ASLE NEWS FALL 07



		ASLE News VOL. 19, NO. 2 D FALL 2007
	A Biannual Publication of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment
	PRESIDENT'S COLUMN Reflections on 2007:Accomplishments and Future Plans
	In many places, spring is the season associated with rebirth. But in St. Louis, where this August featured more days over 100 Fahrenheit than below 90, fall brings its own sense of renewal. People venture outside at times other than early morning or late evening; sometimes they even open their windows or sit on their porches. Finally freed from the oppressive heat, grass, flowers, and even the earth itself seem reinvigorated. The sight of leaves already turning yellow and the ever-earlier setting of the sun remind us, though, that winter (such as it is in Missouri!) lies in wait. For me, the end of the year will complete my term as ASLE President. Though the time has passed with extraordinary speed, we have already accomplished a great deal. Of course, the major event of the year was our conference at Wofford College in June. Thinking back on the energy, intellectual richness, and spirit of camaraderie that characterized the event, I am reminded of the tremendous amount of thought and effort that made it all possible: my thanks, once again, to our conference hosts, Ellen Goldey and John Lane, and Amy McIntyre, our managing director, for their hard work, perseverance, creativity, and seemingly endless good will. Of course, they were also supported by scores of helpers and volunteers from Wofford and ASLE, and I am grateful to all of them as well. In addition, I should point out that many of our plenary speakers went above and beyond the call of duty in various ways, and I believe we will have the chance to welcome at least some of them back at future ASLE gatherings. And finally, I want to thank everyone who attended the conference I can't imagine organizing an event for a more understanding, good-natured, energetic, and appreciative group. As I said at the conference banquet, that week in Spartanburg reaffirmed my sense that ASLE is my true professional home (or, as John Lane would put it, "my tribe"). I hope it did the same for all of you who were there. Those of you who could not attend may want access some			of the photos, plenary podcasts and blog entries at the conference's ASLE Connect site: http://wofford.typepad.com/asle_connect/ (make sure to click on "June" under "Archives" in order to see the full array of choices). The conference also marked the inauguration of ASLE's new book and conference paper awards, expertly created, administered, and presented by Tom Lynch (see page 4). Other developments this year include the addition of a standing budget committee to our bylaws, and we began planning to improve our online presence through upgrades to our website. But the year isn't over yet; we will be conducting a membership survey later this fall, soliciting your input on all things ASLE: future conferences, future programs, ISLE, the newsletter, the online bibliography, general membership satisfaction, and issues of diversity, to name a few. I urge you to take a little time and complete the survey when it arrives. The Executive Council can make better decisions when we have a sense of what you think, need, and want. In 2008-2009, we can look forward to several ASLE-related conferences (see page 14). Coming up first in June will be the ASLE-sponsored off-year symposium "The Keyboard in the Garden: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Literature and Mediated Nature" at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA. Vassar College will host an ASLE-affiliated conference, "Sharp Eyes V: Nature Writing and Nineteenth Century Science" (the fifth in the John Burroughs Nature Writing Conference and Seminar Series), also in June. A second "off-year" symposium (originally scheduled for November, 2008), "Huracán," will explore the environment, histories, and cultures of the Caribbean, Gulf Basin, and U.S. South at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. It will now take place from February 6-9, 2009, so as to avoid the hurricane season of which they speak!

					see PRESIDENT on page 3



				ASLE News the biannual newsletter of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environmentreports ASLE business and publishes information of interest to its membership. Have any news or ideas? Contact newsletter editor Kathryn Miles at kmiles@unity.edu. Thanks to editorial assistant Jennifer Smiechowski for her work on this issue.
		ASLE News
		ASLE News
	P.O. Box 502 Keene, NH 03431-0502 Phone & Fax: 603-357-7411 asle.us@verizon.net www.asle.umn.edu
				Project Coordinators Awards Coordinator Tom Lynch University of Nebraska, Lincoln Bibliography Editor/Coordinator H. Lewis Ulman The Ohio State University Book Review Editor, ISLE Michael Branch University of Nevada, Reno Diversity Caucus Coordinators Levita Mondie-Sapp The Maret School Priscilla Solis Ybarra Rice University Graduate Mentoring Program Coordinator Mark Long Keene State College Graduate Student Liaisons Paul Bogard University of Nevada, Reno Tom Hillard Boise State University Professional Liaison Coordinator Donelle Dreese Northern Kentucky University			ASLE Affiliates ASLE-UK l ASLE-Japan l ASLE-ANZ ASLE-Korea l EASLCE l ALECC ASLE-India l OSLE-India Affiliated Professional Organizations American Literature Association American Studies Association, Environmental Studies Caucus Conference on College Composition and Communication (4Cs) Modern Language Association (MLA) Midwest MLA (M/MLA) Northeast MLA (NEMLA) Pacific MLA (PAMLA) Rocky Mountain MLA (RMMLA) Society for Early Americanists Society for Science and Literature Society for the Study of American Women Writers
	Managing Director: Amy McIntyre

