Great Environmental Books:

The Abstract Wild, Teewinot, Travels in the Greater Yellowstone all by Jack Turner:  He is a naturalist, a mountain climbing guide, and a lover of wild places, wilderness,  and wildlife.  He tells of adventures, showing his awe and love of nature. 

Travels in the Greater Yellowstone. by Jack Turner   He is one of my favorites.  He writes about going hiking , canoeing, fishing , climbing, sketching, and living in a cabin in the Tetons.- with dog and spouse
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312560959/travelsinthegreateryellowstone/#:~:text=Your%20love%20of%20spring%20is,gunshot%20close%20to%20your%20head.

  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/285741.The_Abstract_Wild  about wild nature and letting it continue to evolve
https://www.whiting.org/content/jack-turner-0

He also has books about adventures as a climbing guide and rambling thru remote areas.Teewinot: Climbing and Contemplating the Teton Range. Teewinot: A Year in the Teton Range
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/128114.Teewinot

The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett : Explanations of how we discover what causes epidemics.

The Ghost Forest: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods  Greg King about how the redwood forests of CA have been decimated by logging companies.  Activists did protested,  circulated petitions,   blockaded roads, lobbied,  and organized to stop the logging companies.  They were jailed, shot at, bombed, forced off the road, ...   yet they continued.  

https://rewilding.org/the-ghost-forest-racists-radicals-and-real-estate-in-the-california-redwoods.https://rewilding.org/the-ghost-forest-racists-radicals-and-real-estate-in-the-california-redwoods

Last Stand by Richard Manning is poetic even though he describes the cutting of forests in Montana by Champion and Plum Creek. He explains the wonderful interconnections of life forms and even how some species depend on forest fires. The black backed woodpeckers favor lodgepole pine forests that have burned in the last 3 years. Their black backs give them camouflage against the charred trees and protect them from predators. The woodpeckers eat beetles that specialize in burned forests. After a few years the woodpeckers move on, leaving holes that make nests for bluebirds. Very old lodgepole pines even give out an audible signal that attracts particular beetles that come to kill the pines. Lodgepole pinecones are adapted to fire - they won’t open until a fire comes through.

The Last Stand by David Harris about the fight to save the redwoods. In it, he relates that the FDIC and the Office of Thrift Supervision have lawsuits (for $250 million and $900 million, respectively) against Charles Hurwitz, the Texas takeover artist who gained control of the Pacific Lumber Co. with junk bonds and then dramatically increased its rate of cutting. Hurwitz was chairman of the board and the largest shareholder of the United Financial Group that controlled the United Savings Association of Texas, which collapsed and cost the public $1.3 billion. Please ask the President and your congressmembers to push these lawsuits and use the money gained to buy back the redwoods.

Toxic Sludge is Good for You by John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton describes how public relations firms manage the news and frame issues to smear environmentalists while giving big companies legitimacy and excuses.

Sultans of Sleaze by Joyce Nelson describes how public relations firms manage the news and frame issues to smear environmentalists while giving big companies legitimacy and excuses.

Timber Wars by Judi Bari is a good biography by the forest activist who was bombed while organizing save the redwoods rallies.

Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber is the story of an Illinois farmgirl turned microbiologist who poetically describes the battles against toxic chemicals and toxic incinerators.

A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr is a dramatic account of the  attorney, Jan Schlichtman,and neighbors in Woburn, MA suing WR Grace and Beatrice Foods  over the solvent poisons in their well water.  Eventually, the EPA takes the evidence that Jan marshalled, and forces the polluters to clean up.  

Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy by Philip M. Stern shows how badly we need campaign finance reform; gives examples of rip-offs given in exchange for campaign contributions.

Losing Ground by Mark Dowie illustrates how big companies co-opt or marginalize environmentalists.

The War Against the Greens by David Helvarg tells how mining, logging, oil and other big companies persecute environmentalists.

Cut and Run by Grace Herndon is a good book about how logging companies violate land and water quality laws while cutting forests.

The Animal Smugglers by John Nichol provides details of animal poaching and smuggling.

Grizzly Years by John Peacock details observations of the wild lives of grizzlies in Montana and Wyoming.

Hope, Human and Wild by Bill McKibben tells how people find solutions that build community and help the environment.

Game Wars by Marc Reisner : Game wardens go undercover in sting operations to stop trade in endangered species.

Woman in the Mists by Farley Mowat is Dian Fossey's studies of the mountain gorilla.

The Abstract Wild by Jack Turner - He describes ideas of wildness from Thoreau, Muir, and Doug Peacock.   That maybe it is most valuable to have wild places with wild creatures living in great interconnected diversity.   He values the mystery and playfulness of nature and wildness.   

