Requiem for America's Best Idea: National Parks in the Era of Climate Change

by Michael J Yochim, William R Lowry (Contributor)

In Requiem for America’s Best Idea, Michael J. Yochim explains how climate change is altering the face of America’s national parks, focusing on current and projected changes to vegetation, wildlife, and the natural conditions in Olympic, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Yellowstone, and Yosemite National Parks—five of the “crown jewels” of our national park system. As Yochim guides the reader from park to park, he immerses us in each park’s beauty and wonder, highlighting the resources now at risk of destruction or permanent alteration.

Yochim worked for the National Park Service for nearly thirty years before being diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). It was while fighting the disease that he wrote this last moving testament. Interwoven with descriptions of climate change’s effects on our national parks is the heartbreaking story of how the author, a legendary hiker and backpacker, lost control of his body to the point where he was finally forced to rely on an eye-tracking machine to write.

Climate change is indisputably happening around us, and our parks are changing, often irrevocably. If we don’t act now, Yochim argues, future changes will be much more severe, threatening the very essence of these irreplaceable wonders. America’s failure to meaningfully address the current climate crisis may well squander the vision that acclaimed western writer Wallace Stegner so memorably “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best, rather than our worst.”

296 pages, Hardcover

Published March 15, 2022

Reviews

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by a three decade United States Forest Service veteran, this book is partly a study of the degradation of our national parks from climate change and overuse and part memoir about the author's personal battle with ALS. It is a very moving story.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

And then I was transported back to ES101…. While this book is certainly worth reading, it takes a deep dive on climate change most people familiar with climate science will already be well attuned to. Yochim’s use of the parks as case studies for how climate change will irreparably distort what we know and love is valuable, but a heavy reliance on the principles of climate science makes this feel more like a textbook in some sections than an exploration of climate and terminal illness. The unique challenge and connection between climate disaster and living with ALS offers deep food for thought on whether we would care more about the climate if we viewed what is happening as a terminal illness of the world, and the very obvious call to action that follows naturally. However, if you’re looking to explore these questions this is not the book for you. Although this book is not what I hoped it would be it is nevertheless a good book worth reading, particularly as an introduction to climate science and the real-world impact of climate change.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A warning to wake up and pay attention to what we are doing before it is too late, especially since government is trying to do away with the NPS and other agencies that try to present truth instead of a party line.

I lived and worked near Yellowstone, have visited 49 of the 50 states, and have visited many national parks and historic sites. We have a duty to care for the earth, not pillage it. I want my grand and great-grandchildren to be able to marvel at the same wonders I have seen.