In the last few days, David Quammen’s name has come to my attention, twice.
The first was a podcast, available through Emergence Magazine. The second was from Sandra Barry about an article in Orion magazine. In both cases, they refer to his book, Spillover: animal infections and the next human pandemic. It was published in 2013.
My interest in Quammen’s writing goes back to the mid-’90s.
After finishing graduate work in Biogeography, and spending time in Indonesia, I could not resist the Song of the Dodo, with its subtitle, Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction. Today, we continue to divide our landscape into islands. For example, consider the continued forestry practices in Nova Scotia.
This Tuesday (March 31st) Heather and I were scheduled to visit grandchildren in Iqaluit.
Talking to Andrew (my son) on the weekend, the current procedure for visitors to Nunavut is two weeks quarantine in a designated hotel in Ottawa (or another transit centre) BEFORE travel. If the quarantine is successful, then one can visit. This provides a clear measure of the vulnerability of these Northern communities from the COVID-19 virus.
Today, Heather was noticing the lack of traffic on Highway #201. We were able to hear the songbirds that are arriving back in the Valley. On a beautiful morning, I had to break the silence, by getting the chainsaw out of the garage. There were yard chores — cutting off the larger dead branches from the Apple trees and trimming the silver maple in the front yard before it extends upwards to the Nova Scotia Power lines. The privet hedge contains too many old dead branches at their core.
The end result was a full day outside. If we can use this month of April (normally spent in the North) to clear out the old growth, then we can begin to imagine a larger garden and greater food self-sufficiency. At the same time, we add biomass to the compost pile and additional wood and kindling for the woodshed. This will warm us, sometime, next Winter.
Acknowledgements
Sandra Barry for resurrecting memories of David Quammen’s writing. Heather for sharing both the hard work and dreaming of a different future. Edward Wedler for his weekend blog, as well as his support and good humour.
References
David Quammen, 2013. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic WW Norton & Co.
Emergence Magazine podcast. Shaking the Viral Tree.
Orion Magazine. 17 March 2020. Why David Quammen is nor Surprised.
David Quammen. 1997. The Song of the Dodo. Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction. Simon & Schuster.
One of the essays centres on a conversation between Janice Stein and Jane Jacobs at the ‘Grazing in the Commons’ conference in Toronto, November 15,2001. It is titled ‘Efficiency and the Commons’. In particular, I appreciated the following exchange.
Finally, at the end of the week, Charlie Hunter forwarded a photograph of our St. Patrick’s Day meeting, with the caption ‘You and I received more compliments on our social distancing than on our good looks !’
It shows thirteen pairs of images from 
I reciprocated with photographs of two maps from my study. Polar Knowledge Canada and The Earth from Space, signed by Tom van Sant, from California days, 12/12/90.
With the storms, I have been catching up with my reading, especially the work of David Adams Richards. In Harry Thurston’s book 
It was a good feeling to see the meter going in reverse. We were contributing electricity to the grid. Given the cost of the installation, it will be a few years, before we see a positive payback. But it seemed to be the right action in these times. Perhaps one day, we will be able to store the electricity in a battery which can provide power for an electric car, for short drives around the Valley.
The second accomplishment was triggered by a visit to the Bridgetown library. I picked up 
It was a challenging but worthwhile reading experience. The book is divided into four sections: roots, trunk, crown and seeds. The roots section introduces us to the lives of eight individuals. Each person has a relationship to trees on the earth.
My next book on the bookshelf is 
Over the weekend, I have been reading a draft of Brian Arnott’s book Going to Town: the small town as micropolitan centre in the age of climate change. It should be published in 2020.
Musique Royale brought the 
Bob Bent’s book put these events into their proper perspective. It was only the day before (12th.) we had Kevin from 
With Bob Bent’s book in our suitcase, we can enjoy a Silly Little Christmas with grandchildren in Ontario. Best wishes for the Christmas season. I look forward to 2020 with its music, art and books.
After attending the Climate Action Summit, my recommendation would be for both citizen groups and politicians to do some reading.
Yesterday, we went over to Lunenburg and picked up six bottles from the first shipment of 
Quick Note
At the Tidewater Books and Browsery, I found a small book by Graeme Wynn. Graeme is Professor, Geography at UBC. The book, Culture and Agriculture on the Tantramar Marshes is based on his M.A thesis at the University of Toronto. It describes the utilization of the Chignecto Marshlands between 1750-1800, the Acadian settlement, the Planters and the Yorkshire and Loyalist influxes.
I had noticed on a previous visit that they had a good selection of books by Harry Thurston, who lives at Tidnish Bridge. This time, I purchased 
One last literary reference. Last Summer in Langley, BC I was reading Wendell Berry’s 
