Urban Nature Writer Jenny Price To Speak At Duke On Nov. 12
October 26, 2007
Contact: Tim Lucas, (919) 613-8084 or tdlucas@duke.edu
DURHAM, N.C. – Writer Jenny Price, whose critically acclaimed essays on urban environmentalism have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and Audubon, will discuss “Remaking American Environmentalism: On the Banks of the L.A. River,” at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12, at Duke University.
The lecture is free and open to the public. It will be held at Love Auditorium in the Levine Science Research Center on Duke’s West Campus. A reception will follow in the adjacent Hall of Science.
The talk is sponsored by the Forest History Society, the Duke University Department of History and the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, as part of the Lynn W. Day Distinguished Lectureship in Forest and Conservation History.
Price, a Guggenheim Fellow, is an environmental historian who is best known for her quirky and thought-provoking 1999 collection of essays, Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America. In it, she argues that the romanticized American notion of nature as a pure and separate “Last Best Place” puts too great an emphasis on wilderness preservation and not enough emphasis on the sustainable and equitable use of urban resources and environments. The book’s central essay, “a Brief Natural History of the Plastic Pink Flamingo,” traces the evolution of public perceptions about nature since the kitschy lawn ornaments first appeared in 1957 in the Sears Roebuck catalog, at $2.76 a pair.
Much of Price’s recent writings have focused on environmental issues in the Los Angeles area, including the restoration of the 51-mile-long, concrete-lined Los Angeles River, which she uses as a vibrant model for the new environmentalism.
Parking for the talk is available in the Bryan Center Park Deck on Science Drive.
The Lynn W. Day Distinguished Lectureship in Forest and Conservation History recognizes scholars who are shaping our understanding of human history and environmental change.
For more information, contact Steven Anderson at the Forest History Society at (919) 682-9319 or stevena@duke.edu, or visit the society’s Web site at www.foresthistory.org
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