Visit Sunny Chernobyl: And Other Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places

by Andrew Blackwell | Travel |
ISBN: 1623360269 Global Overview for this book
Registered by ResQgeek of Alexandria, Virginia USA on 1/4/2016
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
4 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by ResQgeek from Alexandria, Virginia USA on Monday, January 4, 2016
A wish list book received as a Christmas present!

Journal Entry 2 by ResQgeek at Alexandria, Virginia USA on Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Eco-disaster tourism. Not exactly a mainstream concept, but this is exactly what the author has in mind as he sets out to visit some of the most polluted and environmentally damaged places in the world. From the radioactive fallout surrounding the ruined nuclear reactor in Chernobyl, to the incredible floating garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean, to the thick smog of China, this book provides a detailed look at what some of the worst effects of human technology and carelessness have done to the environment. This provides an eye-opening glimpse into the incredible consequences of our modern lifestyle on the planet.

But it is also an exploration of what we mean when we talk about nature and the environment and confronts some essential contradictions in how we often think about these concepts. The author questions the wisdom of trying to preserve nature in the total absence of human activity, and whether this is even possible. He confronts the possibility that we have already irreversibly altered the ecosystem, and whether finding new ways to think about our relationship to the environment might be more helpful in addressing some of the conditions he encounters in his travels.

These are not locations that many other people (myself included) would find attractive as tourist destinations. But it is helpful that the author was interested in visiting them. This book allows us to consider the implications of what these locations say about how we live and what impact our lives have on our surroundings. While it doesn’t really provide any specific suggestions for how to solve these problems, it does help provide a framework for discussing possible solutions.

Journal Entry 3 by ResQgeek at Tysons Corner Center Mall in Tysons Corner, Virginia USA on Sunday, July 31, 2016

Released 7 yrs ago (7/31/2016 UTC) at Tysons Corner Center Mall in Tysons Corner, Virginia USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

This will be available at today's BCinDC gathering in the food court, but if it isn't claimed by anyone, it will be wild released elsewhere in the mall.

======================

DEAR FINDER,
Welcome to BookCrossing.com, where we are trying to making the whole world a library!

If you have not already done so, please make a journal entry so we know this book has found a new home. You don't need to join BookCrossing and you can remain completely anonymous. However, we encourage you to join so that you can follow this book's future travels. It's fun and free, and your personal information will never be shared or sold. If you decide to join, consider listing   ResQgeek (or any of the other journalers) as referring you.

Take your time reading the book, and after you finish, please make another journal entry to record your thoughts about it. This book is now yours, and you can keep it if you choose, though we would love for you to share it. If you pass it along, please make a release note to let others know where you left it.

I hope you enjoy the book!


Journal Entry 4 by wingMelydiawing at Centreville, Virginia USA on Thursday, August 11, 2016
Picked up at last month's BCinDC meetup in McLean, Virginia. Looks like an interesting read.

Journal Entry 5 by wingMelydiawing at Centreville, Virginia USA on Saturday, December 17, 2016
The author visits places of notorious environmental damage: Chernobyl, the oil sands pits of Canada, the refineries of Texas, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the coal mines of China, the shrinking Amazon rainforest, and the feces-filled rivers of India. There is a surprising (and somewhat refreshing) lack of judgement here. The author does not suggest we eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels or get rid of plastic or stop growing soybeans in South America. I was particularly struck by the commentary on national parks and our tendency to think of pristine nature as not including humans, as if we're somehow not part of nature. I came away with a lot of things to think about, a lot of them uncomfortable, without feeling like the author was trying to make me feel bad. On the contrary, he was just showing me these places I will likely never visit - that almost no one visits as a tourist (except Chernobyl, but their tourism boom happened after the publication of this book) - and increasing my awareness about the diversity of the world. It's easy to (willingly) forget about the dirty places if you only visit the clean ones. Definitely recommended.

Journal Entry 6 by wingMelydiawing at Toosso Pakistani Kitchen in Rockville, Maryland USA on Sunday, January 29, 2017

Released 7 yrs ago (1/29/2017 UTC) at Toosso Pakistani Kitchen in Rockville, Maryland USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Bringing to the BCinDC meetup.
Welcome to BookCrossing!
Thank you so much for picking up this book. Please make a journal entry here on this page if you haven’t already done so to let me know that this book has found a good home. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (it is entirely free). If you choose to join, please consider using any previous reader of this book, or me, melydia, as the member who referred you.
I really hope you enjoy the book you found! When you’re done reading it, you can make another journal entry with your comments here to let me know what you thought of it. You can keep the book forever and ever or pass it on to someone else. If you’re giving it to someone directly, make another journal entry saying so. If you choose to leave it somewhere “in the wild” for anyone to catch, make release notes that indicate where you left it. If you register, you will be alerted by e-mail each time someone makes another journal entry. It’s all confidential (you’re known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free. Then you can track this book as it goes on its journey!

Journal Entry 7 by wing6of8wing at Rockville, Maryland USA on Sunday, January 29, 2017
This book has been on my radar screen for a while, so persuading me to bring it home from meet-up today was not hard.

Journal Entry 8 by wing6of8wing at -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, etc, Virginia USA on Friday, September 22, 2017
An interesting offbeat read that is both travel book and ecopolitics. I found the choice of polluted locations informative. At the same time as I was reading this, I was ear-reading The World Without Us, which discussed how or if the planet can recover from the ravages of human presence. That book also looked at Chernobyl, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and the refineries around Houston. It was an interesting interaction between the two books. I am left sad by how we have destroyed the planet and how little we seem to be willing to do about it. And I have to agree with the author that part of the problem is how we see humanity and human creations as separate from nature.

Journal Entry 9 by wing6of8wing at Rockville, Maryland USA on Sunday, September 24, 2017

Released 6 yrs ago (9/24/2017 UTC) at Rockville, Maryland USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is going to meet-up with me today with the other members of BookCrossing in Washington DC (BCinDC).

Any future reader or recipient of this book is encouraged to leave a journal entry here on the BookCrossing site to let prior readers know the fate of the book. You can make an anonymous entry without joining the BookCrossing movement, but if you are interested in joining, it is a free and spam-free community where your contact information is not shared with others. Best of all, members receive private messages via e-mail from books like this one when those books are journaled, allowing for long-term relationships between books and readers.

Journal Entry 10 by wingSqueakyChuwing at Rockville, Maryland USA on Sunday, September 24, 2017
I caught this book at a BCinDC meetup at Noodles & Comapny in Rockville, Maryland, USA, this morning. Thank you very much!

Journal Entry 11 by wingSqueakyChuwing at LFL - Vandegrift Ave (5811) (#7720) in Rockville, Maryland USA on Monday, March 12, 2018

Released 6 yrs ago (3/12/2018 UTC) at LFL - Vandegrift Ave (5811) (#7720) in Rockville, Maryland USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I'm releasing this book for...

*** The 2018 4 Elements Release Challenge hosted by Firegirl. The book title contains the word SUN.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello and welcome to BookCrossing ... where we make the whole world a library!

Now that you've "caught" this book, it is yours to do with as you like. Read it, keep it, or give it away. It's your choice!

I'd love if you'd enter a note here on BookCrossing about this book -- where you found it, how you like it, and/or where you release it. If you join BookCrossing (free and fun), kindly list me, SqueakyChu , or any other journaler on this thread as your referring person. Thank you so much.

Enjoy the book!

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.