gilda_elise

A beautiful, lyrical exploration of the places where nature is flourishing in our absence.

Some of the only truly feral cattle in the world wander a long-abandoned island off the northernmost tip of Scotland. A variety of wildlife not seen in many lifetimes has rebounded on the irradiated grounds of Chernobyl. A lush forest supports thousands of species that are extinct or endangered everywhere else on earth in the Korean peninsula's narrow DMZ.

Cal Flyn, an investigative journalist, exceptional nature writer, and promising new literary voice visits the eeriest and most desolate places on Earth that due to war, disaster, disease, or economic decay, have been abandoned by humans. What she finds every time is an island of teeming new life: nature has rushed in to fill the void faster and more thoroughly than even the most hopeful projections of scientists.

Islands of Abandonment is a tour through these new ecosystems, in all their glory, as sites of unexpected environmental significance, where the natural world has reasserted its wild power and promise. And while it doesn't let us off the hook for addressing environmental degradation and climate change, it is a case that hope is far from lost, and it is ultimately a story of redemption: the most polluted spots on Earth can be rehabilitated through ecological processes and, in fact, they already are.

I have to admit to being taken aback by the number of these “islands.” I knew about Chernobyl, Detroit, and a few others. But there are a vast number throughout the world that little has been written about. In that, I found the book well worth reading.

But I felt that the “lyrical” was a bit overdone. Sometimes it tended to get in the way of understanding how the area had been degraded, and how it was coming back to life. Overly flowery and sometimes using words that didn’t actually exist, I thought the writing could have been more concise.

What surprised me is, after describing what was happening all over the planet, Flyn appears overly positive in her assessment of how well things will work out. Yes, some of these places are doing well, but some have life only in the most strict sense. Or, as in the case of the Salten Sea, has come and gone over the eons.