Aldo Leopold's Odyssey, Tenth Anniversary Edition Press Release

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Aldo Leopold’s Odyssey, Tenth Anniversary Edition Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac

By Julianne Lutz Warren " Julianne Lutz [Warren] makes us feel the loss of what might have followed A Sand County Almanac by showing us in authoritative detail what led up to it. The result is a biography of ideas, a map of how far Leopold had moved between 1909…and his death…"

—The New York Times Book Review "This remarkable volume—the deepest and most challenging explication of Leopold’s thinking that I know—is a reminder that we are only beginning to understand the depth of his thought. Indeed, the author’s discovery, for the new edition, of the global thinking emergent in Leopold’s final years helps tie him more directly to the battle to preserve the climate—doubtless the greatest fight in human history."

—Bill McKibben, author of Oil and Honey and The End of Nature

(May 24, 2016) Washington, DC — In 2006, Julianne Lutz Warren asked readers to rediscover one of history’s most renowned conservationists. Drawing on unpublished archives and her own expertise in ecology and conservation, Warren artfully traced Leopold’s intellectual journey across Iowa, Yale, the southwest, and Wisconsin, in his lifelong efforts to reconcile how we can live prosperously, yet keep the land healthy. Warren’s astute narrative quickly became an essential part of the Leopold canon, introducing new readers to the father of wildlife ecology, and offering a fresh perspective to even the most seasoned scholars.

A decade later, Warren’s Aldo Leopold's Odyssey, Tenth Anniversary Edition (Publication Date: May 24, 2016 ) asks us to take another look at Aldo Leopold’s quest to preserve land health in the context of the Anthropocene. For example, trending strategies of “act locally, think globally” can find grounding from his work: Nearly a century ago, he challenged us to view “soil, mountains, rivers, forests, climate, plants, and animals” as an interlinking whole, and urged us to form deep relationships with our own communities. Yet Warren stresses that Leopold not only offers foundational meaning to the latest strategies, but also inspiration for strategies to come; by drawing ISLAND PRESS | PRESS RELEASE | 1

from Leopold and his journey to understand nature, culture, and the rapid changes happening across the planet, today’s conservationists can be inspired to create positive change in new and imaginative ways.

This latest edition offers added notes about Leopold and his relevance to recent events. For example, Warren discusses Leopold’s role in helping launch the Conservation Foundation, an organization that would publish bold statements in 1963—fifteen years after Leopold’s death—about the dangers of rising atmospheric CO2. Warren also discusses the relevance of Leopold to the destruction from Hurricane Irene in 2011, and the founding of grassroots climate movements.

Through these updates and the book’s wider focus on the intellectual journey of Leopold, the Tenth Anniversary Edition underscores the importance of Leopold’s ideas in an increasingly humanpopulated, class-divided, and urbanized planet.

Leopold’s life was dedicated to one fundamental dilemma: how can people live prosperously on the land and keep it healthy, too? For anyone today compelled by this question, Aldo Leopold's Odyssey, Tenth Anniversary Edition offers insight and inspiration.

Julianne Lutz Warren is a professor of environmental studies at New York University and a fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including Conservation Biology, Journal of Environmental History, and American Scientist.

Aldo Leopold’s Odyssey, Tenth Anniversary Edition Paperback Publication Date: May 24, 2016 520 pages | Price: $35.00/ $24.99 (E-Book) ISBN: 978-1-61091-753-7/ 978-1-61091-754-4 www.islandpress.org/warren Founded in 1984, Island Press works to stimulate, shape, and communicate the information that is essential for solving environmental problems. Today, with more than 1,000 titles and some 40 new releases each year, it is the nation’s leading publisher of books on environmental issues. Island Press is driving change by moving ideas from the printed page to public discourse and practice. Island Press’s emphasis is, and will continue to be, on transforming objective information into understanding and action. ###

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