	ASLE Officers President Karla Armbruster Webster University Vice President Rochelle Johnson Albertson College of Idaho Immediate Past President Ann Fisher-Wirth University of Mississippi Executive Secretary Kathleen Wallace The Ohio State University Public Relations Officer Dan Philippon University of Minnesota, Twin Cities ISLE Editor Scott Slovic University of Nevada, Reno ASLE News Editor Kathryn Miles Unity College Executive Council (date indicates year term expires) Vermonja Alston York University, 2007 Janine DeBaise SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, 2009 George Hart California State University, Long Beach, 2007 Richard Kerridge Bath Spa University, 2008 Sheryl St. Germain Chatham College, 2008 Jim Warren Washington and Lee University, 2009


					ASLE News accepts advertisements of interest to our members at rates of $200 for a full page, $150 for a 1/2 page, $100 for a 1/4 page and $75 for an 1/8 page. Contact Kathryn Miles, kmiles@unity.edu , with inquiries.



	PRESIDENT continued from page 1			ASLE Seeks Graduate Student Liaisons Early in ASLE's life as an organization, the leadership recognized the significant contributions that graduate students make and established two appointed, non-officer Project Coordinator positions to be held by graduate students. (See Article 5.1.3 of the bylaws, http//www.asle.umn.edu/about/bylaws/html .) The Graduate Student Liaisons (GSLs) serve ASLE by representing the interests and concerns of graduate students at meetings of the EC, and they work closely with ASLE's Graduate Mentoring Program Coordinator in shared pursuit of this goal. In accordance with Article 6.1.3 of the bylaws, the GSLs are appointed by ASLE's President (in consultation with the EC) and hold two-year terms. The two GSL positions have staggered terms so as to ensure continuity. It is understood that in the course of the two-year term, a GSL may complete graduate school; completion of a degree does not affect the term of office. Like ASLE's other Project Coordinators, the GSLs spearhead projects deemed by the EC to be important to the life and future of the organization. In past years, GSLs have undertaken many significant projects, including writing and revising ASLE's Graduate Student Handbook; organizing conference panels to serve the specific needs of graduate students; overseeing the Graduate Student Working Group; compiling the syllabi collection and the dissertations-in-progress database that are on ASLE's web site; and coordinating graduate student receptions during ASLE conferences. Because of their central role in the organization, GSLs are asked to attend both conference year and off-year officers meetings. For ASLE's travel assistance policy, see "Travel Funding Policy for ASLE Officers" at http//www.asle.umn.edu/about/policies.html . To be considered for a GSL position, candidates should submit a formal letter of application to the current president (Karla Armbruster, armbruka@webster.edu) by November 1 for a term beginning in January, 2008. The letter should include a statement of interest, a description of professional interests (particularly as they connect to literature and environment), and the names and contact information of three faculty references. The president especially welcomes letters of application that describe the candidate's specific interests in serving ASLE. Candidates may also want to address their length and extent of involvement with ASLE and any extra-curricular participation in environmental work or causes.

		Looking further ahead, I am (still) absolutely delighted that ASLE's eighth biennial conference in June, 2009, will be at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. This will be the first time that ASLE has ventured outside the borders of the U.S. for our major conference. Richard Pickard of the Department of English will be our host, and his co-organizer will be ASLE's 2009 president in other words, whoever is elected vice president this year. Speaking of elections, you will find your candidate statements and voting instructions in this newsletter. I am extremely grateful to all the excellent candidates who have agreed to run for vice president and for executive council at-large positions. Please read their candidate statements (pages 8-12) carefully and return your ballot to Executive Secretary Kathleen Wallace postmarked by December 1, 2007. If you, too, would like to get more involved in ASLE, we are currently soliciting applications for a new Graduate Student Liaison (see box below). You may also want to watch for the call for 2009 candidates in the next newsletter. I have found that serving ASLE is a tremendously gratifying experienceand hope that as many of you as possible take the opportunity to find out for yourselves just how rewarding it can be. Karla Armbruster



