Rising

Starred review from March 12, 2018
Timely and urgent, this report on how climate change is affecting American shorelines provides critical evidence of the devastating changes already faced by some coastal dwellers. Rush, who teaches creative nonfiction at Brown University, masterfully presents firsthand accounts of these changes, acknowledging her own privileged position in comparison to most of her interviewees and the heavy responsibility involved in relaying their experiences to an audience. These include the story of Alvin Turner, who has lived in his Pensacola home for more than five decades, survived numerous hurricanes, does not carry flood insurance, and lives “alone on the edge of a neighborhood threatened from all sides.” Alvin’s story is not unlike that of Chris Brunet, a native of the shrinking Isle de Jean Charles in a Louisiana bayou, who must decide whether to stay on the disappearing island or leave. While showing that today’s climate refugees are overwhelmingly those already marginalized, Rush smartly reminds readers that even the affluent will eventually be affected by rising sea levels, writing that water doesn’t distinguish “between a millionaire and the person who repairs the millionaire’s yacht.” Rush also presents a legible overview of scientific understandings of climate change and the options for combating it. In the midst of a highly politicized debate on climate change and how to deal with its far-reaching effects, this book deserves to be read by all.

Starred review from May 15, 2018

Rising sea levels are not just a vision of the future as a result of climate change; it is happening today. Environmental writer Rush (English, Brown Univ.) visits Maine, Rhode Island, New York, Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and California to see the effects of climate change for herself and meet people impacted by rising waters along with the researchers who are documenting the change. More than a case of higher water, the resulting increase in salinity is killing plants that shore up the soil in coastal areas. Animals depending on that coastal marsh area are dying, too. Native birds, mollusks, and seagrass are among a few of the topics covered in this beautifully written title. The afterword brings the text up to date with coverage of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in 2017, and other devastating storms. Rush's travels cause her to examine her own personal journey as she confronts the experiences others are facing. Artistic black-and-white photographs of rampikes--the bleached skeleton or splintered trunk of a tree killed by fire, lightning, or wind--are reminders of what once was and starkly illustrate the text. VERDICT A fine example of creative nonfiction that sounds an alarm yet satisfies on multiple levels.--Teresa R. Faust, Coll. of Central Florida, Ocala

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