Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World's Environmental Hotspots

by Alanna Mitchell
Published in Canada, 2004; the United States, 2005; U.K. and the rest of the commonwealth, 2005

At the 150-year anniversary of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, Mitchell travels around the world in a quest to understand how human behaviour will shape species' future. In Darwin's day, the struggle was for Victorians to understand that evolution had been a force of the past and that some species, including the dinosaurs whose bones were being unearthed in Britain then, had gone extinct. She discovers that today, the challenge is for humans to comprehend that evolution is still the guiding force of life on the planet and will continue to be in the future. It's Darwin Round Two, now not just about the past, but also the present and future. So as we destroy the living space of plants and animals, they will adapt by perishing. If we destroy enough life forms, we imperil our own life-support system.

Going from the Middle Eastern shores of the receding Dead Sea, to the vanishing forests of Madagascar to the dying Azraq oasis in Jordan, to the melting permafrost of the High Arctic, the thriving forests of Suriname and finally to Darwin's living laboratory of the Galapagos Islands, Mitchell takes the reader on a journey with her to bear witness to ecological disasters and triumphs. It is a quest of hope for both Mitchell and the reader. In the end, Mitchell urges readers to acknowledge the danger we are in, yet press for change: to be dancers at the metaphorical dead sea.

Dancing was named one of the top five non-fiction books of 2004 by Quill & Quire, Canada's Magazine of Book News and Reviews.

praise for Dancing at the Dead Sea

“…a gifted writer with an independent mind…”
----Kenyan paleontologist and author Richard Leakey


“…beautifully written…marvelous description…” ----The Globe and Mail



“…an impressive investigative odyssey…”
----Booker Prize-winning British writer Penelope Lively



“Well written and inspiring...”----Booklist



“A stirring and ultimately optimistic odyssey.”
----British author, explorer, filmmaker and television presenter Benedict Allen



“Captivating…easily approachable and digestible while being seriously thought-provoking.” ----British author, memoirist and founding member of the rock band Genesis, Chris Stewart



“… [a] personal and intellectual odyssey….an idiosyncratic path through memoir, social history, and science journalism.” ----Quill & Quire



“The beauty of this telling is not just Mitchell's ability to teach us science, but it is in her subtle infusion of her own story and the way this comes to mirror one of her most important messages….She is part of the story yet the book is never about her. Similarly, the story of earth was never supposed to be just about us.”
----Canadian Women's Studies



“A lively, impassioned ecological travelogue.”----Audubon Magazine

interviews

Interview with Mitchell on ABC (Australian Broadcast Corp.) show The National Interest. Transcript is downloadable.

Interview with Mitchell on Radio New Zealand National.

Interview with Mitchell on CBC's The Current.

Interview with Mitchell on Take 5.

Interview with Mitchell On the Line, both downloadable and available online.

Interview with Mitchell on CBC TV.

Interview with Mitchell on Book Lounge with Susan Renouf.

Interview with Mitchell by James Murray-White for Green Prophet.