By Rahawa Haile In this essay from Outside Magazine, Rahawa Haile reflects on the experience of hiking the Appalachian trail as a queer black woman. Her essay covers questions of race and politics, as well as evocatively describing her own rich relationship to the natural world. It’s the spring of 2016, and I’m ten miles … More Going It Alone
by W.E.B. DuBois Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil is an autobiography by W.E.B. DuBois which weaves togethers essays, personal anecdotes, and spiritual reflection to consider the question of labor and race in the United States. In the particular passage, DuBois reflects on the beauty of Bar Harbor, ME (a national park that was often … More Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil
By Annie Dillard An American author, Dillard writes in the tradition of Thoreau and other early naturalists. Her best known narrative non-fiction work, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, won the Pullitzer Prize. In this piece she performs a true “essay” — that is, a meandering exploration that pulls together disparate ideas, and invites new questions. A … More Living Like Weasels
By Rachel Carson Silent Spring is a a non-fiction book of environmental science written by Rachel Carson. It combined rigorous research with a powerful narrative writing style to reveal the impacts of un-checked pesticides on humans and the environment. Her book hit a nerve with the American public, inspired an environmental movement, and may have … More Silent Spring
by Bill McKibben, Outside Magazine Bill McKibben is a famous environmentalist who first broke out in the mainstream with his The End of Nature in 1998. It was one of the first texts to address the true crisis of climate change. Yet he’s also written countless other articles, both serious and humorous, about nature, climate, … More Cross Country Ski Your Way to Shining Health, Renewed Vigor, and Everlasting Happiness!
By Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston is the novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist, most famous for writing novels set in the South and speaking to the black experience. In her autobiography, Dust Tracks on A Road (or full book), she speaks of the natural world around her as a place of wonder and childhood inquiry. … More Dust Tracks on a Road
By Amanda Petrusich In this extraordinary interview in The New Yorker, poet and environmental activist Wendell Barry reflects on his decision to move back to a farm in Kentucky from New York City. He considers the concept of “home”, wonders about the future of agriculture in America, discusses the rootlessness of society, and ponders existential … More Going Home with Wendell Berry
By Brian McCammack in “EdgeEffects” In this essay, McCammack consider’s the place of DuBois environmental writing in the greater cannon of nature-writers. He argues the need for DuBois’ writing to be validated: that his writing covers many of the same themes and questions as Muir and Thoreau and, like these other authors, considers the importance … More W. E. B. DuBois and the American Environment
GREEN & GROW 