First published 2024
Bill Streever journeys through Mexico's Gulf of California, where more than eight billion humans have pushed the planet into mass extinction. He witnesses climate change, overfishing, plastics, and dead zones destroying marine ecosystems. Local conservationists work with minimal funding to protect sea turtles from agrochemicals, habitat conversion, and resource exploitation. Streever documents their methods as drought and desertification reshape the coastline around them. The researchers face overwhelming odds as housing, farming, and industrial development consume turtle nesting beaches. Yet their small victories suggest a different path forward. Streever discovers that some humans have transformed their relationship with nature in ways that could halt the extinction crisis. His travels reveal how optimism drives action while pessimism paralyzes it. The book shows that hope remains reasonable even as biodiversity collapses worldwide.
Genres: animals, environment, non-fiction, conservation, climate-change, activism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: activism, hope, optimism
Setting: Gulf of California, Mexico
Period: 21st-century
255 pages · Kindle Edition · Pegasus Books