	ASLE Honors Writing and Scholarship with Biennial Awards

	The authors of two works of creative writing and two works of criticism and scholarship were the winners of ASLE's first-ever book and scholarly paper awards, presented at the Seventh Biennial Conference in Spartanburg, SC. The awards were the brainchild of ASLE member Tom Lynch, who says he felt environmental writing has not always received the recognition it deserves. "A few years ago, I was reading Ian Marshall's Storyline and I thought, 'wow this is really good. I wonder if it's received any awards.' But after I investigated, I realized there aren't many awards a book like this would be likely to receive," said Lynch. "It occurred to me that ASLE should create an award to acknowledge excellence in ecocriticism." The organization's executive council agreed. They spent the next year working in conjunction with Lynch to determine both the specific awards and the criteria used to judge submissions. In the end, they settled upon four distinct categories: best book-length work of creative writing; best ecocritical book; best creative graduate student paper; and best scholarly paper written by a graduate student. "There are other awards we could give," said Lynch. "But the logistics of four awards was plenty ambitious for the first time. Not only did we have to create separate judging panels for each of the categories, but we also had to get the materials out to committees for review." For Lynch, that often meant extra hours at the office boxing up books as they arrived from the publisher or distributing graduate work electronically. "That was one drawback for me personally," he says. "The submissions had to go out so fast I didn't get a chance to read them first." Lynch received around 100 total entries for the four categories. Judges evaluated the style, organization, and distillation of environmental issues in each. In the end, says Lynch, each committee reached consensus quite easily about both the winners and the entrants noted as 'honorable mentions'. Judges selected Gretchen Legler's, On the Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station, Antarctica (Milkweed) as the best book of environmental creative writing published in 2005-2006. The judges praised Legler's ability to simultaneously uphold and challenge the expectations of the genre. They also pointed to the multi-faceted depth of Legler's prose. "Legler pays as much attention to human life and social interaction at McMurdo Station as she does to the harsh life outside of it; her work presents an eloquent argument for seeing humans and human drama as part of, not separate from, nature," wrote the committee.
			Similar praise abounds for Robert N. Watson's, Back to Nature: The Green and the Real in the Late Renaissance (U Penn P). Voted the outstanding work of ecocriticism, Watson's book is described by the judging panel as a "tour de force." In their summary of Back to Nature, the committee wrote: "The work weaves pastoral literatures and aesthetics from Shakespeare to Marvell to Traherne with questions of intellectual and political history, the rise of science, and postmodern theory; these complex narrative strands give Back to Nature an unusually powerful sweep, sophistication and authority." The judging panels for the graduate student essays were no less taken by entries in their categories. They selected Jill Gatlin of the University of Washington for her paper, "Landscapes and Lungs: Toxicity, Space, and Race in Hubert Skidmore's Hawk's Nest," as the best scholarly paper written by a graduate student. Lauded for is lucidity and economy of argument, Gatlin's essay breaks new ground in the field of environmental justice: "while integrating some theoretical perspectives from outside the domain of ecocriticism, the essay also shows how an ecocritical perspective necessitates a reconsideration of certain prevailing theoretical assumptions regarding the relationship between culture and environment," wrote the judges. Flannery Scott's short story, "The Highest Places," demonstrated ways in which lyricism and character development can advance sophisticated arguments about ways of knowing. A student at Western Illinois University, Flannery was noted for her ability to make important gestures in the direction of "moving from the local to the transnational," all the while critiquing sensitive areas such as family. All four award recipients were honored at the closing conference banquet in Spartanburg with monetary awards and a public recognition of their work. The graduate student papers will also be featured in future issue of ISLE. Award organizer Tom Lynch hopes that there will be residual benefits as well. "We want to give writers a nice pat on the back and celebrate the work that has been done. But this is also about acknowledging the maturation of eco-criticism. It assures publishers that this is a thriving and vital field. Manuscripts in this discipline should be given earnest consideration." To that end, Lynch is currently working with the Executive Council to secure funding for future awards and to consider expanding the existing categories. "So many excellent articles are currently being published, and it would be nice to recognize them. As on-line publishing increases, we might have exciting possibilities there, too." Kathryn Miles



