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jeffhall's review
4.0
This is the third full issue of Dark Mountain that I've read, and while I was a little disappointed with issues #18 and #19, this latest issue really hits the mark, as the Mountaineers tackle the topic of extractivism, which turns out to be a perfect fit for their creative agenda.
This is not to say that issue #20 is entirely free of the sort of hippy-dippy drivel that descends into self-parody, but the weak notes are well-balanced by strong, thoughtful, and insightful pieces such as Paul Feather's "Go Down Swinging", which sets the agenda for the entire volume:
"We need these stories to understand why there are machines out there killing just about everything. Digging everything up. And we need these stories to understand how it came to be that we're part of that killing."
Other outstanding contributions come from Nick Hunt ("Tearing Cables from the Earth") and Alnoor Ladha and Martin Kirk ("Seeing Wetiko"). The latter piece is particularly valuable, exploring the "Algonquin word for a cannibalistic spirit that is driven by greed, excess, and selfish consumption." This sort of thing is what the Dark Mountain project can excel at, and at least for me as a reader, this is truly eye-opening in its implications.
A sort of coda for the twentieth issue of Dark Mountain comes from Aldo Leopold, quoted in the essay "Bright Green Lies":
"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."
This is not to say that issue #20 is entirely free of the sort of hippy-dippy drivel that descends into self-parody, but the weak notes are well-balanced by strong, thoughtful, and insightful pieces such as Paul Feather's "Go Down Swinging", which sets the agenda for the entire volume:
"We need these stories to understand why there are machines out there killing just about everything. Digging everything up. And we need these stories to understand how it came to be that we're part of that killing."
Other outstanding contributions come from Nick Hunt ("Tearing Cables from the Earth") and Alnoor Ladha and Martin Kirk ("Seeing Wetiko"). The latter piece is particularly valuable, exploring the "Algonquin word for a cannibalistic spirit that is driven by greed, excess, and selfish consumption." This sort of thing is what the Dark Mountain project can excel at, and at least for me as a reader, this is truly eye-opening in its implications.
A sort of coda for the twentieth issue of Dark Mountain comes from Aldo Leopold, quoted in the essay "Bright Green Lies":
"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."
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