Not So Golden State: Sustainability vs. the California Dream - Softcover

Miller, Char

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1595347828 ISBN 13: 9781595347824

Publisher: Trinity University Press, 2016

Synopsis

In Not So Golden State, leading environmental historian Char Miller looks below the surface of California's ecological history to expose some of its less glittering conundrums. In this necessary book, he asks the tough questions as we stand on the edge of a human-induced natural disaster in the region and beyond. He details policy steps and missteps in public land management, examines the impact of recreation on national forests, parks, and refuges, and assesses efforts to restore wild land habitat, riparian ecosystems, and endangered species.

Why, during a devastating five-year drought, Miller asks, is the Central Valley’s agribusiness still irrigating its fields as if it's business as usual? Why are northern counties rich in groundwater selling it off to make millions while draining their aquifers toward eventual mud? Why, when contemporary debate over oil and gas drilling questions reasonable practices, are extractive industries targeting Chaco Canyon National Historic Park and its ancient sites, which are of inestimable value to Native Americans? How do we begin to understand local,” a concept of hope for modern environmentalism?

To inhabit a place requires placed-based analyses, whatever the geographic scope examinations that are rooted in a precise, physical reality. To make a conscientious life in a suburb, floodplain, fire zone, or coastline requires a heightened awareness of these landscapes’ past so we can develop an intensified responsibility for their present condition and future prospects.

Miller explores these issues and more in Not So Golden State, and understanding them will be critical in our creation of more resilient, habitable, and equitable communities for California's future.

About this title

About the Author:

Char Miller, formerly a professor of history at Trinity University, is director of the environmental analysis program and W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis at Pomona College. He is the author of the award-winningGifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism, On the Edge: Water, Immigration, and Politics in the Southwest,Deep in the Heart of San Antonio: Land and Life in South Texas, and Public Lands/Public Debates: A Century of Controversy. He is the editor ofOn the Border: An Environmental History of San Antonio and Fifty Years of the Texas Observer. His weekly column, "Golden Green," for KCET.org in Los Angeles, focuses on the environmental issues confronting California and the West. He lives in Claremont, CA.

Review:

"Miller tells stories to remind us that we inhabit a particular geography, and to inspire collective action.... his essays blend historical record with personal narrative.... makes personal the region s environmental past." Los Angeles Review of Books
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About this edition

• Publisher: Trinity University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1595347828
• ISBN 13: 9781595347824
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288