Q&A: "Wild Ones" Author Jon Mooallem

Every good story needs hope.

That’s what an editor once told me when I asked how to broach a somber and potentially depressing article I was working on. "Find the hope."

Dark green stories — inside baseball for environmental pieces that are serious, are scary, and can make you feel sad — sometimes only offer readers a sort of conscious-tithing solace in having taken the effort to read them. Infusing a little hope can make hard truths go down easier. 

Journalist Jon Mooallem, 34, doesn’t manufacture a bright side; his lovely, lucid prose reveals that perhaps grasping for a silver lining is intrinsic to being human. Mooallem’s debut book, Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America, came out this May. It's the latest and longest in Mooallem’s oeuvre of wildlife reportage that’s revelatory about the human condition. See “Who Would Kill a Monk Seal?” in the New York Times Magazine and “The Last Buffalo Hunt” in Slate for a sense. 

Wild Ones could have been very dark green. Mooallem investigates the plights of the polar bear, the Lange’s metalmark butterfly, and the whooping crane — all endangered — as well as the humans working to save them. Many anecdotes are heartbreaking. A pilot with the whooping crane conservation group Operation Migration admits he has wished he didn’t have his daughter, disillusionment with the world's trajectory weighing on him.

Mooallem’s daughter Isla, around age 2 as he worked on the book, actually inspired her dad's interest in the state of the animals printed all over her pajamas. She often accompanied Mooallem during his reporting, swaddled or strapped to him on buggy rides to spot polar bears in Alaska or hikes to net butterflies in a sand dune. Her presence sweetens and saddens a bleak portrait of our scrambling to preserve what's left of nature.

“I don’t have a totally sunny outlook on these things,” Mooallem told me during a recent interview. “As a parent, I worry about what the world’s gonna be like. That’s why I started this book. I actually thought it would be really kinda cool and important. I’d like my daughter to see some of these species that may not be around.”

3 Incredible Interspecies Moms

With Mother's Day on the horizon, we've become a tad sentimental about how amazing mothers are. Check out the squee-inducing evidence that motherhood knows no (species) bounds.

A cat nurses baby squirrels:

A monkey bottle-feeding a tiger:

What Did the Big Bang Sound Like?

The Big Bang, the current theory behind the universe's existence, kind of sounds like a spaceship descending alongside you and hovering overhead -- or maybe a protracted electronic whoopee cushion.

Physics professor John G. Cramer of the University of Washington in Seattle originally created an aural interpretation of the Big Bang a decade ago, according to the university. (The 2003 version sounds like a sound effect from '60s-era Star Trek.)

Armed with data from the European Space Agency's Planck mission, which currently maps relic radiation from the Big Bang, Cramer produced the latest audio rendition of our universe's infancy. The data's higher frequency spectrum gave Cramer a more accurate representation of the expanding universe, which he likens to the sound of a bass.

"The expanding universe 'stretches' the sound wavelengths and thereby lowers their frequencies," Cramer writes. "To account for this effect, the program shifts the waves downward in frequency to follow the expansion in the first 760 thousand years of the universe."

Hear the Big Bang rendering as 20-, 50-, 100-, 200-, or 500-second recordings on Cramer's UW site. Cramer recommends listening to the 100-second version.

Wet Goods: The Newest Paddling Gear

About 70% of this planet's surface is water. If that's not reason enough to spend some time this spring having liquid fun, this season's slew of innovations might be. 

 

 

Get both a whitewater kayak and a flatwater tourer in the WAVE SPORT Ethos. Available in 9- and 10-foot lengths (we tested the 10-foot on an overnighter on Utah's Green River), it handles touring, easy surf, and up to Class III rapids. Deploy the drop-down skeg for touring or pull it up for whitewater. There's a roomy cockpit, ample storage space, and hinged hip pads that fold up into a carrying cushion for your shoulder. $999

The 17-foot, 5-inch fiberglass Koru from OLD TOWN CANOE is a masterful blend of function and art — the same elegant features that made it a classic hunting canoe back in the day have been revamped for recreational use. An extended waterline makes for efficient padding, while a shallow arch hull adds stability. This 60-pound craft worked well in the Colorado River's light waves and flats. $2,300

Observing Highlights for May: A Rare Planetary Trio

If lack of binoculars or a telescope shut you out of April’s big viewing event, the two comets, May will be a much easier treat. Three planets, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury, meet in the western sky after sunset, coming within five degrees of each other in what astronomers call a trio. The gathering of three planets is rather unique, and the next trio won’t occur until October 2015.

Jupiter has been high in the west after sunset all year, and as May opens it is clearly beginning to sink toward the horizon with the winter constellations that surround it. But Venus is coming to greet it
before it disappears near the sun. Venus has to contend with the glow of sunset as it lugs itself upward each night. On May 10, can you spot Venus just two degrees away from a newborn crescent moon? On the next night the crescent moon will appear about halfway between Jupiter and Venus.

7 of the World's Weirdest Beaches

Sun worshippers, rejoice: balmier days mean that beach weather is just around the corner. Time to dust off that swimsuit, sling on those sandals, and slather on some sunscreen.

A day at the beach needn’t be just another day at the beach, though. As glorious as an afternoon nap on the shore might feel, why not surprise your senses this summer?  Get ready for steamy shoreline pools and Technicolor sands, and cross these beautifully bizarre beaches off your bucket list.   

