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A review by m_chisholm
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2017 by Tim Folger, Hope Jahren
4.0
This edition of the Best American Nature and Science Writing was published just before the inauguration of Trump started to work back the major progress that Obama's administration had made in protecting and preserving the environment and halting the advance of climate change. It was curious to read these stories in the middle of 2020 when there is so much cynicism and feelings of betrayal from both me and many of my friends about where our natural world is heading.
The major contributions for this edition revolved around the work of astrophysicists and women in science in general. Hope Jahren (editor) did a wonderful job getting the easily buried stories of women in science to the fore, and there is a much-needed bias of getting these scientific "Joans-of-Arc" to the forefront of our environmental attention.
My favorite in the collection was Kathryn Joyce's "Out Here, No One Can Hear You Scream," a damning account of how the National Park Service has slowly allowed a dark world of male-dominated harassment culture, victim-blaming, and toxic masculinity to perpetuate in the culture surrounding our natural treasures. A close second was Christopher Solomon's "The Devil is in the Details," another incredible exposé about how hard it is for wilderness advocates and industrialists to reach a spirit of compromise with how the land should be used.
Overall, the 2017 edition was an incredible collection whose stories make me sad that it seems like the work that many of these scientists were doing has stagnated in terms of official policy changes.
The major contributions for this edition revolved around the work of astrophysicists and women in science in general. Hope Jahren (editor) did a wonderful job getting the easily buried stories of women in science to the fore, and there is a much-needed bias of getting these scientific "Joans-of-Arc" to the forefront of our environmental attention.
My favorite in the collection was Kathryn Joyce's "Out Here, No One Can Hear You Scream," a damning account of how the National Park Service has slowly allowed a dark world of male-dominated harassment culture, victim-blaming, and toxic masculinity to perpetuate in the culture surrounding our natural treasures. A close second was Christopher Solomon's "The Devil is in the Details," another incredible exposé about how hard it is for wilderness advocates and industrialists to reach a spirit of compromise with how the land should be used.
Overall, the 2017 edition was an incredible collection whose stories make me sad that it seems like the work that many of these scientists were doing has stagnated in terms of official policy changes.