Environmentalists: An Eyewitness Account from the Heart of America by Steven D. Paulson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Round about 2007-2008 my son had graduated from Prescott College with a degree in environmental studies and was searching for his place in the workforce. Judging by the magazine covers on my coffee table at the time, I thought Nick might be catching a wave. Going “green” was all the rage. Then the Great Recession hit, the smartphone came out, and the culture wars erupted, knocking the nascent environmental movement off the front page and on to the back of the bus, perhaps under the bus. “Environmentalist” weirdly even became a negative, dismissive epithet.
Which is absurd. Who is against clean, safe water and fresh, breathable air? And who thinks such things happen by themselves? Nobody who thinks.
I predict that once the fouled air of this election has blown over a broad and healthy movement to protect the environment will return with vigor. This is the book to help you catch the wave, to help you kick-start the movement, to help you remember who you are, to remind you that you love your beautiful surroundings and that you don’t want to lose them.
Steve Paulson has 40 years of experience as a citizen who makes a difference and the world is better for him being here. I hope to be able to say the same for myself and for my kids. Reading ENVIRONMENTALISTS gave me the constant feeling that I need and want to meet the author. By the time I was done with the book, which I have now read twice, I felt I had made a new friend. An inspiring one. Steve just doesn’t know it yet.
Read this and pass it around. Help rekindle a movement in your own local. Make a new friend. Then tell me all about it.
You are welcome.