Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Millipedes and Moon Tigersexplores those uneasy places where scientific research meets publicpolicy-making--and the resulting human effect on our natural and historicallandscapes. Steve Nash's eye gravitates toward those specific, contemporary storieswhose relevance does not diminish with a turn of the calendar's page, for theyrepresent larger, looming issues.
The destructionwrought upon native ecosystems by invasive species such as snakehead fish; thedrastic and, in many cases, mysterious reduction in songbird populations in recentdecades; the blight of a century ago that wiped out four billion chestnut trees, which once made up a quarter of the Eastern forest... Nash does more than lament thepassing of the continent as it once was. He reveals the factors that have led toendangerment and extinction--from environmental policies that are terribly outdatedto technologies that are evolving more quickly than our attitudes--and presentspossible solutions, in both the political and scientificarenas.
Nash follows an archaeobotanist on herresearch in the Near East to see what ancient agricultural practices in this nowlargely arid region can tell us about where the West may be heading. He writes ofCivil War battlefields that, in the wake of new development, are being obliteratedone by one--and, along with them, a wealth of lost archaeological opportunities.Turning to a more modern battlefield, he writes ofagroterror--the intentional introduction of plant and animaldiseases into agriculture and nature--and suggests what might be done to stop thisnew threat.
Focusing on the southeastern UnitedStates but addressing issues that affect the whole environment, many of the essaysexplore the intersection of the environment and the most cutting-edge technology.Nash introduces us to the minnow-sized Glofish, America's first geneticallyengineered pet (the animal's name is actually trademarked). Further advances in ourunderstanding of molecular genetics could even result, some believe, in the cloningof endangered species. All of this is exciting--and problematic. Nash reports on thecontroversies over genetically modified pines and poplars--science fictiontrees--and how fears of their escape into wild forests has prompted someenvironmentalists to go so far as to sabotage corporatelaboratories.
The urgency Nash conveys is real: asone of his subjects observes, it is much easier to maintain an ecosystem than repairit. There is no escaping a feeling of apprehension over the destructive dynamicsNash uncovers. Nevertheless, the essays collected here stress the opportunity thatis still there for policies to be established that serve humankind by better servingnature.