	Carbon Offsets at ASLE's Biennial Conference

	For first time, ASLE offered attendees at the 2007 Biennial Conference in Spartanburg, SC the option of donating money to help offset the carbon emissions generated by conference travel. Conference attendees donated $1161, and the ASLE organization has matched those funds, making the total amount $2322. The funds will go to Atmosfair, a non-profit organization based in Bonn, Germany. ASLE's Executive Council selected this carbon offset organization because of the high ratings it received in two different evaluations of voluntary offset companies. (See Clean Air Cool Planet's evaluation at http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/ConsumersGuidetoCarbonOffsets.pdf and the Tufts Climate Initiative's evaluation at http://www.tufts.edu/tie/tci/pdf/TCI_Carbon_Offsets_Paper_April-2-07.pdf. ) Atmosfair contributes to many projects, including generating electricity from waste at the University of Rio (Brazil), providing solar heaters for school kitchens in India, and making solar electricity and heating available in South Africa. You can learn more about Atmosfair at http://www.atmosfair.de/index.php?id=9&L=3 . The Executive Council's choice of a European-based organization that supports projects worldwide reflects both the global impact of any carbon emissions and the global membership of ASLE.				We recognize the limitations and complexities of carbon offsets. Some of the controversial issues include the lack of industry standards for carbon calculators, the absence of universal standards in terms of what constitutes a "true" carbon offset, the issue of "additionality" (emissions reductions can't be used to pay for business as usual but must result in additional reductions), and the irony of carbon offsets being likened to the medieval church's "indulgences," the purchase of which absolved a sinner. Nonetheless, all EC members agree that ASLE should do as much as possible to reduce its carbon footprint and act responsibly toward the environmentespecially considering that ASLE is an organization dedicated, in large part, to environmental concerns. Because we consider this a preliminary step in addressing ASLE's carbon footprint, in Spartanburg the EC discussed what we might do to become a more sustainable organization. We formed a sub-committee to address these issues, and we will consider their findings at our off-year officer's meeting in 2008. If you want to make suggestions regarding what ASLE might do to diminish its environmental impact or otherwise benefit the global environment while preserving its organizational identity, please contact ASLE's Vice President, Rochelle Johnson, at rjohnson@albertson.edu or 208-459-5894.

	Interdisciplinary Work Takes Center Stage at ASLE-ANZ

		The ASLE-ANZ Newsletter (ASLE-ANewZletter), published in August 2007 and available from the ASLE-ANZ website (http://www.asle-anz.asn.au/), describes some of the recent activities of the Australian and New Zealand branch, whose membership is growing steadily. Some of the highlights feature recent interdisciplinary work in New Zealand that has had broad appeal and been widely acclaimed: a conference on the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (a watchdog body) featured in a series of radio broadcasts that celebrated the Commission's 20 year anniversary by citing its guardian role in international contexts. The second project is a collaboration between top New Zealand scientists and writers called Are Angels Okay? The book and radio series are both available on line. Another project of note is the Wild Creations artists awards, hosted by the country's Department of Conservation. Recent years have seen artists in various media staying in national parks and working on music, painting, sculpture		dance or video (often with a Maori focus). ASLE-NZ members also had a very successful reading at the department's national headquarters in September. Finally, overseas net-surfers will enjoy the new science pages on New Zealand's innovative online encyclopaedia, Te Ara, available at http://www.teara.govt.nz/. Following the publication of selected papers from our first conference in a special issue of the journal Colloquy, further papers and a plethora of creative writing are shortly to appear in a special issue of PAN (Philosophy Activism Nature, http://search.informit.com.au/browseJournalTitle;res=E -LIBRARY;issn=1443-6124). Plans are currently underway for a second ASLE-ANZ gathering, a symposium to be held at the Australian National University in March next year. Kate Rigby



