So it occurred to me that if I want to write more about nature and/or the built environment maybe it would be good to read more about those topics too. So thought I’d ask for recs. I sometimes have trouble reading the latest planning and ecology news because a lot of it is depressing and/or terrifying. At work I end up reading a lot of new articles about the Bay Area housing crisis and it wears me down after a while. But I’m sure there’s good stuff out there that I’m missing.
Here’s a couple of things along these lines that I’ve liked to give you an idea of what I have read on these topics recently. (And also because even when I’m asking for recs I love to give recs -- sorry!)
“Knowing Prairies” by Liz Anna Kozik This short graphic essay is an excellent introduction to some key conflicts in restoration ecology.
Braiding Sweetgrassby Robin Wall Kimmerer This book of essays by biologist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation about blending indigous and western ways of knowing is amazing about inspiring.
Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature by D. Graham Burnett This book is framed around a trial but its really a detailed dive into how people in 1818 NYC thought about whales a topic I found utter fansinating
Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon This book blew my mind when I first read it. It is all about how the city is connected to the countryside, and explains how the expansion of the US frontier was driven but cities.
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein This detailed history of segregation in the US is really good but also very depressing.
Ok, most of those are book length, but I'll happy take recs for shorter things or sequential art.
Here’s a couple of things along these lines that I’ve liked to give you an idea of what I have read on these topics recently. (And also because even when I’m asking for recs I love to give recs -- sorry!)
“Knowing Prairies” by Liz Anna Kozik This short graphic essay is an excellent introduction to some key conflicts in restoration ecology.
Braiding Sweetgrassby Robin Wall Kimmerer This book of essays by biologist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation about blending indigous and western ways of knowing is amazing about inspiring.
Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature by D. Graham Burnett This book is framed around a trial but its really a detailed dive into how people in 1818 NYC thought about whales a topic I found utter fansinating
Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon This book blew my mind when I first read it. It is all about how the city is connected to the countryside, and explains how the expansion of the US frontier was driven but cities.
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein This detailed history of segregation in the US is really good but also very depressing.
Ok, most of those are book length, but I'll happy take recs for shorter things or sequential art.
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