Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World's Environmental Hotspots - Hardcover

Mitchell, Alanna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226532003 ISBN 13: 9780226532004

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2005

Synopsis

One hundred and fifty years after the publication of On the Origin of Species, award-winning environmental reporter Alanna Mitchell set out to retrace the idea of evolution and grapple with the fact that a massive extinction of the planet's species was well under way. So began a three-year odyssey in which Mitchell picked up where Darwin left off, examining not just the origin but also the ultimate fate of our world.

Combining scientific curiosity with travel and adventure, Dancing at the Dead Sea takes the reader on an intimate tour through the world's environmental hotspots. Readers join Mitchell as she tracks the spectacular biodiversity of regions as extraordinary as the island of Madagascar, the rain forests of Suriname, the parched oases of Jordan, the Arctic desert of Banks Island, the volcanic crests of Iceland, and, ultimately, the Galapagos archipelago, where Darwin conducted his famous research. Along the way, Mitchell introduces us to the numerous scientists and conservationists who are working to protect these endangered places. She also chronicles the courageous efforts of everyday men and women in these regions as they try to convince governments to turn the world's hotspots into environmentally protected areas.

Ultimately, Mitchell's travels around the world compel her to ponder our shelf life as a species in the grand evolutionary scheme of the planet. She wonders what Darwin would make of the profound ecological destruction she witnesses. Is the human race suicidal? What can help our species avert extinction? Posing tough and cutting questions such as these, Dancing at the Dead Sea is a must-read for aficionados of good science writing and travel literature alike.

About this title

About the Author

Alanna Mitchell spent fourteen years as a writer covering science and the environment at the Globe and Mail. She is the author of Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World’s Environmental Hotspots, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews

The itinerary of this winning pilgrimage is well-chosen to illustrate contemporary environmental crises. Mitchell, an environmental journalist at the Toronto Globe and Mail, visits some familiar disaster areas, including the island of Madagascar, whose deforestation by a populace hungry for land and firewood is wiping out a unique ecosystem; the dying Jordanian oasis of Azraq, whose aquifer has been drained to support development in Amman; and the Canadian High Arctic, where the native Inuvialuit people see apocalyptic portents in the warming of winters and thinning of sea ice. Mitchell also explores more hopeful locales, like Suriname, in South America, which has preserved 90% of its rainforest, and Iceland, which is using geothermal energy to wean itself off of fossil fuels and onto a hydrogen economy. Mitchell dusts her lucid, if sketchy, rundown of environmental issues with a sprinkling of ecotourist travelogue, as she visits Amazonian religious sites and goes scuba diving off the Galápagos Islands. She tries to tie it all together with a garbled interpretation of Darwinian evolution, writing that species "are programmed to continue to adapt... even if it means dying out." Extinction is not quite what Darwin meant by adaptation, but there's no doubt the great naturalist would be appalled by the panorama of ecological havoc described by Mitchell. (May 18)
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Mitchell, earth sciences reporter for the Globe and Mail, agrees with some environmental theorists that the sixth mass extinction of our planet is well under way. Based on a conservation strategy (similar to the medical model of triage) proposed by Norman Myers and other theorists, Mitchell visits and writes about hotspots that are most in danger. She travels, therefore, to Madagascar, looking for lemurs in a seriously deforested nation, and to Jordan, where the quarter-million-year-old Azraq Oasis is being depleted by water-hungry humans. Mitchell also visits the Banks Islands in the Arctic Circle, where there's been a sharp shift in the ecosystem. There are success stories, including Suriname, for one (which has retained 90 percent of its forest cover), and Iceland, land of "kinetic steam." Rounding out the collection are insightful essays about Charles Darwin and On the Origin of the Species, combined with a trip to the modern-day Galapagos. Well written and inspiring, these essays should help awaken environmental awareness. Rebecca Maksel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226532003
• ISBN 13: 9780226532004
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 239