	ASLE-UK Hosts Graduate Conference

	Modern Environments: Contemporary Readings in Green Studies was the inaugural graduate conference of ASLE-UK, hosted by John Miller at the University of Glasgow from 7 - 8 September 2007. Three plenary speakers, twenty-six papers, one film, and a roundtable on sustainability with local politicians all helped to provide an exciting, stimulating atmosphere for debate and interdisciplinary exchange. The conference kicked off with Greg Garrard's dynamic plenary on Darwinism and evolutionary psychology in the work of Ian McEwan and Margaret Atwood. As the latter suggests, we humans have changed little over thousands of years and so the question of protecting nature becomes a question of human nature. It is imperative that we understand and anticipate the psychological drivers of our behavior: Garrard suggests rejecting idealism and fear in favor of mobilizing shame, which he describes as the most galvanizing emotion, to generate action. Other plenary speakers included Lee Rozelle, who spoke about the new trajectory of 'the ecosublime'. Speaking in relation to the writings of Don DeLillo, Rozelle asked key questions of the audience: how do ecocriticism and theory relate to environmental practice?; as we progress through the three stages of the ecosublime (apprehension, followed by awe and/or depression, followed by exaltation) is it possible to achieve catharsis? This though-provoking discussion melded tragedy and transcendence in the context of human waste and ecocide. The last plenary speaker was Richard Kerridge, who urged ecocritics to encompass urgent environmental concerns, by approaching literature 'as if climate change were really happening', bearing in mind our human ability to willfully resist such terrifying possibilities. Warning against adopting an alienating apocalyptic or heroic tone, he explored his central concern: namely that 'impasse' between knowing the ecological crisis is real and believing it. The significant difference, of course, is that we only act upon that which we believe. Kerridge's close reading of Prynne's poetry emphasized the dangers of ecocriticism and the need for urgency in our field, cautioning ecocritics to remember these are real problems in the real world. One of the recurring topics of the conference was concern over the fraught connection between practical 'action', literature and theory. Hugely relevant and exciting, therefore, was the roundtable discussion on sustainability featuring Greg Garrard, Richard Kerridge, the University of Glasgow's environmental protection officer Ann Galbraith, and significantly - local politicians Ann McKechin (Labour MP for Glasgow north) and Patrick Harvie (Glasgow Green MSP). The purpose of this session was to involve both the conference and		ASLE-UK in promoting sustainability in academic institutions together with their local communities. Conversation ranged widely over these and related issues, forming the starting point for ongoing debate and meaningful contribution to sustainability in universities in Glasgow and beyond. The topics of graduate student papers delivered at the conference also ranged widely and deeply. These topics included dismantling bombs through the act of reading, the ethics of travel, socio-ecological catastrophe, and analysis of authors ranging from Goethe and Shelley to J. M. Coetzee and Mieko Shiomi. By general consensus the conference was a success for all involved: many delegates remarked on their relief and optimism at discovering like-minded individuals who shared their concerns. The growth of ecocriticism has been comparatively slow in the UK, but this conference evinces movement in the right direction. To maintain momentum, Erin Somerville (ASLE-UK's postgraduate convenor) has created a Facebook group, where discussions are already blossoming in preparation for next year's conference at Edinburgh, growing from the success of this year in Glasgow. Emma Seymour



