To Save the Wild Earth: Field Notes from the Environmental Frontline

This is a report from the environmental trenches from someone who has been there for 25 years. Trench warfare is unfortunately an apt metaphor with its cycles of gains, losses and stagnations that go into retrieving every bit of land. Careless, a native of Toronto, made British Columbia his piece of ground. The executive director of B.C. Spaces for Nature, he asserts again and again that wilderness is an absolute birthright. Using various tactics, from political favors and connections, to subtle and covert strategies, to grassroots organization, Careless has fought passionately to save vital pieces of wilderness from industry and logging. Writing about the battle for the Nitinat Triangle, he tells of the spiritual rejuvenation nature supplies, ""when I paused for a moment, I found myself standing in a living church of antiquity before what was surely the altar."" In his campaign to save 68,000 acres of wilderness in the Babine Mountains, Careless kept his strategy secret, and friends and allies began to question his commitment. But the commitment was there, and ultimately resulted in victory. What elevates this account is Careless's evocative descriptions of these wild and remote places, descriptions that by themselves make compelling argument for their preservation. This is a beautiful collection in the tradition of classic nature writing by such authors as John McPhee and Edward Abbey. (Jan.)