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Before They're Gone: A Family's Year-Long Quest To Explore America's Most Endangered National Parks (2012)

by Michael Lanza(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0807001198 (ISBN13: 9780807001196)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Beacon Press

review 1: Loved the book! I have traveled and hiked many of the National Parks that Michael Lanza, the author, highlights in this book - and was drawn to read it while hiking in Mount Lassen National Park this fall. But what was especially meaningful and powerful to me were all the statistics, scientific research, and many studies and reports he cites about the impacts of global warming and climate change on each national park he visits with his family. He describes in good detail about how the impact of global warming has changed and is changing each park. As much as it is a story about his own adventures with his children to his favorite parks and trails, it's also rich with trends, patterns, records of changing weather, rising heat waves and record heat, increasing destructive st... moreorms, record and increasing fires, species being decimated, water shortages and a dropping water supply--and how all are reacting to climate change. He describes how the national parks are changing so fast, from when he visited 10 and 20 years ago, and how many lakes and streams have dried up, water is becoming more scarce, snow packs are melting earlier due to warmer temps, less snow is causing water shortages, less rainfall means drought and insect infestations, species are migrating further up elevations because their habitat is too warm for them to survive, species are dying off and the numbers of animals species are in steep decline, many tree species are also in steep decline, and ocean mammals are dying due to ocean acidification, warming temps, and pollution. I feel more compelled now to see some of the parks that I haven't visited, and also to contribute in all the ways that I personally can to reduce carbon and greenhouse gasses and reduce my environmental footprint on this earth. In the end, he asks, "So we face the question: are we willing to change our behavior not only for our parks, but for our children?" He asks for the sake of the next generations, to drive and fly less, use mass transit, consume less, use clean and renewable energy, reduce energy consumption, and demand that "our leaders support converting from fossil fuels to clean energy--as quickly as possible, as an expression of protecting the planet for all those to come and preserve the beauty of the natural world that is stressed and is straining to survive." As his closing scene, he hopes that we avert total disaster and destruction, that humanity rises to the challenges we face, and people and nations are willing to sacrifice and adapt - to avert further disaster to our natural systems.
review 2: I didn't really enjoy Michael Lanza's "Before They're Gone: A Family's Year-Long Quest to Explore America's Most Endangered National Parks." However, it was probably due to a case of misplaced expectations.I expected a book detailing Lanza's trips with his young children-- filled with their backpacking and hiking adventures, including trials and tribulations. What I got was a hit-you-over-the-head again and again lecture on climate change. The book was really too preachy to be enjoyable. Had this book been titled "Climate Change in America's National Parks" I never would have picked it up, as the topic really isn't something I'm super interested in reading about. That title would have been much more accurate. less

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