Customer Reviews

This Place on Earth: Home and the Practice of Permanence

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Having recently moved to the Northwest, this book is great in covering the history in a way that few books do. Although I don't agree with everything he says, he's got some very valid points. Interwoven in the story of "place", is his personal story, and it fits in very well. I liked this book enough I will probably actually buy it (the one I have is from the library) so that I can loan it out to friends. Besides being specifically about the Northwest, the book's premise can be transferred to other areas as well, the idea is you relating to your part of the earth and to your community.

Durning has written a fascinating book that examines the potential of the Pacific Northwest bioregion and the people that live there. This book demonstrates that the personal is political, and shows readers how his/her own impact on the planet can be lessened. It is, by far, one of the most important books written in 1996, and one of the most important books that you can read in the year ahead

Durning pulled his punches on several topics in this book, depriving readers of his valuable insight on some of the most controversial topics in the environmental movement today. The two most glaring examples of this are his cursory discussions of immigration and abortion. He doesn't discuss whether we should address the environmental impacts of immigration, or even write about whether these impacts actually exist. And although Durning goes into great detail about his wife's precarious health during her second pregnancy and his own fears about overconsumption in the US, Durning doesn't dive into why he and his wife decided to carry to term their third pregnancy instead of aborting. Durning has written extensively and eloquently on the problems of overconsumption in the US, it would have been very enlightening to see how Durning reconciled their decision to have a third child with his environmental convictions.

In retrospect, when I look back on my "hungry" journey, few pillars of existing heart and knowledge-base re-affirmed my personal hope for the future more than this very rich resource.

Not surprisingly "This Place on Earth: Home and the Practice of Permanence," by Alan Thein Durning of www.NorthwestEnvironmentWatch.org, become a resource so rich for this organization that further works would expand directly from the chapters within. Infact, it is still going on today.

In my opinion, Alan's Worldwatch Institute journey storied at a very local level (the Pacific Northwest) is a vital element to each individuals own learned journey in the context of their own life and view. It is heartening, as I write that this work continues.

Thank you to Alan and his dedicated staff and sponsors.

Sincerely,

Dennis Patrick Kain