Nature and Environment Book Club: The Devil's Element
Nature and Environment Book Club: The Devil's Element
Please contact facilitator Hilary Caws-Elwitt for updated meeting info.
The Nature and Environment Book Club is devoted to the best of nature writing and environmental reporting with discussions on the second Wednesday of each month. Readers and writers interested in books ranging from such classics as Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to topical reportage like Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction will want to join the conversation.
This month's book is The Devil's Element by Dan Egan.
Get a copy from the library by placing a hold.
About the book:
The story of phosphorus spans the globe and vast tracts of human history. The race to mine phosphorus took people from the battlefields of Waterloo, which were looted for the bones of fallen soldiers, to the fabled guano islands off Peru, the Bone Valley of Florida, and the sand dunes of the Western Sahara. Over the past century, phosphorus has made farming vastly more productive, feeding the enormous increase in the human population. Yet, as Egan harrowingly reports, our overreliance on this vital crop nutrient is today causing toxic algae blooms and "dead zones" in waterways from the coasts of Florida to the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes and beyond. Egan also explores the alarming reality that diminishing access to phosphorus poses a threat to the food system worldwide--which risks rising conflict and even war.
- Date:
- Wednesday, August 14, 2024 Show more dates
- Time:
- 6:30pm - 8:00pm
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Watson Room
- Categories:
- Adult Events Book Discussions Recurring Events
Many events at the library are organized by members of the community. The views expressed are not necessarily endorsed by the library.