Retrato do autor
4 Works 47 Membros 3 Críticas

Obras por Rien Fertel

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Data de nascimento
1980
Sexo
male

Membros

Críticas

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: In this compelling book, Rien Fertel tells the story of humanity’s complicated and often brutal relationship with the brown pelican over the past century. This beloved bird with the mythically bottomless belly—to say nothing of its prodigious pouch—has been deemed a living fossil and the most dinosaur-like of creatures. The pelican adorns the Louisiana state flag, serves as a religious icon of sacrifice, and stars in the famous parting shot of Jurassic Park, but, most significantly, spotlights our tenuous connection with the environment in which it flies, feeds, and roosts—the coastal United States.

In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt inaugurated the first national wildlife refuge at Pelican Island, Florida, in order to rescue the brown pelican, among other species, from the plume trade. Despite such protections, the ubiquity of synthetic “agents of death,” most notably DDT, in the mid-twentieth century sent the brown pelican to the list of endangered species. By the mid-1960s, not one viable pelican nest remained in all of Louisiana. Authorities declared the state bird locally extinct.

Conservation efforts—including an outlandish but well-planned birdnapping—saved the brown pelican, generating one of the great success stories in animal preservation. However, the brown pelican is once again under threat, particularly along Louisiana’s coast, due to land loss and rising seas. For centuries, artists and writers have portrayed the pelican as a bird that pierces its breast to feed its young, symbolizing saintly piety. Today, the brown pelican gives itself in other ways, sacrificed both by and for the environment as a bellwether bird—an indicator species portending potential disasters that await.

Brown Pelican combines history and first-person narrative to complicate, deconstruct, and reassemble our vision of the bird, the natural world, and ourselves.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review
: I can't think of too many things that more clearly say "Louisiana" to me than the sight of pelicans coming back to their nests from a long day's fishing over the Gulf of Mexico. The unbelieveably narrow brush these big, beautiful bird had with complete, species-level extinction...actually going locally extinct during the rampant mosquito-killing applications of dDT back in the 1960s. That being when I was first aware of the environment of the Gulf Coast and its multivarious bird species, I felt very invested in reading that part especially. (My part of the coast, in South Texas, had more roseate spoonbills over pelicans but they did show up.)

The natural world of Louisiana and of the Gulf Coast more broadly is cramjam full of fascinating creatures very much still threatened by the ongoing actvities of mankind, and the legacy of the petrochemical industry. Climate change won't do that finely balanced system a particle of good, either.

No, this is NOT me. I'm not that old.

While it is an academic book, a good story is a good story! How this species, a bellweather for the overall environmental health of its native region, was and is being protected is worth reading. This book's a great one for your birder friend, your environmentalist grandchild, your Louisiana-loving nephew who's discovered there's more to the place than the French Quarter...also anyone who just loves that there are still these beauties in the world:


I myownself think this is the face your giftee will make when this book comes out of the wrapping paper:

I know it is what my face did as I read about the past and present efforts to protect these marvelous dinosaurs.
… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
richardderus | 1 outra crítica | Dec 11, 2023 |
Excerpted from a longer article:

Timely Take-aways for Life-long Learning: Bird Species
From eagles and hawks to pelicans and owls, several new works of nonfiction for adults examine the lives of specific bird species. Along the way, they discuss the importance of conservation and strategies being use to save these beloved species.

...

Brown Pelican
Rien Fertel, 2022, Louisiana State University Press, Longleaf Services
Themes: Nature, Animals, Birds, Pelicans, Environmental Conservation
While exploring both the science and history of brown pelicans, Fertel places emphasis on on the connections between humans and this beloved bird.
Take-aways: Educators will find useful examples of effective and ineffective conservation efforts over time.

...
Whether helping educators keep up-to-date in their subject-areas, promoting student reading in the content-areas, or simply encouraging nonfiction leisure reading, teacher librarians need to be aware of the best new titles across the curriculum and how to activate life-long learning. - Annette Lamb
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
eduscapes | 1 outra crítica | May 26, 2023 |
At first I thought this was on barbecue in general, but was corrected very quickly when reading that this was whole hog, a rare but truly delicious subspecies of the barbecue world. As it should, Fertel focuses primarily on North Carolina, specifically eastern North Carolina's pepper-and-vinegar variety though he does visit Tennessee and South Carolina pits. I personally favor South Carolina's mustard sauce (which Fertel calls the "David Bowie" of barbecue), and have only found one adequate barbecue place here (which relies heavily on tomato-based sauce)... The One True Barbecue reminds me that it's unlikely I'll see one out here, unless some hipster decides to artisanally do some farm-to-table whatever in the northwest.… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Daumari | Dec 30, 2017 |

Estatísticas

Obras
4
Membros
47
Popularidade
#330,643
Avaliação
4.1
Críticas
3
ISBN
14