University of Washington geologist David R. Montgomery, a professor in the College’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences, writes that he never thought he’d write an optimistic book about the environment. Montgomery’s first popular book, “Dirt,” was about how erosion undermined ancient civilizations around the world in places like modern-day Syria and Iraq.
Yet his latest book, “Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life,” is a good-news environment story. Available May 9 from W.W. Norton, it comes almost exactly a decade after the book that propelled Montgomery to pop-science stardom. During the years since, he has won a MacArthur Fellowship, also known as a ‘Genius Award,’ and published several books for general audiences. The success of “Dirt” also brought invitations to speak at farming conferences. Along the way, Montgomery met farmers who talked about successes in restoring health to degraded soils.
“I kept running into examples of farmers who had restored fertility to degraded land,” said Montgomery. “So I started asking, what did you do? How long did it take? I began to recognize patterns among farmers who had been successful not just in restoring soil, but in restoring profits to their farms.”
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