Ghosthawk by Matt Rader Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2021 $18.95 / 9780889714045 Reviewed by Kelly Shepherd * In what is probably one of the earliest examples of ecopoetry (“Smokey the Bear Sutra,” 1969) the American poet and environmental philosopher Gary Snyder describes the presence of several “great centers of power” throughout the North American continent. The…
Read more 1771 Specific to the Okanagan
Scrubbing the Sky: Inside the Race to Cool the Planet by Paul McKendrick Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2023 $28.95 / 9781773272085 Reviewed by Douw Steyn * The strange “naked ape” we are has been on planet earth as a distinct species for about 200,000 years. Most of that time we spent migrating across all continents,…
Read more 1765 Cooling our jets
Announcing the BC Review interview series by Richard Mackie * In November 2022, at the most recent board meeting of the Ormsby Literary Society, the chair, Byron Sheardown, suggested that we open a YouTube channel and start an interview series. Board member Trevor Marc Hughes jumped at the suggestion. “I’ve got filmmaking experience,” he said,…
Read more 1757 Announcing interview series
Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America by Peter Wohlleben and Jane Billinghurst Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2022 $24.95 / 9781771643313 Reviewed by Jodi Lundgren * Immerse yourself in a forest and use all of your senses to pay attention, advises Peter Wohlleben in this information-packed guidebook, a follow-up to his best-selling The…
Read more 1750 Out of the woods
Backpacking in Southwestern British Columbia: The Essential Guide to Overnight Hiking Trips by Taryn Eyton Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2021 $24.95 / 9781771646680 Reviewed by Jocie Brooks * I sometimes ask myself why I backpack. There are the usual hardships to endure: a too-heavy pack, swarms of bugs and unexpected bad weather. Months after the trips…
Read more 1748 Life stripped down to the core
This Unlikely Soil by Andrea Routley Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022 $24.95 / 9781773860985 Reviewed by Amy Reiswig * Anyone who has spent time in a BC forest knows it can be hard to navigate. Spaces between tall trunks are filled with thick tangles of salal, huckleberry, and ferns, and the way forward is strewn…
Read more 1746 Much grows in shadow
Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Towers, Temples and Skyscrapers by Gregor Craigie, illustrated by Kathleen Fu Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2022 $29.95 / 9781459821880 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Was the Tower of Jericho built as a defensive watchtower or a mechanism to help farmers calculate the summer solstice? What are the advantages…
Read more 1737 The sky’s the limit
Alone in the Great Unknown: One Woman’s Remarkable Adventures in the Northwestern Wilderness by Caroll Simpson Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2022 $26.95 / 9781550179941 Reviewed by Catherine Owen * As I load birch logs a local woodsman has chopped into my wood pit bin, groaning slightly at the work in only minus three conditions, I…
Read more 1733 Maintenance and sustenance
An essay by Patrick A. Dunae Naming British Columbia * The British Columbia Review is a year old. Previously known as The Ormsby Review (2016), it was renamed The British Columbia Review on February 10, 2022. The new name was greeted enthusiastically, for the most part.[1] A few readers were unhappy that it had ‘British…
Read more 1721 Naming British Columbia
An essay by Brian Smallshaw: Out of Options with the Freedom Convoy? * Whatever you think about the Freedom Convoy’s occupation of Ottawa and the blocking of border crossings in Windsor and Coutts, the Canadian government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to shut down a protest should be of concern to every Canadian who…
Read more 1700 Freedom Convoy: out of options?
Rescue Me: Behind the Scenes of Search and Rescue by Cathalynn Labonté-Smith Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022 $26.00 / 9781773860947 Reviewed by Mike Starr * “Behind the Scenes of Search and Rescue” is what the subtitle promises and is exactly what you’ll get with Rescue Me. Author Cathalynn Labonté-Smith did over 60 interviews with Search…
Read more 1699 Many a life line
Imminent Domains: Reckoning with the Anthropocene by Alessandra Naccarato Toronto: Book*hug Press, 2022 $23.00 / 9781771667753 Reviewed by Graeme Wynn * In the 1870s, John Ruskin, Slade Professor of Fine Art in the University of Oxford, initiated a scheme to improve the rough and muddy path into the village of North Hinksey on the outskirts…
Read more 1698 On Ruskin’s road
Following the Telegraph Trail: A Trek of a Lifetime by Irene J. Huntley Victoria: FriesenPress, 2021 $14.99 / 9781039110441 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Irene J. Huntley has written a worthy little book — Following the Telegraph Trail — which documents the adventurous trek taken by her father, Don Huntley, and his friend, Gunnar Nillson,…
Read more 1695 South to British Columbia
The Sky and the Patio: An Ecology of Home by Don Gayton Vancouver: New Star Books, 2022 $18.00 / 9781554201945 Reviewed by Harold Rhenisch * Two hundred years ago, the Earth was one-fifth prairie, including much of the Okanagan Valley. Now most of earth’s temperate grasslands are gone. In the Okanagan, there are only tiny…
Read more 1671 The Grass Man Cometh
The Science and Spirit of Seaweed: Discovering Food, Medicine and Purpose in the Kelp Forests of the Pacific Northwest by Amanda Swinimer Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2022 $28.95 / 9781550179613 Reviewed by Howard Macdonald Stewart * I feel guilty for having sat so long on Amanda Swinimer’s book about seaweed. Sure, our island has suffered…
Read more 1664 The seaweed book
Worth More Growing: Youth Poets Pay Homage to Trees by Christine Lowther (editor) Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022 $22.00 / 9781773860978 Reviewed by Heidi Greco * In the spring of 2022 Caitlin Press released their amazing themed anthology, Worth More Standing: Poets and Activists Pay Homage to Trees. Edited by Christine Lowther, that book was…
Read more 1661 Poets for the planet
The Petroleum Papers: Inside the Far-Right Conspiracy to Cover Up Climate Change by Geoff Dembicki Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2022 $34.95 / 9781771648912 Reviewed by Mike Starr * As I was reading The Petroleum Papers, I was thinking of Uncle Steve. My Great Uncle, S.R. Stevens, was an executive with Imperial Oil from the 1940s to…
Read more 1644 A threat to humanity
The Okanagan Wine Tour Guide Updated & Expanded by John Schreiner and Luke Whittall Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2020 (6th edition) $25.00 / 9781771513241 Reviewed by Isabel Nanton * When we last visited Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars on a hot June day in 2021, the owners were protecting from Covid their 17 seasonal workers from…
Read more 1640 An Okanagan classic
Mobilize Food! Wartime Inspiration for Environmental Victory Today by Eleanor Boyle, with a foreword by Tim Lang Victoria: FriesenPress, 2022 $19.99 / 9781039123663 Reviewed by Mary Gale Smith * Almost daily, news headlines – heat waves, drought, hurricanes, land slides, floods, fires, and so on – remind us that climate change is real. The pandemic…
Read more 1629 Return to Victory Gardens
A Brief History of the Earth’s Climate: Everyone’s Guide to the Science of Climate Change by Steven Earle Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2021 $19.99 / 9780865719590 Reviewed by Tom Koppel * “Our sun is anything but constant; it is slowly getting hotter,” writes Steven Earle in A Brief History of the Earth’s Climate. But that has…
Read more 1628 Temperature rising