This post was written by Jessica Schneider, 2015-2020 Office Director, 2011-2013 Information Center & Bookstore Manager, and 2010 Information Center & Bookstore Assistant.
Traveling the 38th Parallel is one of the newest books at the Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore, and is well worth a look.
Authors David & Janet Carle are Mono Lake locals, assigned the first park ranger position, jointly, when the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve was created in 1982. Their position makes obvious the book’s theme: to travel the world, exploring environmental issues, at this similar parallel. An interesting premise, to be sure.
In five sections, the Carles visit with local activists, scientists, and community members about their water issues.
The first section, Asia, made me particularly grateful for our country’s ability to set aside natural reserves to protect the environment we so value. In South Korea, many restoration projects are contrary to what’s good for the environment, and are instead politically driven. On the other hand, the Carles had the rare opportunity to visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, where, due to politics and war—and therefore, an absence of humanity’s fingerprints—a rare world of rich riparian and wetland habitats are thriving.
Later, on the island of Samos, the Carles come across an aqueduct system with a similar beginning as the aqueduct from Mono Lake to Los Angeles, except that it was built more than 2,500 years ago. By this point in the book, if you haven’t realized that Mediterranean climates around the 38th parallel all tend to cause similar issues for civilizations, you aren’t reading closely enough.
Coming home, the voyage continues east to west in the United States, where I’ll leave the conclusion for you to deduce.
With a cameo from the Mono Lake Committee’s Executive Director, Geoff McQuilkin, and Eastern Sierra paleo-ecologist Dr. Connie Millar, this book hits close to home despite it’s worldly wanderings.
David & Janet Carle will be at the Mono Lake Committee July 26 (not July 20) to sign Traveling the 38th Parallel and enjoy the sunshine on our newly remodeled front patio!
Thanks for the nice review. We look forward to sitting on the patio and showing folks where the new map of the lake is crossed the the 38 degree latitude line (great the the cement expansion cracks built in exactly mark the line). We are in Chesapeake Bay region today, giving a book talk to the friends of the Rappahannock River tonight.