Bird of Life, Bird of Death by Jonathan Evan Maslow is a story of birdwatchers seeking the rare quetzlcoatl in Guatemala with local people opposing a dam and protecting rare birds.

The Grizzly by Enos A. Mills :  Accounts of grizzlies in Colorado.

     Abby, Edward: Beyond the Wall

The Brave Cowboy

Desert Solitaire

Down the River

Fire on the Mountain

Good News

The Journey Home

The Monkey Wrench Gang

Slumgullion Stew

Alinsky, Saul: Rules For Radicals

Audubon Society: Master Guide to Birding

Field Guide to North American Birds

Axcell, Cooke & Kinmont: Simple Foods For The Pack

Barash, David & Judith Lipton: Stop Nuclear War! A Handbook

Berger, John J.: Restoring the Earth: How Americans are working to renew our damaged environment

Bigon, Mario & Guido Regazzoni: Morrow Guide to Knots

Bly, Robert: News of the Universe

The Winged Life

Brodeur, Paul: Outrageous Misconduct: The Asbestos Industry On Trial

Brown, Tom Jr.: Field Guide to City and Suburban Survival

Field Guide to Living with the Earth

Field Guide to Nature: Observation and Tracking

Field Guide to Wilderness Survival

The Search

The Tracker

Bruce, Robert D. & Victoria Perera: The Last Lords of Palenque

Bulgakov, Mikhail: The Master & Margarita

     Calvino, Italo: The Baron in the Trees

Cosmicomics

Italian Folktales

The Nonexistent Knight,

Cloven Viscount

     Carson, Rachel: The Sea Around Us

Silent Spring

Caufield, Catherine: In The Rainforest

COE , Gigi, et al: The Home Energy Decision Book

    Cousins, Norman: Anatomy of an illness

The Healing Heart

Cousteau, Jacques: Cousteau Almanac

Craighead, Frank: Track of the Grizzly

Crampton, C.Gregory: Standing Up Country:

The Canyonlands of Utah and Arizona

Creasy, Rosalind: Edible Landscaping

Cummings, E.E.: 100 Selected Poems

Ehrlich, Gretel: The Solace Of Open Spaces

Ehrlich, Paul and Anne: Extinction

Epstein, Samuel: Hazardous Waste in America

Fallows, James: National Defense

Farrell, John A.: The New Indian Wars

Ferguson, D. and N.: Sacred Cows at the Public Trough

Feynman, Richard P.: Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feyman!

Foreman, D. (ed): Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching

Fossey, Dian: Gorillas in the Mist

Friends of the Earth: Progress as if Survival Mattered

Gibbs, Lois Marie: Love Canal-My Story

Giono, Jean: The Man Who Planted Hope and Grew Happiness

Grahame, Kenneth: Wind in the Willows

Green, Mark: There He Goes Again: Ronald Reagan’s Reign of Terror

Ground Zero: What About The Russians and Nuclear War?

Nuclear War: What’s in it for You?

Hart, John: Walking Softly in the Wilderness

Hentoff, Nat: The First Freedom

Herriot, James: All Creatures Great and Small

Hibshman, Dan: Your Affordable Solar Home

    Hoover, Helen: The Long Shadowed Forest

A Place in the Woods

The Years of the Forest

Jarrell, Randall: The Animal Family

Krutch, Joseph: The Voice of the Desert

LaBastille, Anne: Woodswoman

Lee, Harper: To Kill a Mockingbird

Lelyveld, Joseph: Move Your Shadow: South Africa Black and White

L’engle, Madeleine: A Wrinkle In Time

Leopold, Aldo: A Sand Country Almanac

Lesley, Craig: Winterkill

Lopez, Barry: Arctic Dreams

Of Wolves and Men

Maclean, Norman: A River Runs Through It

Mander, Jerry: Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television

Miller, Millie Kinnikinnick: The Mountafn Flower Book

Milne. A.A. The House at Pooh Corner

Winnie the Pooh

     McIntyre, Joan:

The Delicate Are of Whale Watching

Mind in the Waters

     McPhee, John: Coming into the Country

The Crofter and the Laird.

