BIRDING TO CHANGE THE WORLD - Trish O'Kane


 I'm really torn on how to rate this book.  There is some really great environmental, grassroots, activism here and author Trish O'Kane details the beginnings of her interest in bird watching and how it leads to the activism, but for me, there's something missing in the connection. 

O'Kane starts us in Louisiana as she and her husband ride out Hurricane Katrina and deal with the aftermath - including the birds who return to reestablish their homes. It is watching these birds that starts O'Kane on her birding journey. That journey continues when Trish and her husband move to Madison, Wisconsin where she pursues a PhD in environmental science. Birding brings her to a local, urban park where she discovers not just a great birding diversity but an incredible array of flora and wildlife. 

Spending a great deal of time in the park, Trish learns that the diversity isn't limited to the wildlife, but the humans who enjoy the park as well. And when the park becomes the location for Madison's 4th of July fireworks display Trish and the local residents realize the harm it's doing to the wildlife and fight an uphill battle with local government to stop the dumping of heavy metals (the fallout of fireworks) in the park.

O'Kane finishes this memoir in Vermont where she takes a teaching post.

The section about the park in Madison was very, very interesting. The fight with the city and the fireworks company is detailed and engaging. This is the highlight of the book and it's more than a bit sad that the resolution comes about as a footnote in the book.  The fight, however, can be a textbook case to how to run a grassroots activism campaign.

As to the birding ... I know a number of serious birders - some who are obsessive - and O'Kane shows all the attribute of someone who has jumped into a 'hobby' with a full-blown passion and is eager to share it with anyone who'll take a moment to listen. She's got her lists and her excitement with adding new birds to her lists. And the birds do lead her to her park activism and are often the reasons for the science behind how the fireworks leftovers poison the park.  But, to quote the title, "change the world"? I'm not seeing it.

Even as a very personal objective to changing the world, connecting birding to this lofty mission feels more like clickbait - something to grab the attention of birders always looking for a new read.

More than once O'Kane references how this book is also her dissertation and there are signs of that throughout though she does a fine job of also keeping it 'personal' and making it a memoir.

Which brings me back to how to rate this book. The parts about the park in Madison - which does take up the bulk of the book - are really compelling. The beginning in Louisiana and the ending in Vermont are less interesting, and the connection between birding and changing the world is really not there at all.

Looking for a good book? Birding to the Change the World by Trish O'Kane has a good deal to show for environmental activism, a fair amount of birding, but changing the world may be overstating things.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

* * * * * *

Birding to Change the World

author: Trish O'Kane

publisher: Ecco 

ISBN: 9780063223141

hardcover, 368 pages

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