario
A. Dearest
Barry,
Thanks for
the suggestion. We’ll tack it onto lilacwine’s list above. Readers, here’s the
skinny on this tome, per Powell’s Books:
“Reese Larkin is
desperate to find the perfect mattress. His job is in jeopardy and he’s been
forced to separate from his wife and children, but he believes that if he can
find the ultimate sleep system his life will begin anew.
In her seventh novel,
Cordelia Strube grabs readers by the neuroses with a dark but wickedly fun
story about a former Greenpeace activist forced to turn marketeer who battles
against a world in which he is confronted by shift mattress sales clerks, a
Fred and Ginger-obsessed strip-bar waitress, derisive colleagues, and a wife
who has mysteriously turned cold and is keeping his children from him. Alone in
his damp basement apartment with his daughter’s hamster, he longs for a good
night’s sleep and, though faced with despair, begins each day hopefully as he
grips tighter to the edges of his life.”
Sounds intriguing!
Witherspoonly,
Umbra
Q. Dear Umbra,
I’ve heard that
people are donating their hair to help the oil cleanup of the Gulf Coast. I’m
an old-school hair farmer, and I want to know if it’s harvest time for a good
cause. What do you think?
If it’s a good
idea, then to whom do I send my bountiful harvest?
Hair Today, Gone
Tomorrow (to a good cause)
Seattle
A. Dearest
HTGT,
UPDATE: Since I wrote the answer below, Matter of Trust has posted the following to its website: “After a few days of mixed messages to the press, Ronald D. Rybarczyk,
BP government and public affairs, contacted us at Matter of Trust
tonight. Rybarcyzk informed us that they have a plentiful supply of
ideal boom for their needs and will not be in want of donated boom or
renewable fiber.” Alas, the search for a solution continues.
Props to
you for your willingness to donate your locks for this hairy situation. And
have I got the organization for you: Matter of Trust.
The
organization, known for its oil spill hair mats, is collecting
nylons, human hair, and animal fur to create hair booms to place in the water
to collect oil. Here’s a great article from The Washington Post explaining the
effort and its progress.
It’s
important to note, though, that the oil spill has gotten way too massive to think
that this approach can necessarily fix everything, but the grassroots effort
has finally gotten BP’s notice—the company contacted Matter of Trust last week.
You can
donate your own hair, animal fur, and nylons by signing up for Matter of
Trust’s Excess Access database and then
following the instructions for sending in
your hair harvest.
Thanks
again, HTGT. Every little bit helps.
Shornly,
Umbra
Related Links:
In wake of Gulf spill, should this be the summer of energy reform?
Show how much you—and BP—care with a commemorative oil spill T-shirt
Matthews tells Obama to kill BP’s disaster capitalism