	The Kanazawa Report: ASLE-Japan/Korea Joint Symposium

	Hosted by ASLE-Korea and ASLE-Japan from August 19-21, 2007, the first-ever ASLE Japan-Korea Joint Symposium was a brilliant success, uniting nearly thirty speakers and about sixty attendees. Korea's literary Nobel hopeful Ko Un and America's Pulitzer laureate Gary Snyder were both in attendance throughout and gave readings at Daijoji, Kanazawa's 700 year-old Zen Buddhist temple. Interpreters were always on hand during the symposium, and all talks were translated and available in English, Korean, and Japanese. Because every paper was so fascinating, it seems appropriate to briefly summarize the goings-on. Several papers treated the threatened landscapes in Korea and Japan. Hong Yong-hee (Kyunghee Cyber University, Korea) discussed the resistance in the poetry of Jeeha Kim to the ideologies of environmental degradation accompanying the rapid industrialization of South Korea in the 1960s. Nakamura Yuko (Rikkyo University, Japan) compared colonial Japanese and Korean perceptions of modernization, while Terashita Hironori (Ritsumeikan University, Japan) looked at similarities and differences in representations of environmental disaster in literature of Japan and Korea. Lee Mansik (Kyungwon University, Korea) argued that the deep ecology movement doesn't go deep enough and called for an application of deconstructionist theories to deep ecology. Masami Raker Yuki (Kanazawa University, Japan) talked about the differences between American and Japanese repesentations of village culture in environmental literature, concluding that the American version is more I-centered, while the Japanese version is more pluralistic. Other essays offered close readings and applications of both classic and contemporary texts. Huh Hyejung (Korea Cyber University, Korea) compared structural and thematic grounds of Korean literature and The Arabian Nights. Kono Chie (Nihon University, Japan) explored relationships between the individual and "Nature" in the Tanka of Masako Tsuiji. Kim Ilgu (Hannam University, Korea) compared the Korean stories of Sim Cheong and the ancient Korean proto-feminist tale, and advocated for making connections between representations of children and of the natural environment. The conference also demonstrated new and exciting directions for theory. Morita Keitaro (Rikkyo University, Japan) reiterated the call made by Catriona Sandilands for a queer ecocriticism. Kang Yong-ki (Chonnam National University, Korea) recuperated poongsoo from claims that it is anti-environmentalist and anthropocentric. Kang differentiated the Korean poongsoo		from the Chinese fenshui (both being related East Asian practices of geomancy). Odani Kazuaki's (Niigata Women's College, Japan) presentation emphasized the interrelatedness of postcolonial and environmental issues in the Korean literature of expatriates who were forced to live in Japan in the first half of the 20^th century. Simon C. Estok (Sungkyunkwan University, Korea) continued this argument for postcolonial and ecocritical cooperation, using Japanese-American Ruth Ozeki's My Year of Meats as a starting point, and concluding that, at least in terms of action, the novel strongly suggests that a meatless diet is more environmentally sound than a carnivorous diet. Several papers demonstrated the breadth of ecocritical application. Focusing on the films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, Ursula K. Heise (Stanford University, USA) suggested we look for environmental representations in new genres such as animated comics, film and science fiction. Monsters were the topic of Nakagaki Kotaro's (Tokiwa University, Japan) fascinating talk, which looked at the "dystopian vision behind the image of the bright scientific future promoted by the rapid economic growth in post-war Japan." Finally, Wu Chan-je (Sogang University, Korea), looking at Taoism and deep ecology through the novels of Yi Chong-jun, argued for recognition that all things are influenced by principles of Nature. There was also a Gary Snyder panelwhich included Iwamasa Shinji (Shirayuri College, Japan), Kim Won-chung (Sungyunkwan University, Korea), Robin Chen-hsing Tsai (Tamkang University, Taiwan), Yamazato Katsunori (University of the Ryukyus, Japan), and, of course, Mr. Snyder himself. Like many ASLE meetings, this one dealt in abstractions: "we should get closer to the earth," "we need to come into harmony with the natural world," "we need to change our thinking," and so on. And, as also often happens at these meetings, people recoiled defensively at the concrete suggestion that "one thing you can all easily do today is to stop eating meat." That suggestion didn't go over well. One of the more useful things to come out of this symposium was the roundtable conducted by ASLE-Korea ex-president Shin Moonsu (Seoul National University, Korea) and current president Lee Soongwon (Seoul Women's University, Korea), with ASLE-Japan founding president Noda Ken-ichi (Rikkyo University, Japan) and current president Ikuta Shogo (Kanazawa University, Japan) on the topic of continued East Asian collaborations. This symposium was an important beginning to those collaborations. Simon C. Estok



	2007 Election Statements from Candidates for Vice President and Executive Council

	Each autumn, ASLE members are invited to elect a new vice president and two new executive council members. The vice president serves one year as vice president, the subsequent year as president, and the year following as past president. Executive council members are selected for three year terms. Your ballot for the 2007 ASLE election will be mailed to you if you live in the United States. To expedite the process and ensure that ballots from international members are not unduly delayed by passing through the postal system twice, please download a ballot from the web site (www.asle.umn.edu) if you live outside the U.S. Read the statements from our candidates for vice president and executive council below, make your selections, and send your ballotpostmarked by December 1, 2007to Kathleen R. Wallace, ASLE Elections, Graduate School, The Ohio State University, 230 N. Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210.

