eaarth

I can't pronounce the name of the book, eaarth, either and I've heard the author, Bill McKibben, say it several times in interviews, "eaarth," he says, pronouncing the double a's with a gurgle. I can't explain it. Each time I can see him smile when he says it though and I held tightly to that image as I read the book. The man is optimistic and yet 50 pages in I had a post apocalyptic dream. Or maybe it was a hot flash. Either way it woke me up.

Which is the point of McKibben's eaarth; to wake his audience up to the subtitle of his book, Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.

He stacks up the effects of climate change, not thirty years from now, but changes occurring right now, one on top of the other and somehow, I don't know how, but somehow still gives the reader room to breathe. I kept picking the book up to read more. Bill McKibben's perennial optimism comes through. In one interview he sited his optimism as the result of working with young people. I loved that.

I also loved the last quarter of the book, Lightly Carefully, Gracefully. He writes about industrial farming, small farmers, farmers' markets, local food; my favorite subjects. He writes about community and being neighborly, which is good food anytime.

McKibben's good neighbor, Barbara Kingsolver, blurbs the book on the front cover.

"What I have to say about this book is very simple; Read it, please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important."

I can't blurb the book better than that. It's not always an easy read but it is an important read.

11 comments:

Kelly said...

do you facebook? i wanna be your friend. ;-)

Kale for Sale said...

Kelly - You are my friend! But no, I don't facebook.

Kelly said...

lol- i know..it was my way of saying I LIKE YOU!

Anonymous said...

Your endorsement of this book means even more than Barbara Kingsolver's. Thank you. I will head out to the library later and see what I can see.

El Frijol said...

Eaarth is one of the staff picks at my university bookstore, which generally spotlights fairly conservative titles. Hopefully it is attracting some attention. Food Rules is also on the shelf this month along with an Alice Waters cookbook that I hadn't seen before.

Nourishing Words said...

Your description of this book (no matter how on eaaaarth you pronounce it) has made me bump it up to the top of the list. I'll be reading it now, not later. Thanks!

Kale for Sale said...

Kelly - Suddenly I'm shy.... .... and smiling. Thank you!

agrigirl - Wow. Okay. That's big. Thank you.

Canyon - That's great news. McKibben seems to have a way with speaking to a large and diverse audience and doing it in matter of fact way. It's great to hear from you. Always.

Nourishing Words - Clever version of the title. I'm laughing and look forward to reading what you think of the book.

junice said...

I saw him speak on Earth Day this year at Dominican. He was promoting the book and did cite young people as his inspiration as well. He shared photos of a lot of the 350 events last year, which was very moving.

I might just read eaarth now.

Going Crunchy said...

Lovely - I'll have to check it out. I will make sure we have it ordered for the Library!

Kale for Sale said...

junice - Yes! The pictures that McKibben has at the 350 website, which I suspect are the ones he showed swell my heart every time I look at them. The spirit of the people come through in every one of them. I'm glad you got to hear him speak.

Crunchy - Oh good. My copy was from the library which is such a sweet luxury.

Rob said...

I'd like to find some similar honey in a UK farmers' market, but not holding out much hope. Our farmers markets are a great place to find reasonably priced and locally sourced organic produce & meat.