Apr

Read a Book for Earth Day, April 22

Canyon de Chelly

Destination: Earth

Books:

Wind and the Rock by Ann Zwinger

The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons by John Wesley Powell

Undaunted Courage, by Stephen E. Ambrose

Maybe I’m being species-centric here, but I’m assuming that everyone who is reading this is interested in traveling somewhere on the planet Earth. Therefore, I’m also assuming that they are interested in the survival and thriving of our planet. So, here are some books to add to the traveler’s library to celebrate Earth Day, coming up on April 22. I am posting now to give you time to get started on your reading. (You may notice that my choices have a bit of bias toward my part of the U.S.)

Undaunted Courage: Merriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, by the late Stephen Ambrose, masterfully tells the huge story of Lewis and Clark’s expedition across America. Until I read this book, I was not fully aware that the purpose of Thomas Jefferson’s idea went beyond the commercial and, well, let’s be honest, boundary-expansion/imperialism. Indeed, I should have known because of Jefferson’s love of knowledge that he would instruct the explorers to take samples and make minute observations of plants, animals, geography and cultures as they traveled West. A fine book for Earth Day because it shows us what the West was like 200 years ago and helps us decide what should be preserved or restored.

The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons by John Wesley Powell is a classic of information about the western United States. MyPenguin edition has an introduction by Wallace Stegner, who points out that (in sharp contrast to the Lewis and Clark expedition) the Powell adventure was not government backed, had no imperialist aims, and the group was not led by nor peopled by scientists. However, Powell, an amateur scientist, turned out to be an extraordinarily excellent observer, under unthinkably difficult conditions, and his journal and drawings bring us descriptions and pictures of places that still look familiar today.

Wind in the Rock: The Canyonlands of Southweastern Utah compiles essays by the naturalist Ann Zwinger, who loves the west and Canyons particularly. I like to read Zwinger because she teaches me what to look for when I am strolling through the desert. All those details, and all interrelated. She has a poetic way with science.

In case none of these three books strike a chord with you, or they are already ensconced in your traveler’s library, here is a source of carefully selected books from the wonderful travel book store, Globe Corner in Cambridge Massachusetts. Check their Science and Natural History List for Earth Day Choices.