Pink Sands Beach, Harbour Island, Bahamas

This three-mile confection of a beach gets its cotton candy color from white sand mixing with the red shells of a class of single-celled organisms called Foraminifera. Waves, or sometimes fish, loosen Foraminifera from their dwellings on the underside of reefs, on the sea floor, and inside caves, causing them to wash ashore. Coral reefs provide calm, shallow waters perfect for snorkeling and swimming. Pink shores aren’t unique to Harbour Island, though—you can find similarly colored beaches in Scotland, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and the Philippines.

Image by istockPhoto/zxvisual

6 of the World's Scariest Bridges

How does teetering on a spindly bamboo pole above the Mekong River sound?  How about tiptoeing across a narrow, rickety crossing in Japan's Southern Alps? Or suspended above a gorge lined with serrated limestone?

Earlier this month, we indulged thrill-seeking travelers with sky-high treehouses and treacherous trails. Today on Explore, test your bravery -- and your balance -- with these five stomach-churning bridges.  (Just don't look down.)

Qeswachaka Bridge, Peru

Suspended more than 30 feet above the Apurimac River, roughly 60 miles from Cuzco, Qeswachaka bridge is the last of the vast network of bridges that crisscrossed the Inca empire. They fell, along with the empire, in the 16th century, but indigenous Andeans continued to pass down their bridge building knowledge to future generations.

Since the Qeswachaka bridge fibers fray easily, every year or two in June, hundreds of people from various Andean communities gather for the rebuilding ceremony, where they weave blades of Qoya grass into six long cables, securing them at each edge of the ravine with eucalyptus trunks. Thanks to their communal effort, constructing the 120-foot long bridge takes only three days.

The locals celebrate the bridge’s completion with food and dancing. Even with a modern metal bridge just upstream, they form a long line at the handwoven Qeswachaka bridge, which is just wide enough for them to cross single file.

Get Out! Celebrate Our Nation's Littlest Heroes

Last year, a Seattle Children’s Research Institute study found that only 51 percent of kids walked or played outside with either parent once a day, possibly placing them at risk for obesity and other health problems. In today’s plugged-in world, the statistics should hardly raise an eyebrow.

The country’s 1.9 million military children face the same challenges—among a slew of others.

Military children move and change schools frequently, making new friends each time. Most stressful of all, they’re separated from a parent who may be in danger thousands of miles away. 

This April, celebrate Earth Day and the Month of the Military Child with the Sierra Club. To honor the unique service of our nation’s littlest heroes, the Celebration of the Military Child Outdoors will connect them with the lands they and their families protect. As part of the Club's Get Out! Earth Day campaign, cities across the country are hosting events this weekend where military children and their families can spend a day enjoying and exploring public lands. They’ll get to hike, cast a fly rod, pitch tents, and more. 

How can you celebrate military children this Earth Day? Check out the Sierra Club’s Celebration of the Military Child Outdoors event listing.

Get Out! Enter to Win a Trip to Hawaii

What better way to celebrate Mother Earth, than to spend some time appreciating all the beauty that she has to offer. Picture yourself walking along sandy white beaches, watching sunsets from a sea cliff view, kayaking over crystal blue waves, or snorkeling with some of the world's most exquisite aquatic life. Yes, this could be you! If you're our sweepstakes winner, a trip to Lanai, Hawaii won't be the stuff of dreams.

As part of our Get Out! Earth Day campaign, The Sierra Club is hosting a Getaway Sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip for two to the breathtaking islands of Hawaii. Winners will be awarded a five-night stay at the Four Season Resort Lanai at Manele Bay, which is just about as close to paradise as it gets.

And trust us, packing won't be a problem. The grand prize also includes a $500 shopping spree at Gramicci.com, where you can stock up on some free spirited, uber comfortable outdoor attire to keep you styling throughout your stay.

The runner up will be awarded $100 in Kiss My Face's natural, effective and cruelty-free personal care products, as well as $100 in products from Sawyer, the leader in protection against sun, bugs, water and injuries.

Ready to make this trip to paradise happen? Enter your name and email address and you could be on your way to winning the vacation of a lifetime!

--image by istockphoto/SDbT

Read More:

Get Out! Meet Celebs

6 of America's Most Dangerous Climbs

7 of the World's Strangest Flowers

Get Out! Old Outdoor Gear's Gotta Go.

Boots that no longer blaze trails, backpacks too uncool for school, camp stoves that haven't had that fire kindled in years — now is their time.

Dust off the forgotten denizens of your storage closet and get a spring cleaning/planet saving two-for-one by donating outdoor gear to your local Sierra Club chapter. 

The Club's coast-to-coast celebration of the upcoming Earth Day includes Re/Play, a list of locations where you can donate gently used outdoor gear and apparel to the Sierra Club. (See ya, The Little Mermaid sleeping bag and early-‘90s fanny pack.) 

Donated items will be sold through eBay, with proceeds benefiting The Sierra Club Foundation's work to encourage further planetary exploration, protection, and enjoyment. 

The Re/Play campaign also includes the option of donating a portion of personal eBay sales.

READ MORE:

Our Mr. Green talks clothes donations

Damn good socks

Taking it easy on Earth Day

--image courtesy of istockphoto/zhudifeng