August 2023 MBR The Environmental Studies Shelf

The Environmental Studies Shelf

Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean
Christina Gerhardt
University of California Press
111 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94607
www.ucpress.edu
9780520304826, $34.95, HC, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Change-Atlas-Islands-Rising/dp/0520304829

Synopsis: Because of the Climate Change driven sea level rises, atlases are having to be redrawn as islands are disappearing. What does an island see when the sea rises?

With the publication of "Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean" Professor Christina Gerhardt deftly weaves together essays, maps, art, and poetry to show us (and make even the more reluctant of us see) what is happening to island nations in a warming world.

Low-lying islands are least responsible for global warming, but they are suffering the brunt of it.

"Sea Change" is transportive atlas reorients our vantage point to place islands at the center of the story, highlighting Indigenous and Black voices and the work of communities taking action for local and global climate justice.

At once serious and playful, well-researched and lavishly designed, "Sea Change" is a stunning exploration of the climate and our world's coastlines. A compendium of immersive storytelling, scientific expertise, and rallying cries from island populations that shout with hope -- We are not drowning! We are fighting!, "Sea Change" is an atlas will galvanize readers in the fight against climate change and the choices we all face.

Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a an Introduction (Of Oceans and Islands), a seven page Glossary, a five page Map Citations, and a fifteen page bibliography of Works Cited, "Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean" is exceptionally well written, organized and presented, making it a timely, critically important, and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Contemporary Environmentalism collections and supplemental Environmental Issues curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Christina Gerhardt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Gerhardt) is Associate Professor at the University of Hawai'i at M?noa, Senior Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and former Barron Professor of Environment and the Humanities at Princeton University. Her environmental journalism has been published by Grist.org, The Nation, The Progressive, and the Washington Monthly.

Minescapes: Reclaiming Minnesota's Mined Lands
Pete Kero
Minnesota Historical Society Press
345 Kellogg Boulevard, West, St. Paul, MN 55102-1906
www.mnhs.org/mhspress
9781681342245, $24.95, PB, 238pp

https://www.amazon.com/Minescapes-Reclaiming-Minnesotas-Mined-Lands/dp/1681342243

Synopsis: The Mesabi Iron Range in northeastern Minnesota conjures dramatic visuals of open pit mines and ore piles, enormous earthmoving equipment, and once-booming towns with aging architecture. But now many of these towns are busy with tourists. There are biking and ATV trails, forests and lakes. And yes, continued mining.

Over the decades, people have approached the iron lands with differing perspectives. Early miners opened the Mesabi Range to extract its ore, but key players also upheld conservation principles by setting aside lower-quality rock for use by later generations with better technology.

Nature found its way into the cracks and crevices of these rock piles, and within fifty years, groves of aspen and other successional plants had transformed the red rock into vibrant green. As early as the 1950s, residents were repurposing minelands by building ski jumps and cultivating grouse-friendly habitat. These impulses were codified in the 1980 Mine Reclamation Rules, which specified how mining companies should care for the land both during and after extraction.

In the early 2000s, the Laurentian Vision Project brought together landscape architects, engineers, and residents to dream up possibilities for the landscape -- and then to make those dreams real by building bridges, creating wildlife sanctuaries, and opening former minelands for fishing and mountain biking.

Critique: With the publication of "Minescapes: Reclaiming Minnesota's Mined Lands", environmental engineer Pete Kero deftly explores the record that is written on Minnesota's mined lands -- and the value systems of each generation that created, touched, and lived among these landscapes. His narratives reveal ways in which the mining industry and Iron Range residents coexist and support each other today, just as they have for more than a century. A seminal work of environmentally significant research and scholarship, "Minescapes: Reclaiming Minnesota's Mined Lands" is a critically important and informative contribution to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Environmental Engineering, Environmental Economics, and Natural Resource Development/Extraction collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that "Minescapes: Reclaiming
Minnesota's Mined Lands" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.99).

Editorial Note: Pete Kero (https://www.barr.com/Employees/pete-kero) is an environmental engineer practicing at Barr Engineering Company in Hibbing, Minnesota. For more than twenty-five years, he has consulted with public agencies, mining companies, and communities who are reclaiming and repurposing the mining landscape of the Midwest. He is active with the coordinating committee for the Laurentian Vision Partnership and publicly speaks at mining and reclamation conferences around the country. Kero's grandfathers were miners, and he understands the economic promise of mining to families and communities. At the same time, having lived more than four decades within the mined landscape, he understands the social, political, legal, and technical difficulties associated with reclaiming and reusing these lands.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.

The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com

Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129

To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review