I received an ARC for this book! Thank you to Indigo River Publishing to read this!

Nature's Ally takes us through Robert Sulnick's experiences in environmental advocacy which abruptly entered his life and have yet to leave. It's an interesting perspective compared to life-long environmentalists as Sulnick's expedition in Nature begins a little later in life which is a perspective we simply need more of. I'm not quite the intended audience of this book, as I found my reverence for nature long before. I find myself in a similar position to Sulnick's great-nephew, that he describes as a motivator for writing this book, but I come from the science side rather than the law side. However, I think Sulnick provides a valuable perspective that some of us science people can get hung up on, which is communicating effectively to achieve environmental progress.

We follow Sulnick's expedition chronologically through his life, but are provided with postscript that provides present day commentary, conclusions, and facts. I thought it was a great addition to bring some closure to those events or provide greater context even if the segment is quite abrupt. Information is shared with us through passages and also through dialogue, which did feel a little repetitive at times as a device to push the story. Otherwise, this book does a nice job of finding a good balance of science and law terminology usage to not overwhelm a reader, but I think some more expansion on some of the environmental justice terminology may have been beneficial.

I think I would describe this book as more of a journey through lessons learned rather than an explicit guidebook. Learning from those who have accomplished these feats before is absolutely one of the great resources we have as the next generation. As Sulnick himself mentions that we're entering a new age of climate advocacy. I felt the book sets a very loose guide to really stepping into environmental advocacy. However, to someone very new in their journey I would encourage this perspective, especially if one is coming from outside the environmental umbrella. It's never too late to start.

This book certainly comes in a time of turbulence for environmental activism, where governmental momentum seems bleak. Sulnick puts an emphasis on the community you find. At the end of the day, maybe more people will read and find that community or start in their journey. That's where the hope is.