Resurrection: Glen Canyon and a New Vision for the American West
By Annette McGivney
With photographs by James Kay
Foreword by Bill McKibben
Braided River/The Mountaineers Books, March 2009
What environmental leaders are saying about Resurrection...
"Through insightful narrative and stunning photographs, Annette McGivney and James Kay introduce us to an ecological miracle that is occurring in the American S outhwest: the reemergence of Glen Canyon. After construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, the mighty Colorado River was drowned, forever disturbing the region's fragile ecology of native plants and animals. McGivney and Kay point to the larger issue at play in the region--evidence that drought and climate change are leading to a showdown over water distribution. This is yet another example that the next major resource war will be fought over water. It's a problem that our entire planet faces--and requires our immediate attention."
-- Robert Redford, actor, director, conservationist, and trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council
"There are days when it seems to me I'm in the obituary business. After a quarter-century of writing and fighting about global warming, it sometimes gets to be too much. The loss of the Arctic's sea ice, of the permafrost tundra, of the coastlines ravaged by rising seas, of the species pushed over the brink, of the people left in the path of malarial mosquitoes. Too much.
This is why this book has given me more pleasure than anything I've read in ages. It's the opposite of a eulogy; it's a birth notice, or a rebirth notice, for one of the central landscapes in the American imagination. Annette McGivney's sage, balanced, and beautiful prose and James Kay's informative and inspiring photographs provide a strong hit of that caffeine we most need right now: hope, real honest-to-God hope that someplace in the world is getting greener, not browner--better, not worse."
-- Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and The Bill McKibben Reader, and an educator and environmentalist.
" Anyone who wept as rising waters drowned Glen Canyon will rejoice at the resurrection documented in these pages. Anyone who wonders what made this the most special of the Colorado River's canyons will find the answers here, too. And anyone who wants a sustainable future for the Southwest, with human demands balanced against the desert's limits, will be reminded that asking less from the Colorado can mean gaining a treasure --for ourselves and the future. "
-- Barbara Brower, author, professor, and daughter of David Brower
"In these pages, Annette McGivney and James Kay document the precarious state of the Colorado River and the Glen Canyon through which the river flows. This book should be read and studied by anyone concerned about the climate crisis we now face and the fate of the natural world. The recovery of Glen Canyon provides us with hope and should inspire us to right a previous environmental wrong. It will just take foresight and courage to find solutions to restore a healthy Colorado River ecosystem."
-- Martin Litton, conservationist, writer, former river guide, and founder of Grand Canyon Dories