7 Literary Basics for Environmentalists

You wrapped up the Song of Fire and Ice series and can't bring yourself to read Fifty Shades of Grey. Why not indulge your green side, and learn something in the process? One of our Top 10 Cool Schools, UC-Santa Barbara, places such a high premium on the intersection of literature and the environment that it currently offers more than 30 undergraduate courses about the topic. For long-term research the university is your best bet, but if school is out reach, stock your shelf with these basics to get started.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Filled with both meditative, literary beauty and broad philosophical concepts, Thoreau used Walden to connect the personal to the environment. A product of Thoreau's stay in a self-built cabin near Massachusetts' Walden Pond, the book remains a touchstone for environmentalists.

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Whether you're similar to Rachel Carson or not, the author's masterpiece is essential reading. Thoreau and Muir use gorgeous language to articulate their love for the environment, but Silent Spring takes a sharper approach, raising an alarm by highlighting the dangers of pesticides and other harmful substances. There's a reason the 1962 book helped to jumpstart the modern environmental movement.

Sowing "Seeds of Hope": An Interview with Jane Goodall

JANE GOODALL may be the world's most famous primatologist — 50 years ago, she became the first to prove that nonhuman animals make tools — but lately she's been spending more time focusing on a life form less intelligent than the chimpanzees she studied in Tanzania. In fact, one that has no brains at all: plants.

Her newest book, Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder From the World of Plants, cowritten with Gayle Hudson, chronicles her lifelong love of all things leafy. In it, she writes: "There would be no chimpanzees without plants — nor human beings either" and confesses that she might never have started studying apes had she not, as a child, been obsessed with Africa's forests.

Goodall, now 79, runs the Jane Goodall Institute to protect chimpanzees' habitat, and Roots and Shoots to encourage children to become conservationists. She's also a U.N. Messenger of Peace and a Dame of the British Empire. We spoke to her to find out what compelled her to spend years writing a book about the botanical world.

You’re known for your work with primates. Why the newer focus on plants? 

The last book I did, Hope for Animals and their World, was about saving animals from extinction. I had a long section on plants but it got too long, so almost all of that was left out. I felt bad because I'd talked to so many botanists and they were so excited that Jane was going to put plants in her book. So I thought, OK, I’ll add to what I’ve done and it’ll be a booklet that perhaps we could sell in botanical gardens. That was the original idea.

4 Cool Bike Accessories

It's Bike to Work Week, which means you have the perfect excuse to spruce up your bike with these unique accessories!

Wearable Bike Planter:  We've seen an old bike repurposed as a giant flower planter, but what if you could just strap a plant to your bike and take it with you on your daily adventures? Well, now you can! Check out this petite bike planter and other adorable planters that you can wear as accessories.

Bicycle Wine Rack/Beer Holder: We don't advise drinking and biking, but this gadget could come in handy if you're headed to a party or barbeque this spring. Don't bother trying to squeeze these beverages into your purse or bag, just head over to Etsy and get your bicycle wine rack or beer holder for under $30!

How Rachel Carson Are You?

Rachel Carson grew up near a glue factory, was a bestselling author before her seminal Silent Spring, and is often called the "mother of the environmental movement."

Curious, empathetic, courageous, Carson pursued her dreams and her gut, ultimately shepherding hard truths into the national consciousness.

It's a lot of live up to, but check off the following simple facts to see how much you share with a person integral to our modern pursuit of a green life. (And if you haven't already, check out our John Muir quiz.)

The Rachel Carson Checklist

You ...

1. ... have a late May birthday.
2. ... hail from Pennsylvania.
3. ... got your love of nature from your mom.
4. ... grew up near a coal-fired power plant.
5. ... feel called to be a writer.
6. ... have been known as a bit of loner.
7. ... have studied English and biology.
8. ... have a degree in zoology.
9. ... have a deep affinity for the sea.
10. ... have had an article published in a newspaper or magazine.
11. ... have financially supported your parents and siblings.
12. ... work to encourage natural wonder in children.
13. ... have worked as an editor.
14. ... have worked as a marine biologist.
15. ... have worked for the federal government.
16. ... have testified before Congress.
17. ... avoid pesticides.
18. ... have been affected by breast cancer.
19. ... believe people are part of the natural world, not masters of it.
20. ... have read Silent Spring.
21. ... want to change the world.

