Road Running Southward
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€38.99
A01=Dan Chapman
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Appalachian
aquifer
Author_Dan Chapman
automatic-update
biodiversity
botany
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=WTLC
Chattahoochee
climate change
coal ash
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
development
dispatches
endangered
environment
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_travel
Florida
invasive species
John Muir
Language_English
mountains
national park
natural resource
PA=Available
pollution
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
Savannah
sea level rise
Sierra Club
softlaunch
species
sprawl
the South
walk
wilderness
Product details
- ISBN 9781642831948
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 26 May 2022
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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In 1867, John Muir set out on foot to explore the botanical wonders of the South, keeping a detailed journal of his adventures as he traipsed from Kentucky southward to Florida. One hundred and fifty years later, on a similar whim, veteran Atlanta reporter Dan Chapman, distressed by sprawl-driven environmental ills in a region he loves, recreated Muir’s journey to see for himself how nature has fared since Muir’s time. Channelling Muir, he uses humour, keen observation, and a deep love of place to celebrate the South’s natural riches. But he laments that a treasured way of life for generations of Southerners is endangered as long-simmering struggles intensify over misused and dwindling resources. Chapman seeks to discover how Southerners might balance surging population growth with protecting the natural beauty Muir found so special.
Each chapter touches upon a local ecological problem—at-risk species in Mammoth Cave, coal ash in Kingston, Tennessee, climate change in the Nantahala National Forest, water wars in Georgia, aquifer depletion in Florida—that resonates across the South. Chapman delves into the region’s natural history, moving between John Muir’s vivid descriptions of a lush botanical paradise and the myriad environmental problems facing the South today. Along the way he talks to locals with deep ties to the land—scientists, hunters, politicians, and even a Muir impersonator—who describe the changes they’ve witnessed and what it will take to accommodate a fast-growing population without destroying the natural beauty and a cherished connection to nature.
A Road Running Southward is part travelogue, part environmental cri de coeur, and paints a picture of a South under siege. It is a passionate appeal, a call to action to save one of the loveliest and most biodiverse regions of the world by understanding what we have to lose if we do nothing.
Dan Chapman is a writer, reporter, and lover of the outdoors. He grew up in Washington DC and Tokyo, the son of a newspaperman and an English teacher. He worked for Congressional Quarterly, The Winston-Salem Journal, The Charlotte Observer, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has also reported from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He currently writes stories about conservation in the South for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
