Chapter 1, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard’s Pulitzer Prize–winning collection of meditative essays, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, published in 1974, caused her to be hailed as a writer in the spirit of Henry David Thoreau and his Walden. Dillard is known for careful observations of her natural habitat and is said to combine these observations with a kind of religious mysticism.
Love Canal, Lois Gibbs
In 1976, homemaker Lois Gibbs did research on her neighborhood of Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York. She learned that the neighborhood sat on top of 21,000 tons of buried chemical waste. Her grassroots activism eventually brought about the cleanup of the area as well as changes in laws so that polluters are made responsible for their actions.
NASA Earth photograph
This view of Africa and Saudi Arabia is said by NASA to be “the most requested picture of the earth.” It was taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts as they left the earth’s orbit en route to the moon on December 7, 1972. It was the first time the trajectory of flight also enabled a view of the south pole.
“Garbage,” written by Bill Steele; sung by Pete Seeger
In a long life of activism, one of folksinger Pete Seeger’s main themes has been cleaning up our environment. This song, written by Bill Steele, argues that “garbage” has taken over many aspects of our lives.