Bonus point: Your middle name is Louise.

See how you scored:

Essay Contest: What Does Wilderness Mean to You?

Are you a young writer who with a passion for the outdoors? Enter our essay contest for a chance to be featured in Sierra magazine!

The Sierra Club's National Wilderness Essay Contest

It has been nearly 25 years since Bill McKibben declared “the end of nature.” What he really meant was the end of wilderness — the idea of wilderness. In the era of climate change, he claimed, we can no longer conceive of a natural world that is free of human influence — a pristine wilderness where our spirits can awaken to authentic nature.

Generations Y, Z and beyond will never know that pristine wilderness; they will know only what humans have created. And the outlook has only gotten worse: in 2005, Richard Louv warned us that “nature deficit disorder” was on the rise. Today’s children, he worried, spend far more time in front of screens than they spend in the woods, and end up radically disconnected from the natural world. They may care about biodiversity, sustainability, and environmental justice—but do they care about wilderness?

So we pose the question: What does wilderness mean to the millennial generation? Does the idea of wilderness have any relevance for twenty-first century environmentalists? Is there still a case to be made for wilderness? If so, how can we make that case?

We invite essays on the idea of wilderness from writers under 30 years old. Visit the contest website to find more instructions and the entry form.

Q&A: Wild Author Cheryl Strayed

At 22 years old, Cheryl Strayed lost her mother to cancer, and she also began to lose herself. As she spiraled downward, turning to men and drugs for temporary pleasure, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) caught her in her fall. While standing in line at REI, she read a description of the PCT on the back of a guidebook, and while gazing at the photograph of the vast trail, she says that something seemed to "break me open."

As readers travel through the wilderness with Strayed in her memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, we witness the ability of nature to transform and heal anyone who is brave enough to take it on.

Now a year after the book's release, the New York Times bestselling author and Dear Sugar columnist talks to Sierra about her life after Wild, why she considers herself an experimentalist, and how it feels to be superwoman. --interview by Brittany Johnson

In your book, Wild, you mention that you are an experimentalist — the kind of girl that says yes instead of no. Is that still true? 

That is still completely and utterly true. In my youth, I had to reel that in when it came to sex, love, romance, and now in my 40s it is about how to choose wisely the opportunities that I take as a writer. Like, I said yes to writing the Dear Sugar column, I thought, "What the hell, I don’t know anything about giving advice." But it led to a wonderful thing.

What is the last thing you said yes to and regretted?

I feel mixed about it. I get so busy. The irony — I have written this book about how a long walk is good for the spirit and now I can barely find time to take a 15-minute walk around my neighborhood. But I love to be generous to other writers. Just now it’s hard because everyone I have ever met and everyone that I’ve never met wants me to read their book and support them.

The Pacific Crest Trail is 1,100 miles, more than I even want to drive. What convinced you to hike it? 

I was in my 20s and was at this real bottom point in my life. After my mother died, I lost my whole family. I turned to the wilderness as a way of gathering myself. In my grief, I had done a bunch of stuff, taken a lot of risks that were self-destructive and dangerous and not healthy. My hike was to test myself against something that was risky but also really healthy.

Instead of taking away my sprit and taking away my strength — the way that the sex and the drugs were doing — getting that back and building myself back up.

You didn't see another human being for the first eight days of your hike. Did you talk to yourself a lot?

That was really intense! To go eight days without seeing a person. . . . I could have come off the trail after those 8 days and been like, okay I went through something!  I talked to myself a little bit. But there was a long conversation going on in my head. Mostly, "What the hell have I gotten myself into."

You say in Wild that the photograph of a boulder-strewn lake on the cover of a PCT guidebook seemed to “break you open.” You had seen lakes before, what was so intense about this picture?

Fran Hawthorne on the Ethical Chic Lifestyle

Hot-and-sour soup, an environmental case study: You order the soup takeout from a Chinese fast-food restaurant. The soup goes down easy, but disposing of the container doesn’t. It needs to be cleaned if it’s to be reused or recycled.

You can scrub, but the oil just clings. A spurt of dish soap won’t do. A hearty blast of hot water just creates a soapy sheen.

Fran Hawthorne — journalist, wife, and mother, not the person in her household who orders this soup — has been there: “How much water am I wasting? What are these soap pads made of? To save this little piece of plastic, I’m probably wasting more resources.”

