Mariner Books, October 2009
In his introduction to The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009, series editor Tim Folger asks: "What secret ingredients make for a compelling story about science?" He cringes when one of his editors gives him this ineffable response: "awe and wonder."
Most journalists, Folger says, get the basics such as clarity and structure right in their work. But the writing in this collection demonstrates what sets the best apart from the rest. On topics ranging from psychology and biology to carbon footprints and electronic waste, these writers exude passion for their subjects. And the essays they write will wow readers into a rapt state of reverence for all of the awe and wonder in the natural world.
Wendell Berry sets the tone for this collection in his opening essay with a title - "Faustian Economics" - that evokes Marlowe's Faustus, a character whose infinite desires become his demise. Berry challenges the soundness of an economy based on the "supposed possibility of limitless growth, limitless wants, limitless wealth, limitless natural resources, limitless energy, and limitless debt." Berry's essay foreshadows a theme that emerges in this collection in which several essays look at the consequences of a world coming to terms with its limits.
In his introduction to The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009, series editor Tim Folger asks: "What secret ingredients make for a compelling story about science?" He cringes when one of his editors gives him this ineffable response: "awe and wonder."
Most journalists, Folger says, get the basics such as clarity and structure right in their work. But the writing in this collection demonstrates what sets the best apart from the rest. On topics ranging from psychology and biology to carbon footprints and electronic waste, these writers exude passion for their subjects. And the essays they write will wow readers into a rapt state of reverence for all of the awe and wonder in the natural world.
Wendell Berry sets the tone for this collection in his opening essay with a title - "Faustian Economics" - that evokes Marlowe's Faustus, a character whose infinite desires become his demise. Berry challenges the soundness of an economy based on the "supposed possibility of limitless growth, limitless wants, limitless wealth, limitless natural resources, limitless energy, and limitless debt." Berry's essay foreshadows a theme that emerges in this collection in which several essays look at the consequences of a world coming to terms with its limits.
Two essays, for example, explore what happens when we produce more waste than our landfills and recycling centers can process. Chris Carroll's "High Tech Trash" traces the route of our discarded electronic waste to a town in Ghana, where it is burned in toxic fires and mined for scrap metal. And Frederick Kaufman's "Wasteland" delves into the equally distressing topic of human waste. A sobering reality underlies Kaufman's funny and entertaining tone: "Every day," he says, "America must find a place to park 5 billion gallons of human waste." And the space for it is becoming increasingly scarce.
So how can we live in a more sustainable way? Well, the answer to that question proves more difficult to quantify than one might think. Michael Specter's "Big Foot" looks at the problems associated with trying to calculate the environmental impact of our actions. More airlines have been offering customers the opportunity to purchase "carbon offsets," and the Tesco supermarket chain is trying to label the environmental liability of each item it sells. Specter sees these as noble actions, but ultimately he believes that "laws and money" will alter human behavior more powerfully than personal choice.
So how can we live in a more sustainable way? Well, the answer to that question proves more difficult to quantify than one might think. Michael Specter's "Big Foot" looks at the problems associated with trying to calculate the environmental impact of our actions. More airlines have been offering customers the opportunity to purchase "carbon offsets," and the Tesco supermarket chain is trying to label the environmental liability of each item it sells. Specter sees these as noble actions, but ultimately he believes that "laws and money" will alter human behavior more powerfully than personal choice.
In his essay, "The Itch," Atul Gawande is more simply concerned with looking at human behavior from a physiological perspective. Gawande presents the harrowing story of a woman who is so afflicted with a scalp itch that she scratches through her head and into her brain. Shocking. But Gawande's essay moves beyond this vivid example of an uncontrollable itch to offer a detailed look at what causes itching and how understanding its mechanisms gives doctors more clues about other aspects of perception.
While Gawande's essay offers hope about developments within the medical field, others such as Andrew Curry's "Intel Inside" profiles a new technology that can splice together bits of shredded paper, and David Grimm's "The Mushroom Cloud's Silver Lining" looks at how developments in understanding elevated levels of carbon 14 - a result of aboveground nuclear testing-might give criminologists an additional form of evidence to use in solving crimes.
Besides the awe and wonder that Folger mentions in his introduction, readers will find a lot of hope in these essays about developments in medicine, technology, and science. But, as most of the essays on topics of nature and environment reveal, we need more than hope to solve the global environmental crisis. Ultimately, these essays offer readers the information they need to start making more informed choices about things such as waste disposal and carbon emissions, for starters. The only hope is in this area is that we start making more of the positive changes now, with this new information fresh on our fingertips.
While Gawande's essay offers hope about developments within the medical field, others such as Andrew Curry's "Intel Inside" profiles a new technology that can splice together bits of shredded paper, and David Grimm's "The Mushroom Cloud's Silver Lining" looks at how developments in understanding elevated levels of carbon 14 - a result of aboveground nuclear testing-might give criminologists an additional form of evidence to use in solving crimes.
Besides the awe and wonder that Folger mentions in his introduction, readers will find a lot of hope in these essays about developments in medicine, technology, and science. But, as most of the essays on topics of nature and environment reveal, we need more than hope to solve the global environmental crisis. Ultimately, these essays offer readers the information they need to start making more informed choices about things such as waste disposal and carbon emissions, for starters. The only hope is in this area is that we start making more of the positive changes now, with this new information fresh on our fingertips.
