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True Stories of the Living Lightly on the Earth

By Bill McKibben

Milkweed Editions, 248 pages.

 

 

Milkweed’s reissue of this 1995 collection of essays is timely. More than ever, we need examples of hope to provide a restorative way forward. This is not a collection of stories about granola-crunching Birkenstock-wearing recyclers (not that there’s anything wrong with that). McKibben takes a wider view. He examines communities that have found a way to function and respect the people and the ecosystem to which they belong. These communities are not utopia, rather communities whose leaders consider sustainability and quality of life in a way that provides inventive solutions to problems faced by urban and rural communities. 

 

McKibben explores his own Adirondack mountain community, Kerala, India, and Curituba, Brazil. He finds hope in wise living that enlarges the concept of sustainability to include the spirit of those who choose richer lives with a bit less luxury. McKibben's view of community, like Aldo Leopold’s view, considers people as a part of their ecosystems. Planners and community officials consider original solutions and management techniques when they understand the deprivation and bleakness of living in a spoiled nest. Curitiba has helped more than fifty cities worldwide adopt at least part of its bus transit system, resulting in decreased car traffic. Kerala has provided a model of democracy for other cities, including community budgeting and small-scale, low-input farming. In the Adirondacks, there is proof that community economies can thrive, as farmers’ markets have doubled in number in the last decades and the use of wind energy has increased.  

 

McKibben’s new afterword provides tension. An inquisitive reader will wonder what has happened in the 12 years since the original release. Are the cities now plundered? Are the Adirondack woods once again falling as loggers look lustfully to the towering timber that dominate much of the country side? 

 

If you missed this release the first time around or not, it’s definitely worth a read. McKibben’s prose sparkles with intelligent sensitivity. Beware though, these stories which offer tantalizing hope in human ingenuity also infuriate any reader who looks up from the pages and imagines what wonders might have been accomplished since its first inspiring release.