What’s a good consumer/environmentalist to do? Globalized-first-world problems demand hard decisions.

Hawthorne’s: “It killed me to put it in the garbage pail.”

Evaluating such practical-turned-existential crises characterize Hawthorne’s recent work. She explores what the “good” decisions are in modern life’s confusing and uncomfortable spots. Local or organic? Long-term, socially responsible investments or short-term, quick-return ones? Eco-friendly or economical? How much can you ask of a product? Of yourself? Hawthorne respectively addresses the last two questions in her 2012 book Ethical Chic: The Inside Story of the Companies We Think We Love and 2010 book The Overloaded Liberal: Shopping, Investing, Parenting, and Other Daily Dilemmas in an Age of Political Activism.

Ethical Chic investigates Tom’s of Maine, Timberland, Starbucks, Apple, Trader Joe’s, and American Apparel — cool kids on the ostensibly green-business block. These companies have their virtues, ranging from using natural ingredients to selling items exclusively made in the USA.

And yet — it’s never quite simple, Hawthorne finds.

10 Ways to Kick the Cold

Ooh baby it's cold outside! But what to do to fight off that icy weather that's got you shivering and shaking? Whether you love to be outdoors or long to hibernate during the wintery months, we've got some suggestions to help you keep that chill out of your bones. 

Go on a hike: The best way to warm up is to get your blood pumping, and going for a hike is the best way to do that if you’re looking for a cheap and invigorating form of entertainment. Hike the JMT or the Appalachian Trail for a bigger challenge, or head to the closest trail near you for an impromptu adventure.

Go to a movie: After a couple days of lounging around the house, sometimes you just have to get out, no matter how cold it is outside. Movies are a great way to escape from the cold and get rid of that cabin fever. You could check out the latest blockbusters, but why not take the opportunity to educate yourself. We recommend Chasing Ice for a profound look at the effects of climate change.

App Obsession: Ansel Adams

Who doesn't appreciate the breathtaking photography of Ansel Adams? Whether you're a photo buff, a nature lover, or simply just looking for the latest and greatest apps for your iPhone or iPad, there's a new app out worthy of your attention. The Looking at Ansel Adams: The Photographs and the Man app by MX was created as a companion piece to Andrea Stillman's recently released book of the same name (Little, Brown and Company, 2012). And while the book would probably be more in-depth, you don't have to read the book to appreciate the app.  

First off, what's great about this app is that you can download it for free and upgrade if you choose to. The main menu has a pretty cool interface with period icons like a typewriter, film, and antique cameras. Some fun features of the free version (other than the stunning photos) include: letters, postcards, and notes that give you a glimpse into Adams's every day life; mini-movies about Adams; and a guide through the darkroom process. One thing that is a little frustrating is that it can only be viewed horizontally, so you can't flip the screen vertical to read the letters (zoom helps with this). Remember: if you stick with the free version, you are getting a more condensed version of the full app.  Though if you like what you see, the upgrade is a mere $3 and includes an interactive map for geographic context on the prints amongst other features. 

Either way, this app is definitely worth a look-see if you have some downtime and are looking for an app other than Draw Something or Angry Birds to bide your time with—or if you have an Ansel obsession. Take a closer look at some of the features below: 

Recycled Crafts: Advice from a Career Crafter

Expert crafter Kayte Terry is living the DIYer's dream — she has turned repurposing into a career. We asked the author of Paper Made! 101 Exceptional Projects to Make Out of Everyday Paper (Workman, 2012) to tell us how she did it. 

SIERRA: Tell us about crafting as a career. 

Kayte Terry: I've gone down lots of different paths. I've written books, contributed to magazines and blogs, sold at craft fairs, taught classes, and worked as a stylist. It takes a lot of time to get to a point where just one of these things pays the bills. Most professional crafters I know do a combination of jobs as well; I think it just comes with the territory. But I actually like it! I get bored doing the same thing over and over again. 

When I started trying to make a living from making things, crafting was just starting to trend again. I would tell people I was crafty and they would stare at me like I had two heads. But now there are so many more opportunities! Everyone knows about Etsy, almost every magazine has a DIY column or two, it's a great time to be a crafter!

What advice do you have for others who want to make a career of crafting?