Fountain Creek: Big Lessons from a Little River
Fountain Creek: Big Lessons from a Little River
Fountain Creek: Big Lessons from a Little River
Description
Description
Jim O'Donnell sets off from his childhood home in Pueblo, Colorado exploring the history, ecology, and commodification of Fountain Creek--challenging us to reexamine how we relate to the world around us and how we might break free to a brighter future.
Over the past two hundred years, society has taken what was once a sacred relationship with water and morphed rivers into trashed, overused commodities. Now, the rivers humans depend on may no longer be up to the task. Now what?
The Colorado's Fountain Creek is a waterway that lived through the worst of human interaction. It has been dammed, diverted, poisoned, reduced, and much more and yet, it has endured. Fountain Creek looks both to the past and the future for guidance and asks humans to rethink the relationship with the brooks, streams, creeks, and rivers that give us life.
Over the past two hundred years, society has taken what was once a sacred relationship with water and morphed rivers into trashed, overused commodities. Now, the rivers humans depend on may no longer be up to the task. Now what?
The Colorado's Fountain Creek is a waterway that lived through the worst of human interaction. It has been dammed, diverted, poisoned, reduced, and much more and yet, it has endured. Fountain Creek looks both to the past and the future for guidance and asks humans to rethink the relationship with the brooks, streams, creeks, and rivers that give us life.
About the Author
About the Author
Jim O'Donnell is a writer and photographer whose work has appeared in Sierra Magazine, El Palacio, MM Magazine, Ensia, and elsewhere. O'Donnell continues to work as a community conservation activist and wilderness advocate in the American Southwest where he works to protect and restore wetlands and watersheds. Born and raised in southern Colorado, O'Donnell lives in Taos, New Mexico.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
"Fountain Creek takes us on a fascinating tour of an abused and unassuming stream, fed by the effluent of cities and carrying with it centuries of human history. Jim O'Donnell reminds us that--even within earshot of the interstate's roar--water still flows and wildness persists."
--ZAK PODMORE, Life After Dead Pool
"A beautifully told story about an essential body of water and the options for its future as the West gets hotter and drier."
--BETSY GAINES QUAMMEN, True West
"O'Donnell steps cautiously and curiously into Fountain Creek and encourages us all to love our home rivers, even when we're afraid of what we might find."
--LAURA PASKUS, Water Bodies
"Fountain Creek is a meticulous, heartfelt ode to a chronically mistreated watershed. Every stream in the American West deserves a biographer as affectionate, thorough, and lyrical as O'Donnell. May this book help us find the wisdom to restore Fountain Creek and many other waterways like it."
--BEN GOLDFARB, Crossings
"O'Donnell's compassion for the roaming watercourse is evident with his knowledge of the past and firsthand observations. Through sharp examination and expressive writing, Fountain Creek gives readers deeper respect and understanding of why Fountain Creek is a crucial and vital resource which can not and should not be discounted or ignored."
--JEFFERY PAYNE, Poor Richard's Books
"In his affecting, prismatic, and beautifully-wrought exploration of the past, present, and possible future of the Fountain, O'Donnell reminds us that we have a chance at healing the world at large, if only we look first to places closest to home."
--AMY BRADY, Ice
"What might still flow through these damned-up and dried-out days of ours? Fountain Creek is lovingly navigated and tenderly told by O'Donnell and becomes a baptismal stream for the Anthropocene. This book swims."
--TIM DEE, Four Fields
"Fountain Creek shows how myths of place and belonging influence our interactions with the natural world."
--STERLING SHALLBETTER, Old Firehouse Books
"A quietly beautiful exercise in the glory of natural spaces, O'Donnell's Fountain Creek is a panacea for and an acknowledgement of the hurts and injustices done to the wild world on behalf of humanity's irrepressible "progress"."
--MOLLY IMBER, Maria's Bookshop
--ZAK PODMORE, Life After Dead Pool
"A beautifully told story about an essential body of water and the options for its future as the West gets hotter and drier."
--BETSY GAINES QUAMMEN, True West
"O'Donnell steps cautiously and curiously into Fountain Creek and encourages us all to love our home rivers, even when we're afraid of what we might find."
--LAURA PASKUS, Water Bodies
"Fountain Creek is a meticulous, heartfelt ode to a chronically mistreated watershed. Every stream in the American West deserves a biographer as affectionate, thorough, and lyrical as O'Donnell. May this book help us find the wisdom to restore Fountain Creek and many other waterways like it."
--BEN GOLDFARB, Crossings
"O'Donnell's compassion for the roaming watercourse is evident with his knowledge of the past and firsthand observations. Through sharp examination and expressive writing, Fountain Creek gives readers deeper respect and understanding of why Fountain Creek is a crucial and vital resource which can not and should not be discounted or ignored."
--JEFFERY PAYNE, Poor Richard's Books
"In his affecting, prismatic, and beautifully-wrought exploration of the past, present, and possible future of the Fountain, O'Donnell reminds us that we have a chance at healing the world at large, if only we look first to places closest to home."
--AMY BRADY, Ice
"What might still flow through these damned-up and dried-out days of ours? Fountain Creek is lovingly navigated and tenderly told by O'Donnell and becomes a baptismal stream for the Anthropocene. This book swims."
--TIM DEE, Four Fields
"Fountain Creek shows how myths of place and belonging influence our interactions with the natural world."
--STERLING SHALLBETTER, Old Firehouse Books
"A quietly beautiful exercise in the glory of natural spaces, O'Donnell's Fountain Creek is a panacea for and an acknowledgement of the hurts and injustices done to the wild world on behalf of humanity's irrepressible "progress"."
--MOLLY IMBER, Maria's Bookshop
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Torrey House Press
Pub date:
2024-10-22
Length:
369 pages
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