The Curve or Binding Energy Encounters with the Archdruid

The John McPhee Reader

The Pine Barrens

La Place de la Concorde Suisse

In Suspect Terrafn

Table or Contents

     Mintz, Morton: At Any Cost: Corporate Greed,

Women and the Dalkon Shield

Mitchell, Henry: The Essential Earthman

Morrison, P.: Powers of Ten

     Mowat, Farley: The Desperate People

Never Cry Wolf

People of the Deer

Sea of Slaughter

The Siberians

The Snow Walker

A Whale for the Killing

Myers, Norman: The Primary Source

Tropical Forests and Our Future

Gaia-An Atlas of Planet Management

Nader, Ralph & William Taylor The Big Boys

New York Journal of Medicine World Cigarette Pandemic

     Nichols, John On the Mesa

The Milagro Beanfield War

The Nirvana Blues

The Magic Journey

O’Dell, Scott: Island of the Blue Dolphins

O’Hanlon. Redmond: Into the Heart of Borneo

Patchen, Kenneth: What Shall We Do Without Us

Pileggi, Nicholas Wiseguy-Life in a Mafia Fami1y

Rodale, Robert: The Basic Book of Organic Gardening

Sattler, Helen: Fish Facts & Bird Brains

Scheer, Robert: With Enough Shovels: Reagan, Bush and Nuclear War

    Schell, Jonathan:

The Abolition

The Fate of the Earth

Schell, Orville: Modern Meat

Siegel, Robert: Whalesong

Singer, Isaac Bashevis: Stories for Children

Small, George: The Blue Whale

Stokes, Donald W.: A Guide to Observing Insect Lives

A Guide to Bird Behavior

Thoreau, Henry David: Walden and Civil Disobedience

Twain, Mark: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Wallace, David Rains: The Dark Range: A Naturalist’s Night Notebook

Wambaugh, Joseph: The Onion Field

White, T.H.: The Once and Future King

Wilkerson, James: Medicine for Mountaineering

Wolfe, Joan: Making Things Happen: The Guide for Members of Volunteer Organizations

Reviews

Abby, Edward:

Brave Cowboy - A loner cowboy who loves the wildness of nature tangles with bureaucracy

and police in a growing metropolis in an effort to help a friend.

Beyond the Wall - Recent stories of Abbey’s adventures in Pariah Canyon, the Guadalupe

Mountains, Alaska, Mexican deserts, and the Colorado River.

Desert Solitaire - Abbey’s philosophical meanderings and adventures as he re-fleets upon

the desert while working in the national parks.

Down the River - More Abbey stories.

Fire on the Mountain - A boy, his grand-father and their friends right to save their ranch

from becoming part or a missile test range. A mountain lion watches .

Good News - More Abbey stories; observations.

The Journey Home - Home spun observations or Death valley, Yosemite and other famous

and not so famous places and people or the west.

The Monkey Wrench Gang - His picturesque, rollicking saga or the exploits or a band or

eco-freaks and cowboy heroes. They strive against dams, power plants, strip mines,

billboards, and other tendrils or encroaching civilization.

Animal Welfare Institute:

Endangered Species Handbook - Everything about endangered species. It includes a list

of endangered species, or books on them, and or movies about them. It explains how

extinction occurs due to development, fur trade, repti1e trade, hunting and

pesticides. It has many stories about the successful protection or rare species, such

as The Edwards family in British Columbia, who helped save the trumpeter swans,

“There is no more beautiful and stirring sight in the whole waterfowl kingdom than

a ‘flight or Trumpeters cleaving through the air against a setting or rugged rocky

mountains and dark conifers,” wrote Silvia Bruce. It’s great ‘for teachers. It lists

things you can do.

Barash, David: Judith Lipton:

Stop Nuclear War: A Handbook - A description of where we are, the forces propelling us

toward nuclear war, and what we can do to prevent ft. A hopeful, how to do ft book.

The book describes how tensions have been reduced in the past by graduated and

reciprocated initiatives. Kennedy praised the Russians and announced a halt to

atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons, saying he would not resume them un1ess

Russia did so first. Khrushchev responded with a planned halt in strategic bomber

production. Then a hot line was installed, and a huge wheat deal announced. Next

Kennedy was assassinated. Nixon announce a unilateral halt to the development,

testing, and production of biological weapons in 1969. Brezhnev offered a decrease

in tanks and troops in East Germany as long at NATO didn’t increase its missiles,

but this was not reciprocated by the U.S. This book has great quotes at the beginning of each chapter. “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little,” wrote Edward

Burke. “Remember your human try and forget the rest,” wrote Einstein. “I believe

that the problem of lessening the danger of annihilating humanity in a nuclear war

carries an absolute priority over all other considerations,” wrote Sakharov. The book

has lists of organizations you can join, sources of information, steps you as an

individual can take, steps the U.S. can take, how we arrived at the nuclear arms race,

what the physical effects of a nuclear war would be, the effects of the arms race, and

an impassioned plea to help.

