Green fuel: Part 1

Food for thought from six authors of eco-writing classics...

HENRY DAVID THOREAU Walden (1854)

Probably the most famous account of living simply in natural surroundings – just over two years in a small hut by Walden Pond, Massachusetts: ‘I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.’

EDITH HOLDEN Country diary of an Edwardian lady (1906)

Never intended for print, this collection of illustrations and observations wasn’t published until 1977. It’s a beautiful book, and also a testament to just how fast the natural world had already changed.

ALDO LEOPOLD A Sand County almanac (1949)

Cited as an inspiration by many environmentalists, these essays explore the ecology of his Wisconsin farm and propose a ‘land ethic’: ‘A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.’

RACHEL CARSON Silent spring (1962)

Silent because insects and birds have been killed by the use of pesticides, notably DDT. Forensic in its warning, this is a key text of the environmental movement; and Carson also wrote a trilogy about the sea, and about the power of wonder.

EDWARD ABBEY Desert solitaire (1968)

Based on time as a ranger in Arches National Park in Utah, this is full of vivid observation of nature, and how humans are often in tension with the wild. His novel, The

Monkey Wrench Gang, about activism and sabotage, has also inspired many.

DR SEUSS The Lorax (1971)

This tale of the small orange creature who ‘speaks for the trees’ vs. the destructive Once-ler, introduced generations of kids to the importance of protecting the enviroment (and was Geisel’s favourite of all the books he wrote).