My favorite environmental book this semester would have to be The Omnivore’s Dilemma A Natural History of Four Meals. I got it from the College of Charleston Addlestone Library and read it over spring break. My nutrition professor recommended. It was a great read and I give it five stars. It was an easy read, too. I liked Mr.Pollan’s writing style. He does a great job of examining how and where we get our food. There are some scary stuff that I did not think about that he mentioned such as the food chain and the process of where it all begins. He did a fantastic jpn of tracing the food back to its root and how it went to each  step. There were many great points made in the book but my personal favorite was “ There was one more meal I wanted to make, and that was the meal at the end of the shortest food chain of all. What I had in mind was a dinner prepared entirely from ingredients I had hunted, gathered, and grown myself”(Pollan, 277). This I think was one of the main points made in the book. Most of us get our foods from the supermarket and we do not know how far those food have travel to get to us. So it makes sense, that something had to be done to mass produce all of those goods and give it a long shelf life.

What I liked most about Mr.Pollan’s method was that he went back to the main root and explained the what, where, when, and how of our food systems. Most folks want cheap, accessible food and we do not realize the damage that it is causing to our health. I also liked how he explained that it is hard for us as a society to go back to the hunting, gathering, lifestyle because of our population size and amount of space available. He made the point that he knew how to grow some veggies but he did not know how  to hunt and he is right to make that point because majority of people do not know. I personally do not know how to hunt nor have I ever done it, but I do know how to grow some veggies in my backyard. This book made me want to question where I get my food from and now whenever I go to buy groceries, I try not to choose foods that have traveled so far, and try to buy from the farmers market, and locally grown food. For anyone who wants to learn more about our food system and how our food system has shifted from family farming to industry type, I highly recommended reading this book. Also, if you enjoyed watching Food Inc. this book is very similar. It talks about hoe farming style changed over the years and how corn is the golden food because it is cheap to grow and it is in everything. Additionally, how there is sugar in all processed foods to make it taster so people keep buying more. He even discussed how our bodies are not designed to handle this eating style. Overall, an excellent book. 🙂

Link to the book.

I have recently been reading Where the Water Goes by David Owen, which is a start to finish journey of the Colorado River, explaining the complex history and human influence along the way. I grew up rafting on the Colorado River, making me appreciative and also protective of it. Being on the river is the time that I feel most like myself. Despite this connection, as I grew up and learned more about it I realized I had been taking it for granted. While enjoying the recreational benefits of the resource, the history of the river never even occurred to me. I selfishly used the river for my benefit without wondering about what impacts were necessary for taking a trip down the river. As I grew older I also specifically became curious about the dams we passed on the way to the put in.

Through some research, I found out that the river used to run all the way to the Gulf of California, but the overallocation of water supply has caused it to dry up before it makes it. After reading an eye-opening book by Pete Mcbride about the subject, I wanted to know more. I was recommended the book Where the Water Goes by my dad’s friend who is a raft guide. I am a few chapters away from the end and so far it is one of the most helpful explanations of the massive wicked problem of water scarcity. This most beneficial aspect is that David Owen taps into his personal experience of rivers to weave a seamless explanation of why it does not reach the sea anymore. The inclusion of personal anecdotes successfully breaks up the sometimes overwhelming information on the legalities or sciences that make up the core of typical water conversations.

Another successful characteristic of the book is that Owen starts the story at the headwaters, which was a clever way to break down the complex problem. As the reader made their way downstream, they became familiar with the natural beauty and also the unnatural interruptions along the river. By doing this, the situation is more attainable and easier to keep track of. Overall, Where the Water Goes serves as a successful urge to protect this river, whether you are a well-informed hydrologist or a sunburnt river bum. Upstream human tendencies have caused the Colorado River to dry up, yet this is not a well-known dilemma. David Owen familiarizes the reader with the river in an extensive way, creating true empathy for the water. He manages all this while also making the message clear that, “water issues are never only about water,” (p. 105). It could have easily been a simplistic overview of the dams along the river; however, Owen investigated further by recognizing the many socioeconomic factors that are intrinsically included. Overall, this book is hard to describe in just a few paragraphs and I recommend it to anyone even slightly interesting in rivers. The holistic picture of the Colorado River allows Where the Water Goes to be applicable to countless water conversations, whether it is about hydrology or raft guiding.

Here is a link to the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/317824/where-the-water-goes-by-david-owen/9780735216099/