Eugene Weekly : Feature : 3.3.11

PIELC 2011:

Enviro Law Fest Hundreds of lawyers, scores of activists, one big conference

Dead King Coal? PIELC speaker takes on Big Coal

A Year In The Life The View From Lazy Point

 

A YEAR IN THE LIFE

The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World.ûBy Carl Safina. Henry Holt and Co. 2011.

øThe future is by no means doomed,” writes author and scientist Carl Safina, in The View from Lazy Point. øIm continually struck by how much beauty and vitality the world still holds.”

Safina mediates on the environment, the economy and social justice and intertwines his thoughts on dying coral reefs, growing populations, shrinking glaciers and collapsing fisheries with notes from the field and the loveliness he still sees in the world he documents from both a global and personal perspective.û

He reminds us of the interconnected planet, not only as he points out the effects of human actions on the natural world, but also by noting migrations of the birds he sees from the perspective of his home on Lazy Point on Long Island, and sees again on his world travels. His words demand that the reader think, but his eye for detail and beauty in the natural world make the contemplation a pleasure. His words are as political as they are lyrical: In a note buried at the back of the book he explains why he chooses to capitalize the full common names of animal species throughout the volume: øSince copy editors demand that *Dumpster be capitalized because its a *product, I insist on capitalizing Yellow-rumped Warbler and Blue-spotted Salamander,” he writes. øFairs fair.”

ûSafina will give a keynote speech at PIELC at 12:30 pm on Saturday, March 5, that will be øpart autobiography, part science lecture and part book-reading.”û He will øtell the story of his global journey from fisherman to scientist to the realization that the changes hes witnessed reflect the challenges facing not just nature but all of humankind.” ‹ Camilla Mortensen