Sustaining Lake Superior: An Extraordinary Lake in a Changing World

By Nancy Langston

Book Overview

A compelling exploration of Lake Superior's conservation recovery and what it can teach us in the face of climate change

Lake Superior, the largest lake in the world, has had a remarkable history, including resource extraction and industrial exploitation that caused nearly irreversible degradation. But in the past fifty years it has experienced a remarkable recovery and rebirth. In this important book, leading environmental historian Nancy Langston offers a rich portrait of the lake's environmental and social history, asking what lessons we should take from the conservation recovery as this extraordinary lake faces new environmental threats.

In her insightful exploration, Langston reveals hope in ecosystem resilience and the power of community advocacy, noting ways Lake Superior has rebounded from the effects of deforestation and toxic waste wrought by mining and paper manufacturing. Yet, despite the lake's resilience, threats persist. Langston cautions readers regarding new mining interests and persistent toxic pollutants that are mobilizing with climate change.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300212984
• ISBN13: 9780300212983
• Release Date: October 2017
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Sustaining Lake Superior opened my eyes (and I thought they were already open!)

Langston provides a deep and broad history of Lake Superior from the competing economic interests of fishermen and pulp mill owners to the long-term health impacts of chemical levels on indigenous residents of the Superior coast. A wonderful combination of science and community development.