Nonfiction November: Shape Shifting on Climate Change
Non Fiction November has long been one of my favourite reading events but I’ve failed miserably to make a contribution this year. Let’s see if i can rescue the situation with this week’s topic on the way non fiction can change our view of the world.
The prompt from this week’s host She Seeks Nonfiction is:
What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Do you think there is a book that should be required reading for everyone?
Let’s get one thing out of the way immediately.
I don’t subscribe to the view that anyone should be required to read a specific book, no matter how good/informative/insightful it is or how much of an impression it left on me. Our response to a book is an individual one, and what I think is important, another reader might find irrelevant or even patronising if they already know a lot about the topic.
How about “Books that any impacted my view of the world” or Made my rethink everything”? My view of the world has been shaped over many years. It’s been a process and is still in flux so I don’t honestly believe I could point to one book or even a few and say “this book entirely changed my viewpoint.”
I’m on safer ground thinking about non fiction books that taught me something new or gave me a fresh insight. The most recent of which is Landlines by Raynor Winn.
I’ve read all three of her books documenting the long distance walks she takes with her husband Moth as a way of coping with his incurable health condition. I love the blend of memoir and travelogue as well as Raynor’s observations on the people they encounter.
Landlines sees them set out to tackle one of the toughest, most remote trails in Britain. They were meant to walk about 200 miles but end up doing almost a thousand miles, from Scotland back to their home right at the other end of the country.
What I love about Winn’s writing is her tendency to digress from the mechanics of walking, camping and eating to observations about the effects of social, and political trends and commentary on the relationship between man and nature.
Which brings me to the topic of peat. Not the most sexy of topics you’ll admit. But it’s become a hot topic among amateur gardeners in the UK ever since our government announced a ban on the sale of peat and peat-containing products by 2024. Compost suppliers have been racing to find alternatives but they’re really inferior — conversations with my gardening chums this summer invariably ended up with us complaining the new stuff dries out very quickly and plants are more sickly.
I knew there was an environmental rationale for the ban and thought it was something to do with the loss of a natural habitat through over extraction. But Winn has now set me straight on that point.
The real issue is that all the dead plant matter which goes to form peat sucks up carbon, three billion tonnes of the stuff within the UK alone. When you dig into that sponge all that carbon gets converted to carbon dioxide (CO2) and is lost to the atmosphere forever, contributing directly to global warming.
In this time of climate crisis, a healthy bog is an incredible asset … But when those boglands are degraded, their vegetation lost through agriculture, peat extraction or burning they become a huge, unsustainable climate hazard. Degraded peatland in England alone releases something in the region of ten million tonnes of CO2 into our atmosphere every year, making the restoration of our boglands essential in our attempts to slow climate change.
That figure of 10 million tonnes was an eye opener.
Raynor Winn’s explanation has made me look at those bags of peat-free compost in a new light. I’ll put up with the hassle of having to water my plants more often now I understand how one change in purchasing pattern can have this much impact on our climate.
I would love to be a long distance walker. This whole idea of just putting one foot in front of the other until you travel so very far away, it appeals to me tremendously. I must read this book!
Emily is a huge fan of Winn (along with Chris Lewis, another long-distance walker who’s completed a walking circumnavigation of the British coastline) and attended their joint event at this year’s Hay Festival, but I’ve only got as far as standing in for her in the queue to get their books signed. She’s read Winn’s books several times, along with Christian’s; doubtless I’ll get round to them sometime.
I hadn’t heard of Chris Lewis but there are many people doing various walking/cycling/swimming long distance adventures and its hard to keep up. I was booked to hear Winn talk in Cardiff a few months ago but she never showed up – we waited 30 mins then the bookshop told us to go home because they couldn’t get hold of her at all. Never heard what the problem was
Yes, I agree: there is no one-book-fits-all.
It would be rather dull if there were – we’d have nothing to argue (oops, discuss)
I’ve only read the Salt Path and loved it. Need to read the next two. So interesting about peat. Had no idea. I agree with you how we come to books in our own time. I don’t like it when someone tells me I have to read such and such. Puts me right off. Interesting post.
I didn’t enjoy The Wild Silence as much as Salt Path and now Landlines. But it’ still worth reading – that couple put themselves through some extraordinary challenging conditions
They certainly did. An amazing story.
Interesting learning about the effect of cultivating of peat.
It was only a short piece, one of many examples in the book of where she made me stop and think
I enjoyed the Salt Path, so I’ll be adding this to my reading wish lost. I have just read that they are making The Salt Path into a film.
I hadn’t heard about the film project Rosie, I can see how it would appeal though I bet they’ll focus more on the actual walk rather than say Raynor’s reflections on homelessness
I just finished Landlines! I loved reading all three of Winn’s books this year. Such a wonderful combination of personal, natural and social journeys. Sharing these stories can be a powerful catalyst for change – there were some amusing encounters in this one with people who had read her earlier books and set out to walk. Not always happily, one must say, but at least it got them out of their armchairs.
Those anecdotes were so funny. Reading about some of the other people they encounter does make you wonder why some people embark on walks at all – it seems to be more about ticking a box to say you’ve done it rather than enjoying the experience.
Nice review.
I wondered if Moth was alive.
he certainly is – but. you have to read Landlines to the end to find out how his health is currently 🙂