	Vice President Richard Kerridge, Bath Spa University (UK) I have been a member of ASLE nearly all its life. British literary studies in the early 1990s were not receptive to ecocriticism, and ASLE became for me an extraordinary source of intellectual support and friendship. The biennial conferences were glorious: I felt about them what some feel about the Glastonbury Festival. Since editing the first collection of ecocriticism published in Britain, I have been fascinated by conversation between British and US ecocriticism. I became the first Chair of ASLE-UK, co-organised conferences, and co-authored a national report on Education for Sustainability. In 2005 I was elected to the ASLE Executive Committee. Currently I am in sub-committees investigating our carbon footprint and new initiatives for ISLE. I am Head of Postgraduate Studies in English and Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, where for ten years I have led one of the most successful Creative Writing Masters programmes in Britain. In 1990 and 1991 I received the BBC Wildlife Award for Nature Writing. To be Vice President of ASLE would be a pleasure, an honour and a serious challenge. ASLE has achieved remarkable things. Ecocriticism is widely recognised, and is reaching out in new directions: engaging with diverse communities, connecting with postcolonialism and science. The sheer variety of conference papers makes choosing a torment. Smaller symposia, branches overseas, links with activism, mentoring, sharing pedagogies: all this makes us a real community, and it is a startlingly friendly one. The aggression common in other academic settings simply doesn't arise. On the contrary: we have been accused of an excessive politeness and
			piety that restrains debate. We should think about that, but if we do err in that direction it is because our ethos inspired in part by eco-phenomenology is one of allowing new work to disclose itself, not shocking it back into hiding. A 'but' must be coming. Only this: that everything we've done must be seen in the context of what the world is not doing about climate change. Widespread environmental concern co-exists with an inability to do what is needed. We know but don't yet behave as if we know. The novelist John Lanchester puts it interestingly: I suspect we're reluctant to think about it because we're worried that if we start we will have no choice but to think about nothing else. [..] We deeply don't want to believe this story. (London Review of Books, 22 March 2007, 3, 6) He suggests that really we do glimpse what climate change means, and for that very reason cannot think about it seriously. How to move on from that impasse is a question ASLE should foreground, seeking literature that explores the difficulties of changing consumerist habits; evaluating the effect of terrifying people with visions of the future; connecting with meanings consumerism has for different people, but also critiquing those meanings urgently and wittily, in ways that reach people, as feminists criticised patriarchy. We could also: w Seek a more interactive relationship with overseas branches: regular videoconferencing, plenary speakers, co-publishing, online journals. See their perspectives. w Develop the art of blogging. w Invite opponents to debate with us. We don't engage enough with counter-arguments, and know too little about how the unpersuaded feel. Let's put that politeness to the test.



	w Hold events that are not merely open to public audiences but engage them in conversation and ask them what they think. ASLE's arrival in town should occasion a public debate. w Investigate whether our teaching changes our students' behaviour. Ask what would. w Discuss our own carbon footprint. Whether or not I am elected, I want to support these things. Dan Philippon, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities I'm honored to have been asked to run for vice president of ASLE. I've been involved with ASLE since the very beginning, having licked more stamps than I care to remember (remember when you did lick stamps?) in the early 1990s, when most of our communications were still on paper and the jobs of secretary and treasurer not only still existed but were filled by separate peopleboth of them volunteers! Ah, the good old days. In fact, in my fifteen years of service as an ASLE officer, I'm most proud of having helped to change both of these practices, first by creating the ASLE web site in 1994 and then by collaborating with the other officers at our Bread Loaf retreat a decade later to hire a Managing Director. I had lobbied for many years that we should have a paid professional running our day-to-day affairs, and I am delighted that we are now in the capable hands of Amy McIntyre (or "ASLE Amy" as her name regularly appears in my email). I believe both of these changes are good ones"meaningful growth" in Laird Christensen's wonderful phrasethat have helped the organization mature while still preserving the spirit in which it was founded. As vice president, I'd like to keep us on this path, making careful, deliberate changes that reflect the varied interests of our members, that take our teaching and research in exciting new directions, and that use our resources in the most efficient and effective ways possible. Since my own research and teaching interests concern history as much as literature, I've also long been a member of the American Society for Environmental History, and over the years I've come to see the ASEH as a kind of older sibling of ASLE, from whom we have much to learn. Founded in 1977, ASEH has gradually moved from biennial to annual conferences, held joint meetings with other organizations, turned its journal into a web-accessible quarterly, built an endowment of nearly $300K for awards and fellowships, and launched a new, interactive web site (beyond my technical abilities, alas). ASLE's Executive Council has already begun to pursue similar initiatives, and while we need not follow ASEH down every trail, I would like to see our organization develop a long-term		strategic plan that articulates a clear sense of our goals and the means by which we want to achieve them. I also want to ensure that ASLE continues both to reflect and shape the evolving conversation that is ecocriticism, and our 2009 conference at the University of Victoria provides the perfect setting in which to do so. ASLE was founded in the same year that the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed in Rio (1992), and as ASLE has grown, so too has our awareness of the impending climate crisis. ASLE's first conference outside the U.S. is the right place to address this issue, which has become the new context for our work: not only the subjects we address but also the ways in which we do so. In Spartanburg, Bill McKibben said that if we were going to travel, we should "make it count," and I agree. We can make it count by using the conference to further internationalize ecocriticism, with an eye toward seeing environmental literature as world literature. We can make it count by seriously engaging our colleagues in climate science, conservation biology, and renewable energy, with the aim of deepening understanding across disciplinary divides. And we can make it count by exploring more fully the relationship between environmental discourse and practice, so that all of us will be better equipped to address this most pressing of tasks. Thank you for considering me for this position. Executive Council Bette-B Bauer, College of St. Mary (Omaha NE) While attending the last two ASLE conferences, I was impressed by the involvement of so many people in making the events a success. It inspired me to want to participate more actively in our group. I returned to graduate school in midlife, studying with Louise Westling at the University of Oregon, when the beginnings of ASLE were stirring. I became a member in 2005, and it has been a unique pleasure to see the original idea of ASLE prospering in its current dynamic form. I have served as Chair of English at the College of Saint Mary for ten years. Next spring, I will be on sabbatical leave to work on completing a draft of my memoir, in which I am exploring the emotional and spiritual landscape of my life experiences in relation to place. My academic work is focused upon the representation of spirituality in literature, especially in regard to the human relationship with the natural world.