Its conclusions to live by are:

1. Nuclear weapons are wholly evil. They are medically, socially,

biologically, morally, politically and even militarily unacceptable;

ultimately they must be eliminated from the earth.

2. The first step is a freeze on the testing, production, and deployment,

followed by negotiated reductions.

3. Nuclear war can not be limited or won. Its consequences are death,

death, and more death.

4. Civil defense is neither civil nor defense. It should be opposed.

5. Possessing more, or more accurate, nuclear weapons does not make a

country more secure; rather it increases the likelihood of nuclear war.

6. The U.S. has never been behind U.S.S.R., and is not now.

7. Although the risk or nuclear war is high, it is a man-made problem, with

man and woman-made solutions. It is not inevitable.

8. The movement to stop nuclear war should celebrate lire, bringing people

together in love, Joy, hope, and nurturance.

9. Each or us has a profound moral obligation to help stop nuclear war.

10. Every person counts. We must work together to stop nuclear war.

Bly, Robert:

News or the Universe - Collection or 150 poems about nature by Yeats, Frost, Jeffers,

Snyder, Stufford, Blake, Wordsworth, Williams, Dickinson, Neruda, Roetnite, Rilke,

Lorca...

Bulgakov, Mikhail:

The Master and Margarita - A fascinating novel about the devil, a magic pistol-packing cat,

romance, and individuals fighting against bureaucracy in Russia.

Carson, Rachel:

Silent Spring - The classic book about the decline in bird populations a result of DDT and

other pesticides. Our sale, or banned pesticides, to foreign countries and the recent

discovery of DDT in U.S. food as a breakdown product or a legal pesticide DOE

makes this book appropriate now.

Craighead, Frank:

The Track of Grizzly - The Craigheads study individual bears in Yellowstone. They study

the migration patterns using radio collars. They develop an affection for specific

bears and offer advice on how to protect bears and their habitat.

Epstein, Samuel:

Hazardous Waste in America - Case studies of Love Canal, toxic waste dumping, dumping

effects on ground water, dumping of waste oi1, and midnight dumping. Toxic waste

law, the technology of disposal, and what we can do comprise the rest or the book.

Fallows, James:

National Defense - James Fallow interviewed the military and concluded that the

military spends too much money on large, complex, unwieldy weapons systems

that don’t work while ignoring maintenance, training, morale, and suggestions from

outside the military establishment. His interviews reveal the contrast between

individuals concern for human life and the careless greed and hubris or the

bureaucracy or the military-industry complex. Very readable and important. The

military is becoming as much a show and public relations campaign as the

presidential elections have become.

Farrell, John Aloysius:

The New Indian Wars - This booklet details the plights of different tribes across the U.S..

Water rights, mineral rights, sacred religious areas, grazing rights, fishing rights.

Each or these is being wrested away from an Indian tribe. This book portrays specific

conflicts between development and native culture across the U.S..

Ferguson, Denzel and Nancy:

Sacred Cows at the Public Trough - This book details the destruction caused by overgrazing

on public lands. Wildlife refuges and other public lands are doused with

pesticides, filled with predator traps, and overgrazed until the water table drops, the

birds and waterfowl leave, and the native plants are gone.

Fossey, Diana:

Gorillas in the Mist - The author tells how she gained the trust of a group of gorillas and

tried to protect them from poachers.

Friends of the Earth:

Progress as if Survival Mattered - To be an effective environmentalist almost requires

one to be conversant in many diverse fields. Thus Progress is the perfect activist

handbook because or its wide range or important topics - population control, war,

wilderness, and so forth. The chapter conclusions, called “Recommended Actions,”

are especially useful. The person who wants an interconnected view or world

problems should read this book.

Giona, Jean:

The Man Who Planted Hope and Grew Happiness - The true story of a man who planted

100 acorns a day for 30 years, converting thousands of acres of dry, bare, eroded

hillsides into lush, moist valleys full of wildlife. This is but 15-20 pages long, but it is

quite inspirational.

Green, Mark:

There He Goes Again, Ronald Reagan’s Reign of Errors - A collection of his errors, and self

serving stories over the years. Reagan makes up story after story to make his version of the world plausible.

Lopez, Barry:

Of Wolves and Man - O’ all the animals on earth, perhaps none have been as

misunderstood and persecuted as the wolf, canis lupus. After a very readable

treatment of ’ the wolf ’s ecology, Lopez describes the folklore and troubled

relationship between wolves and men. Parts of that history will make you cry. This

book is a “must read” for the serious wildlife lover.

