Books
Beyond Climate Breakdown
Why have we been slow to address climate change? It comes down to story–how we understand the world through story, and how when the world is telling us things we don’t want to know we desperately look for stories that will help us through our mental discomfort. That’s the subject of Beyond Climate Breakdown: Envisioning New Stories of Radical Hope, my new book from MIT Press.
Wildsam’s Grand Canyon
A pocket-sized field guide to one of the deepest places on Earth! I contributed about twenty pages to this sweet and practical anthology of history, lore, and practical tips. It’s a true insider’s guide to a place that doesn’t really come alive until you are, well, inside it.
Private Memories of Public Precipitation: Gathering and Assessing Ecological Oral Histories in an Era of Climate Change
I contributed a chapter about how Hopi oral histories of change connect to western climate science to this 2017 anthology, published by Oxford University Press.
A New Form of Beauty: Glen Canyon Beyond Climate Change
The quintessential landscape of climate change lies in on the Colorado Plateau: it’s Lake Powell, where no one can be sure what will be land, what water. Photographer Peter Goin and I collaborated on a beautiful book about a place where beauty itself is a question mark.
Working on Earth
The land has changed. But so have the ways we look at the land–whether we live there, or merely visit. An environmental history of the rangelands of east-central Arizona, based on an oral history with a long-time rancher. It’s a chapter in an anthology published by University of Nevada Press.
What Has Passed and What Remains: The Book
The edited recollections of northern Arizona elders musing about environmental change. I conducted some of the interviews; others were completed by my students at Northern Arizona University. With photos by Dan Boone and Ryan Belnap.
Working the Stone
Edited by Kurt Caswell, To Everything on Earth is an anthology that grew out of a terrific little nature-writing workshop sponsored by Texas Tech University. “Working the Stone” is my contribution.
Nature’s Restoration
From the Hawaiian islands to Appalachia’s forests, Nature’s Restoration relates the passion of ordinary citizens who are changing the way we think about nature. Through detailed reporting and numerous interviews, I travel the front lines of restoration to show how this growing movement shapes places and inspires people.
The Suburban Wild
Set in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago, amid traffic, pollution, and ever-spreading neighborhoods, these personal essays explore the importance of our connection with the natural world, history, and memory. My first single-author book, recently reissued in paperback.
Earth Notes: Exploring the Southwest’s Canyon Country from the Airwaves
A collection, published by the Grand Canyon Association, of greatest hits from KNAU’s Earth Notes show. Beautifully illustrated by Diane Iverson, and with contributions by eleven different writers. This slim volume is perfectly designed to fit into a daypack!
A New Plateau
A collaboration between Renewing the Countryside and Northern Arizona University’s Center for Sustainable Environments, this beautifully illustrated book showcases the work dozens of sustainability pioneers are doing on the Colorado Plateau.
Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests
“The big green book,” as it’s become known to foresters, is a compendium of what’s known on one of the frontiers of ecological restoration. Not light reading, but necessary for those who seek to restore to health some of the millions of acres of ponderosa pine forests that cloak the southwestern uplands.
National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southwestern States
Sized to fit into a daypack or jacket pocket, this guide to southwestern animals, plants, places, and more is suited for residents and visitors alike. It’s the perfect generalist’s guide to my favorite region.
