Canaries on the Rim: Living Downwind in the West by Chip Ward

by Chip Ward

The deserts of the world are the birthplaces of great religions, the inspirations for sublime expressions of art and feeling, the treasure houses of exotic beauty and remarkable forms of life. They are also the junkyards of industrial civilization, the resting place for abandoned cars, scrapped airplanes--and a vast array of toxic wastes, nuclear and chemical. Chip Ward came to one of the planet's most unforgiving deserts, the flat salt pans west of Salt Lake City, Utah, to drive a bookmobile. He has emerged from it, years later, as a spokesman for that forbidding landscape, the repository of decaying plutonium, retired biochemical weapons, and other manifestations of what he calls the "ecocidal schemes" of big business and government. Ward, working with other concerned Utah citizens, has been fighting an uphill battle not only to remove such threatening substances from desert dumps, but also to prevent new lethal trash from being hauled in from other parts of the country. That struggle has not been universally popular among his fellow desert while across the country voters have rejected plans for proposed toxic-waste incinerators for toxic wastes, in that part of Utah, he writes, "we had a tradition of trading environmental quality for jobs and revenue"--and there is, he acknowledges, money to be made in lethal detritus, from which substantial fortunes have been born.Ward documents his group's efforts to clean up their corner of the American desert, a quest that took him into the halls of Congress and before voters across the country. The struggle is ongoing, with no end in sight. He pleads his cause in the pages of Canaries on the Rim to good effect. Above all, he emphasizes that the desert should no longer be seen as a wasteland fit only for hiding our mess. "It is not desolate at all," he insists. "Desolation is what we have carried to it." --Gregory McNamee

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Book Club, Westerns

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[fire_on_the_mountain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great starting point on the legacy of downwinders and how it relates to us all. It's not high art, but if effectively communicated the stakes and consequences.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should have been written by Truman Capote.

[Charlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an eye-opener and is probably a must-read for anybody who lives in Utah, had family who were downwinders or who is interested in the ecology of Utah and our impact on it. Really, really good stuff.

[Ty · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book I am glad I do not live in Tooele

[russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll address the weaknesses up front: his writing wasn’t super strong, and as others have mentioned, his source game was not good.

So why four stars? As an instruction manual for community activism, this book was top notch. Lessons from Ward are concrete and usable.

It was doubly relevant to me as a Utah citizen whose mother and two aunts have, perhaps not coincidentally, all had thyroid cancer after living 50 miles from massive disposal of military weapons and corporate chemicals.

[Colette · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is very poorly written. The prose is terrible, the little vignettes that come up through the book are usually cheesy, if not obnoxious. The overall feeling I got throughout these sections was “yeah, that happened 🙄”

Still, the environmental elements are well needed and well put. I just think that you would be better off (if you have the attention span) just reading a few news or journal articles. You’d get the same amount of information, without this sort of faux romanticism.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This year, I have been learning about organizations like Save Our Great Salt Lake and Friends of Great Salt Lake to better understand what it means to live downwind in our Anthropocene era. Ward’s account of his activism is by no means comprehensive, but it is clear how committed HEAL Utah and affiliated organizations are to environmental justice. I would definitely recommend Ward’s account to fans of Edward Abbey and scientists/politicians intrigued by environmental issues.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been written better but a good book. Anyone that lives in Utah needs to read this. Keeping industry around that is literally killing us is not the answer to keeping Utah's industry strong. Especially now.

[Eliza Hegewald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t think too hard about the things I learned in this book or I will spiral. An amazing message that really needs to be heard - I wish it was a little more digestible for regular old folks like myself. This is my home… crap.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Major bummer but informational read

[Logan Reichow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d recommend that everyone should read Canaries on the Rim, especially if they live in Utah. This book was equally enlightening and disturbing.

Ignorance isn’t always bliss.

[Rob Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fascinating to me because I was in grad school in Utah when the Skull Valley Goshute nuclear waste facility was being hotly debated, and some of the older members of my wife's family are downwinders. Chip Ward writes well, and his ability to turn a phrase and tell an interesting story will carry you quickly through this short book. Ward's work in environmental activism is to be admired, and his passion is evident.

That said, the book's earlier chapters are stronger than the later ones, where the narrative begins to get threadbare in places, and Ward is more inclined pontificate than educate. The book should be taken as an activist's memoir, not a thorough treatment on any of the topics. Facts and figures are woven in without sources, and there is no external material cited. This is understandable in that the book is presented as a story to be heard, not a collection of issues to be debated.

[Annalisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My school made each of us read this book over the summer so I came at it with a negative prejudice.
Still, its not very interesting and a bit too technical and acronymy at times. It does have some of the best chapter titles I've ever read and of course an excellent message about the environmental ignorance and degradation going on in Utah's West Desert. Chip Ward, the author never really seems to be able to concentrate on his topic and the chapters ramble on on different paths for a while until they suddenly return to the subject in the last paragraph. Also, he doesn't provide any solutions really. Mostly its a complaining book about pollution and failure to control it.

[Jordy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you live in Utah or the West, you must read this book. Chip Ward has pro-actively advocated that political complacency is not an option if it involves Utah economic revenue vs. the health and well-being of you, your family, and neighbors. The statement that we all live downwind is echoed eloquently by this author.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Important information on the environmental issues in Utah and when the author was presenting straight facts I really enjoyed it. When he morphed into his opinions I was completely turned off. By the end of the book I felt like I was reading his own rah-rah-rahs for all the "great" work he himself has done.

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read several books on the topic by now and this was one of my least favorites. Gave it to the library.

[Pat Parkhurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can only hope more people become diligent in protecting their life, to fight for the right to be healthy

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

VERY interesting/alarming!!!