Podcasts: A Conversation with W. David Laird: The Future of Environmental Writing in the Southwest - November 7, 2007

Outline of Podcast

• Listen to the entire podcast (01:37:58 MP3)


• Listen to Dean Stoffle's introduction (00:06:14 MP3)
• Listen to David Laird (00:06:32 MP3)
• Listen to Allyson Carter (00:09:46 MP3)
• Listen to Joe Wilder (00:16:28 MP3)
• Listen to Steve Cox (00:24:44 MP3)
• Listen to Susan Lowell (00:11:29 MP3)
• Listen to Questions to the panel (00:10:25 MP3)

Additional Notes

1. Carla Stoffle introduction
• David Laird and friends will talk about the future of environmental writing and if this genre will survive in the 21st Century
• Panel includes:
• Joe Wilder: Director of the Southwest Center at UA and editor of the Journal of the Southwest
• Allison Carter: acquiring editor for the University of Arizona Press
• Susan Lowell: author and publisher of Rio Nuevo Publications
• Steve Cox: author and director emeritus of University of Arizona Press


2. David Laird
• Introduction of panel:
• Allyson Carter: oversees 9 series for UA Press including the Southwest Series
• Joe Wilder: Phd in political theory, grew up and eventually returned to Tucson
• Steve Cox: director emeritus of University of Arizona Press, worked at 3 other University Presses, has taught classes, co-author of Writing Brave and Free
• Susan Lowell: co-owner of Rio Nuevo Press and Treasure Chest Publications, Creating writing degree from Stanford, master's degree from Stanford in writing. Masters in English from Princeton and PhD in English from Princeton, professor and writer including The Three Little Javelinas
• Last 10 years has been the largest volume of books published, contrary to what was predicted.
• Story of the turtle who called the police because he has been assaulted. Police asked what happened and the turtle said he didn't know because it happened so fast. This relates to his last 35 years in publishing because it went by so fast.


3. Allyson Carter
• UA Press is department of the University and publisher of scholarly and regional books and publishes authors from all over the world that are of interest to Arizona universities. Many writers have found uniqueness and beauty in the environment. Questions authors write on are how the environment is changing, how its use has changed, and indigenous knowledge of the environment.
• The Desert Placement Series tries to help people understand the desert landscapes of the West and some of the issues of saving wild places and highlighting their importance.
• Allyson works on acquiring enthnobotany and enthnohistory books such as the authors Ophelia Zepeda, Gary Nabhan and David Yetman. A new series is environmental science, law and policy which hopes to take topics such as climate change accessible to the public and law and policy makers.
• The future: UA Press has its first digital book coming out in the spring. More book titles are coming out across the country and trying different formats of books like digital, and including CDs, photos.


4. Joe Wilder
• Environmental writing in the past focused on the romanticized aspect of the desert as exotic and lovely or as exotic and harsh and this kind of writing will not be seen in the future.
• Read an excerpt from John Van Dyke, The Open Space: Incidents from Nights and Days under the Blue Sky. He talked about the change in the Arizona city White River and how he does not relate to it the same way anymore, because the relationship to place has changed because it is now an urbanized space.
• The future: continue publishing about the people who have been here and the knowledge that has the collected here, narratives bound to place, policy and social responses to development, creating sustainable rural communities and the lack of water.


5. Steve Cox
• There is little wild land left on earth and humans damage the environment. In Tennessee, Cox found the Tennessee Valley Authority which tried to make east Tennessee land pretty again. His favorite river was the Little Tennessee.
• An ichthyologist wanted to publish a book about the fish of Tennessee. He found the Snail Darter fish in the Little Tennessee River and TVA wanted to dam the river but the ichthyologist tried to prevent the damming. This showed him that he could take a political stance in publishing and that was to help protect the environment.
• Publishing in Arizona must take a different stand and urbanism is the future. Publishers should publish books that speak the truth to those in power about city building.
• Recommendations: University of Arizona Press book by Eva Tulane Watt, Don't let the sun step over you, University of Arizona Press book by Jack Turner The Abstract Wild


6. Susan Lowell
• Rio Nuevo Press is a small publishing company and must decide what books to publish to make a profit and how to make them beautiful. The environment is the big story of our time. The Press has published many southwestern environmental books. Good, vibrant writing includes excitement, interesting characters, and colorful words.
• The future: The internet is growing as the place for science writing because it makes subjects easy to research. Books that are fun to read and beautiful are different. In the future there will be better books because there will be fewer books. It is open for new formats and the ability to mix pictures, sound and motion. We are waiting for a new form that supplements books but does not replace them. One thing about environmental writing is that is often degenerates into bad news and may keep people from reading it so you want to include hope.


7. Questions to the panel
• Are environmental books selling well?
• The World without Us by Alan Weisman is very negative but also very successful which goes against what Susan Lowell stated.
• If beautiful environmental writing makes us want to visit but it is best to leave the wilderness alone how do we rectify this dilemma?