McPhee, John:

In Suspect Terrain -

The Curve of Binding Energy - Ted Taylor, an ex-nuclear weapons designer, explains to

McPhee how nuclear weapons work and the need to stop them. He explains how

easy it is for anyone to make a crude nuclear bomb. You get a feel for how scientists

at Los Alamos think, and understand how he progressed from a weapons maker to

an antinuke activist.

Encounters with the Archdruid - David Brower, the founder of Friends of ’ the Earth,

argues with 3 opponents: a geologist who wants to develop minerals and oil in

wilderness, has spent more time out in the wilderness than Brower, and knows more

about the wild animals and plants than Brower; a man pushing for resort

construction in wilderness; and a dam builder in charge of ’ the dams on the

Colorado River. The antagonists grow to respect-each other, yet disagree. Brower

and the dam builder argue about the use of water while rafting down the Colorado

and exploring its side canyons. McPhee, as usual, shows how the personal history of ’

each man has shaped his belief ’s and character.

The John McPhee Reader - Excerpts from his books. Sections on John Bradley, the

basketball star and now a senator; the people and history of New Jersey’s wild Pine

Barrens; Arthur Ashe, the first black tennis star; the contemporary relations between

the laird of Scottish island and its tenant farmers, poised between the 16th and 20th

centuries; the attempts to make a rigid dirigible that generates winglike lift with its

deltoid pumpkin seed shape; the story of birch back canoe makers; the story of how

oranges are grown; and the story of a Georgia naturalist and ecology activist who

tries to save rivers, inventories natural areas, collects (and sometimes eats) road kills,

and takes Jimmy Carter for a canoe trip to win his help in preserving a wild river.

The Crofter and the Laird - A deep, rich tapestry of the relations between an English laird

and 80 farmers on his island off Scotland. He rents them farms for an average of 15

pounds/year. Crofter and Laird alternatively enjoy and wish to escape from their

feudal habits.

Myers, Norman:

A Wealth of Wild Species - Norman brings forth the importance of wild species to our

food, health, comfort and enjoyment. He shows how we could protect native plants,

insects, fish, snakes, lizards, and mammals for a small investment and reap a vast

return in terms of discovering and protecting species useful for seeds for crops,

rubber, energy, timber, nitrogen fixing crops, medicine, and natural pest control. Of

the estimated 250,000 species or flowering plants, scientist have only analyzed

5000 species. Out of these 5000, 41 are now used in medicine, generating

commercial sales of $40 bill ion. This book is full I of stories ranging from that

or the Green Revolution to particular species found useful for specific drugs and

crops. William Beeke wrote, ‘’The beauty and genius of a work of art may be

reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony

may yet inspire the composer; but when the last Individual of a race of living things

breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass away before such a

one can be again.”

Mowat, Farley:

The Desperate People and The People of the Deer - Detail the forced physical relocations of

Eskimos and the destruction or their religion and culture. These are sad books, that

show how we abuse native peoples.

Never Cry Wolf - Farley Mowat learns to mark his territory as the wolves do, by urinating.

He eats mice, Eskimos befriend him, and he develops a curiosity and respect for the

ecology of the North. This is a celebration of wolves.

A Whale for the Killing - Newfoundland locals, blase about an endangered fin whale

trapped in a nearby cove, use it for target practice. Farley Mowat tries to save it,

while its mate waits outside the cove. This book shows how humans can be short-

sighted and can lack the imagination to value what is truly beautiful.

Scheer, Robert:

With Enough Shovels, Reagan, Bush and Nuclear War - This books shows adult politicians

and military planners talking of winning a nuclear war. They talk of “making

the rubble bounce,” (i.e. having enough bombs left to threaten renewed devastation).

A group of right wing extremists complain that the CIA doesn’t show that the

Russians are far enough ahead of us, so Reagan appoints them to important

positions in his cabinet defense department, and arms control agency. These people

believe that by playing nuclear chicken with the Russians, we can force them to

spend so much on arms that their society will collapse. They accept the possibility

that this might cause a nuclear war, and they want to be sure we win it. The book

is full of frightening interviews with Bush, Reagan, and their aides. The quote on

the albatross/nuke war t-shirt comes from here, as does the comment of T.K. Jones,

Reagan’s Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, “Dig a hole, cover it with a couple

of doors and then throw three feet of dirt of top ... It’s the dirt that does it ... if there

are enough shovels to go around, everybody’s going to make it.”

Schell, Jonathan:

The Fate of the Earth - The classic, well written story of how close we are to nuclear war and

what we estimate the effects of such a war to be.

Wilkonson, Hoover:

Medicine for the Mountaineering - A detailed basic handbook for medical care. Written for

expedition climbers, it is equally useful for day hikes or as a home first aid guide and

medical reference book.