A Sugar Creek Chronicle

Observing Climate Change from a Midwestern Woodland

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Pub Date 15 Mar 2016 | Archive Date 01 Jul 2016
University of Iowa Press | University Of Iowa Press

Description

In 2010, while editing a report on the effects of climate change in Iowa, ecologist Cornelia Mutel came to grips with the magnitude and urgency of the problem. She already knew the basics: greenhouse gas emissions and global average temperatures are rising on a trajectory that could, within decades, propel us beyond far-reaching, irreversible atmospheric changes; the results could devastate the environment that enables humans to thrive. The more details she learned, the more she felt compelled to address this emerging crisis. The result is this book, an artful weaving together of the science behind rising temperatures, tumultuous weather events, and a lifetime devoted to the natural world. Climate change isn’t just about melting Arctic ice and starving polar bears. It’s weakening the web of life in our own backyards.

Moving between two timelines, Mutel pairs chapters about a single year in her Iowa woodland with chapters about her life as a fledgling and then professional student of nature. Stories of her childhood ramblings in Wisconsin and the solace she found in the Colorado mountains during early adulthood are merged with accounts of global environmental dilemmas that have redefined nature during her lifespan. Interwoven chapters bring us into her woodland home to watch nature’s cycles of life during a single year, 2012, when weather records were broken time and time again. Throughout, in a straightforward manner for a concerned general audience, Mutel integrates information about the science of climate change and its dramatic alteration of the planet in ways that clarify its broad reach, profound impact, and seemingly relentless pace.

It is not too late, she informs us: we can still prevent the most catastrophic changes. We can preserve a world full of biodiversity, one that supports human lives as well as those of our myriad companions on this planet. In the end, Mutel offers advice about steps we can all take to curb our own carbon emissions and strategies we can suggest to our policy-makers. 

In 2010, while editing a report on the effects of climate change in Iowa, ecologist Cornelia Mutel came to grips with the magnitude and urgency of the problem. She already knew the basics: greenhouse...


Advance Praise

“This is a rich and astute story of balance, stability, and their opposites, in the life of a person and of a planet. It helps set the great changes now underway around us in a powerful, manageable context. I highly recommend it.”—Bill McKibben, author, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

A Sugar Creek Chronicle is as well-researched as it is written. Climate change is already hitting home. Connecting the dots to the underlying science is often difficult. Mutel does just that, and does it superbly.”—Gernot Wagner, coauthor, Climate Shock: The Economic Consequences of a Hotter Planet

“This is a rich and astute story of balance, stability, and their opposites, in the life of a person and of a planet. It helps set the great changes now underway around us in a powerful, manageable...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781609383954
PRICE $16.00 (USD)

Average rating from 3 members


Featured Reviews

Mutel writes about climate change, but this is no dry tome with statistics and charts. Rather, it’s an account, almost a memoir of Mutel’s own life and how climate change has impacted her world. In a journal fashion, she writes about her home an life in Iowa, beginning in January, remarking on the shorter winters, higher temperatures and longer mud seasons. She talks about the wildlife around her house, how it has adapted to live in a certain biome and how changing weather patterns have affected both animals and insects. She reminisces about her children enjoying the beauty of nature, talks about long walks in the woods with her dog and sitting before the fire on a cold winter’s night. Reading this book is like sitting down with a good friend and learning about all the changes occurring right before our eyes, realizing what he have lost and all that is still at stake. One of the best books about nature and biodiversity I have ever read

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This book is like a "Silent Spring" for climate change. Very readable, very understandable, and I think that the author is a person that I would enjoy talking with about the beauty and fragility of nature.

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