Erosion

Essays of Undoing

By: Terry Tempest Williams

Narrated by: Terry Tempest Williams

This program is read by the author.

Timely and unsettling essays from an important and beloved writer and conservationist

In Erosion, Terry Tempest Williams's fierce, spirited, and magnificent essays are a howl in the desert. She sizes up the continuing assaults on America's public lands and the erosion of our commitment to the open space of democracy. She asks: "How do we find the strength to not look away from all that is breaking our hearts?"

We know the elements of erosion: wind, water, and time. They have shaped the spectacular physical landscape of our nation. Here, Williams bravely and brilliantly explores the many forms of erosion we face: of democracy, science, compassion, and trust. She examines the dire cultural and environmental implications of the gutting of Bear Ears National Monument—sacred lands to Native Peoples of the American Southwest; of the undermining of the Endangered Species Act; of the relentless press by the fossil fuel industry that has led to a panorama in which "oil rigs light up the horizon." And she testifies that the climate crisis is not an abstraction, offering as evidence the drought outside her door and, at times, within herself.

These essays are Williams's call to action, blazing a way forward through difficult and dispiriting times. We will find new territory—emotional, geographical, communal. The erosion of desert lands exposes the truth of change. What has been weathered, worn, and whittled away is as powerful as what remains. Our undoing is also our becoming.

Erosion is a book for this moment, political and spiritual at once, written by one of our greatest naturalists, essayists, and defenders of the environment. She reminds us that beauty is its own form of resistance, and that water can crack stone.

Williams wrenches the heart

TTW once again wrenches the heart with her poignant, autobiographical musings on our relationship to the natural world. Such a relationship is gained and surrendered by degrees, according to Williams. Her lyrical language dwells excessively on the pain of death and the travesty of environmental injustice. Her experiences as an environmental writer and advocate are both beautiful to witness and hard to listen to. From the rending of political protection of Bears Ears National Monument to the inevitable self-destruction of a brother, William's essays transmute loss of the sacred into the very human notion of accepting change and death. There is hope in this book, but it is spare and struggling, like a lone desert flower.

Absolutely incredible

I read this book while on a hike deep in the Oregon wilderness and it was the perfect setting indeed. TTW is the advocate of our time.

Powerful

Powerful and deeply moving work of art. Trad by the author which for me enhanced the impact. Highly recommend

astounding

Everything - Terry's voice, her delivery, her message - listen, again and again. I'm buying the book for my 87 year old mother who believes we can simply abandon the mess we humans have made of our beautiful blue planet and move to Mars. I hope and pray she will hear you, Terry. Thank you, for everything💜

Stunningly Intimate

Stunningly intimate, I’d say even confessional. And, as every book of hers, TTWilliams sees beauty even in the very darkest of places. Her courage stands tall along side her most sacred, quiet, delicate and fragile sensibilities.

This book will break your heart open. If you allow it, you will be inspired to stand in your tough places with bare awareness and a compassionate heart.