Fen, Bog & Swamp: A Short History Of Peatland Destruction And Its Role In The Climate Crisis, by Annie Proulx

You might think that if you are writing a book that seeks to provide and encourage support for unpopular causes–and saving and restoring pestilential marshes is surely such a cause–one would think that the right approach to such a task would be to try to make one’s message as widely appealing as possible, and as focused on building a big-tent of support as possible. One might think that, and if you did think that, you are far wiser than the moron who wrote this book is. I am not sure where a lot of writers are getting the idea, but the Bible is not written in massive praise of environmental destruction (indeed, one memorable verse, Revelation 11:18, promises that God will destroy those who destroy the earth). The fact that this author repeatedly insults Judeo-Christian biblical ethics on the false basis of it being in favor of the destruction of the earth indicates that she is massively miseducated, for one, and for another that she is not genuinely interested in achieving a broad consensus about how fens, bogs, and swamps are to be saved from wanton and careless destruction (with possibly negative effects with regards to carbon sinks being released into the air), but rather because the author wants to score neo-pagan points with other heathens like herself. That makes this book largely worthless as a result, because it fails at the fundamental level as a purported effort at building a coalition of people who care about the environment but rather seeks to engage in the all too common slander of religious people, which ought to be condemned and not tolerated, much less celebrated.

Mercifully, this book is short, because that is its only virtue. The general non-friendliness of this book can be stated by the fact that the author did not include any table of contents, nor do the editors provide one, which indicates that this book is not meant for others, but rather for the author herself, to prove some sort of point to someone. The first part of the book consists of some of the author’s discursive and “random” thoughts about wetlands as a whole, which demonstrates her to be somewhat unqualified to appeal to a large audience (1). This is followed by three chapters which deal with, respectively, fens (2), bogs (3), and swamps (4), in increasing level of the amount of trees. While she writes, she manages to write, predictably, about the negative effects of the destruction of the commons on the fens and their malarial, miserably poor, but somewhat egalitarian population of bog dwellers. She praises Arminius against the Romans, because of course she does, and in general finds much to celebrate about freedom seekers as well as human-sacrificing heathens, who sought freedom and an entrance into the underworld in the dark and mysterious wetlands. She also comments on those who would find in those wetlands useful materials to mine and land to turn into productive farmland, at least for a little while. It is a shame that someone more skilled at writing and with less of an ideological bone to pick did not write this book instead of this unworthy and overrated author.

Ultimately, this author is attempting something worthwhile and that she recognizes is an unpopular cause, but as might be expected from someone who is a well-regarded novelist in an age of corrupt politics as our own is, is completely incompetent, and worse, not interested, in making an argument that might resonate outside of the small circles of her cultural and political clique. Her praise of self-righteous Yankees like herself and her frequent hostility to religious interests and, more predictably, business interests, indicates that she has no understanding that those who value long-term profits as well as the way that popularizing aspects of the swamps can serve to create a larger group of people that is motivated to help them, and thus make an unpopular cause more popular. It is a great shame that the author is more interested in venting her spleen and trying to score social credits with the right leftist environmentalist crowds than she is in genuinely advocating for action that could be approved, with the right arguments and presentation, to a wide audience. Why she thinks she should be preaching to the choir of neo-pagan nature worship rather than seeking to frame a responsible appeal to those with practical business interests or Christian religious perspectives that include a healthy view on conservation that does not celebrate heathen worship practices like bog sacrifices is a mystery to me. Perhaps the point, all along, was for the author to proclaim her heathen religious ways rather than to save the bogs at all.