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Cargando... China Lake: A Journey into the Contradicted Heart of a Global Climate…por Barret Baumgart
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"Barret Baumgart's literary debut presents a haunting and deeply personal portrait of civilization poised at the precipice, a picture of humanity caught between its deepest past and darkest future. In the fall of 2013, during the height of California's historic drought, Baumgart toured the remote military base, NAWS China Lake, near Death Valley, California. His mother, the survivor of a recent stroke, decided to come along for the ride. She hoped the alleged healing power of the base's ancient Native American hot springs might cure her crippling headaches. Baumgart sought to debunk claims that the military was spraying the atmosphere with toxic chemicals to control the weather. What follows is a discovery that threatens to sever not only the bonds between mother and son but between planet Earth and life itself. Stalking the fringes of Internet conspiracy, speculative science, and contemporary archaeology, Baumgart weaves memoir, military history, and investigative journalism in a dizzying journey that carries him from the cornfields of Iowa to drought-riddled California, from the Vietnam jungle to the caves of prehistoric Europe and eventually the walls of the US Capitol, the sparkling white hallways of the Pentagon, and straight into the contradicted heart of a worldwide climate emergency"-- No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)551.68Natural sciences and mathematics Earth sciences & geology Geology, Hydrology Meteorology Climatology and weatherClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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For a while it seemed to be about geoengineering the atmosphere, plunging into the paranoid, conspiratorial world of chemtrails crisscrossing the skies. And the political impossibility of seeding the atmosphere ever working. But then it also became an exploration of the petroglyphs – rock art – of the natives of California. And their shamans. Particularly their shamans. A lot about shamans.
He then crosses the country with an itinerant environmental protest march, ending up with a personal tour of the Pentagon in Washington. There are several uncaptioned black and white photos along the way.
About two thirds through it became a book about the US armed forces’ perverse efforts to go green. They are perverse because the US armed forces consume more fuel than 90% of the countries in the world. It is the Pentagon that pollutes the worst, upsets the ecology the most, and whose negligence will lead to wars over lack of drinkable water and lack of usable land as the seas rise. We need the Pentagon to defend us against the uncontrolled actions – of the Pentagon. Its greening has nothing to do with saving the planet and everything to do with not relying on any other country in the coming wars.
There are also several side trips on this zigzagging journey, and sometimes Baumgart switches back and forth without cues. He does not believe in subheadings. His separation of paragraphs does not conform to intuition. He puts breaks where none are required, and splices scenes together that need perspective. His mother plays an outsized role in this investigation into environmental disaster players, even though her main weapon seems to be champagne. She colors his thoughts and frustrates his development: “Chances of life on Mars were still greater than a month at my mother’s house.”
He definitely has his own style. As an environmental book it makes an insightful memoir. As a memoir it adds some science to the environmental apocalypse. After this, I’m not sure where Baumgart goes next.
David Wineberg ( )