Conserving Words by Daniel Philippon

Book review by Teresa Ku

Motivation Behind this Review

Daniel Philippon lectures, DJP Home.

In today's society, we can see that there are a lot of efforts put forth in trying to create a better environment. It seems like every product is going 'green' in some way or another. Products are being made so that they would cause minimal harm to the natural environment. Therefore, the idea of practicing 'green consumerism' has become more popular among the American society.

America has come a long way in slowly trying to change its path from continuous degradation of the environment to a path of renewing the natural environment. Although, it is important that we continue onto this path, it is also significant to review the process of which we came onto this path. Therefore, it is important that we look towards the roots of environmental movement and to see the motivation behind this movement. The roots of the environmental movement lie within the first writings on importance of nature.

Brief Synopsis of the Book

In this particular book, Daniel Philippon tries to answer the question of how American nature writers shaped the environmental movement. In order to answer this question, Philippon analyzes and looks at five authors of nature writing who also founded or revitalized important environmental organizations: Theodore Roosevelt and the Boone and Crockett Club, Mabel Osgood Wright and the National Audubon Society, John Muir and the Sierra Club, Aldo Leopold and the Wilderness Society, and Edward Abbey and Earth First.

For the five authors, Philippon refers to them with a different metaphor to represent their ideals on nature and their organization. Phillippon tries to convey the point that nature writings caused the rise of advocacy for environmental organizations that aims at protecting nature. So in part, he provides biography of these five authors. He makes his point in saying, "I have tried to tell stories about particular nature writers while also making a larger argument about their roles in the growth of the environmental movement." (page xi)

Nature lovers in Daniel Philippon's book took the signficance of preserving environment to the heart, A Moveable Feast.

Eco-critic Daniel Philippon

There is no doubt that Philippon has a deep interest in American environmental literature. What he tries to focus on in the practical effects these American environmental literatures have on the society. He examines how much of an impact these literatures have on the actions of environmentalists. Philippon is currently an associate professor at the University of Minnesota writing and teaching more about 'ecocriticism' through his extensive research in environmental history, environmental ethics and conservation biology.

"His ultimate goal is to help find sustainable solutions to the issues that are threatening our ecological system which the human community is very well connected to."

His ultimate goal is to help find sustainable solutions to the issues that are threatening our ecological system which the human community is very well connected to. His other works include being co-editor in Coming in Contact: Explorations in Ecocritical Theory and Practice, The Height of Our Mountains: Nature Writing from Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley. In his books and in particular Conserving Words, Philippon hopes to reach out to every reader and his audience tends to be scholars and graduates in the environmental fields or "general readers interested in nature writing and environmental issues."(page Xii)

Analysis of the Text

The overall tone of this book that Philippon has created is utopian study. A utopia which conveys that it is more important for us to understand the significance of the ecological systems because the human community is connected and depended on the ecological system. Philippon was able to successfully combine each author's biography and their literary works in a coherent manner. For example, in the chapter regarding President Theodore Roosevelt, Philippon discusses the president's time after college and he also inserts a passage from Roosevelt's private notebook which tells how the president often observes nature through his experiences of going to the west where he was able to abandon the cruel urbane environment.

In between Philippon's descriptive biogrophies of authors, he provides photographs to enhance each character.

Philippon also includes photographs such as the one where the president was in his buckskin suit. Philippon was able to send a message that human community is working harmoniously with the environmental. The overall style of the writing is very narrative and very professional. Philippon gives a lot of praises to these five authors in their literary works and professional works"In his brief history of the Boone and Crockett Club, George Bird Grinnell summarized what may be the supreme achievement of this particular group: simply existing as an activist organization, an achievement he credits largely to Theodore Roosevelt."(page 71) It is easy to see that Philippon tries to make the five individual authors as different environmental writers with different yet similar ideals. Even though Philippon provides the readers with much information that sometimes, the overwhelming information and details may become dry and unreadable for audiences.

Organization of the Text

Philippon has a clear and tight organization in his book; he divides his book into specific parts and sub parts so that it is easy for readers to navigate through reading this book. Conserving Words also contains several illustrations such as a diagram in the introduction of the book that shows a timeline of how all five authors correlate with each other. The illustrations also include photographs of the authors with their environmental organizations. In addition, Philippon also provides detailed endnotes containing the author's primary and secondary sources.

Again, the endnotes themselves are very tightly organized and Philippon gives comments to these citations to point the readers in the right direction. Another section towards the end of the book is the index which again allows the reader to better navigate through the book. The fact that this book contains an index shows that the book is more professional and gives the sense that it is a reference book. This goes to show that the book is more intended for scholars and graduates researching in a particular field.

We see here that Daniel Philippon organizes his book in different sections and he provides numerous quotes and sources to in order to further his claim.

Conclusion for this Review

Philippon's Conserving Words definitely gives audience an idea of how these five extraordinary authors contribute to the environmental movement in America. The nature writings of these authors led to the creation of effective environmental organizations. Daniel Philippon not only provided passages of literatures that these five authors wrote but also letters, personal journal entries, official reports, and public debates which make the writings even more intimate. Since this book is very organized and dense, it would probably be inappropriate for readers looking for a casual read. It would more useful for those readers and researchers in this particular ethic environmental field that are more interested in the history of conservation in America.