	Election Statements continued from page 9		Tom J. Hillard, Boise State University I feel as if I've been raised by ASLE: this unique and evolving organization has been my professional home for as long as I've been in academia. A member of the new generation of ASLE members, I've participated in the organization and its events since 1998, through the course of two graduate degrees and graduation to my current post of full-time professor. I first encountered ASLE in the Literature & Environment Program at the University of Nevada, Reno, where I earned an M.A. under the tutelage of ASLE's founders. Eight years later, I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Arizona, where I helped Joni Adamson organize the off-year ASLE symposium on Environmental Justice (Fall 2004) and had the good fortune to work closely with Annette Kolodny. Now I am an assistant professor at Boise State University and editor for the Boise State Western Writers Series. My academic interests include colonial and nineteenth-century American literature, nature writing, and the literary Gothic. In my scholarly work, I'm currently exploring the intersections between nature writing and the Gothic in early American literature, tracing the ways that fears of nature have evolved over the centuries. My name might be familiar to many of you because I've had the great pleasure of serving as one of ASLE's two Graduate Student Liaisons. In my two years as Liaison, I helped launch the ASLE Dissertations-in-Progress Database, and coordinated many of the graduate student-related events at the conference in South Carolina last summer. Even though I am no longer a grad student, I remain committed to the needs of graduate student members. ASLE has always been a vibrant and cutting-edge organization, in part because of the youth (in age and in spirit!) of its membership. If elected, I would work hard to ensure that ASLE continues to foster the intellectual community that's made it such a home to so many people. In the process, I'll do all I can to reinforce its reputation as a welcoming organization willing to explore new territories and listen to diverse voices and perspectives. Gretchen Legler, University of Maine, Farmington I have been an ASLE member since the organization's inception and have been impressed by both its amazing growth and its friendly, down-to-earth feelnot to mention the incredible scholarship, community, teaching, program-building and activism that it has inspired. As I'm sure is true for many of us, the organization has been absolutely essential to my growth as a writer and scholar. At least two professional milestones are ASLE-related: I was recently honored to receive the inaugural

	I appreciated the sessions at this year's conference that reached out beyond the walls of academe into rainforest canopies, and onto the ravaged streets of New Orleans. I am particularly interested in sustainable living in urban places as an important focus for ASLE. I also want to encourage more diversity in our organization, more outreach to non-traditional constituencies. I value the collaborative nature that ASLE promotes in its mission and its practice. Many of us are teachers, and so we are in a position to help the next generation envision a new map of inter-relatedness. Through the ASLE community, our individual strengths can be brought into a confluence of effort and ideas. I would feel privileged to serve ASLE as a steward of our mission on the Executive Council. Tina Gianquitto, Colorado School of Mines As a professor of literature and the environment at the Colorado School of Mines (where extractive industry is the name of the game), I often find it challenging to "teach in the trenches" as one friend put it at the ASLE Boston conference back in 2003. Over the years, I have found the fellowship of ASLE members to be an invaluable source of support and encouragement as I try to find ways to make nature and the environment relevant to engineering students. I would like now to give a little back to those who have given so much to me and to deepen my involvement with ASLE as a member of the Executive Council. I have been particularly impressed with the way that ASLE scholars have expanded their focus over the years to include an increased emphasis on community activism and more discussion of issues such as environmental justice (as witnessed, for instance, by the 2004 off-year conference on Globalization and the Environmental Justice Movement). I would like to help ASLE continue in these directions and perhaps suggest others, such as more connection with the engineering and science communities. My position at Mines has given me perhaps more insight than I want into the ways that "nature" is put to use. At the same time, I have also witnessed the valuable transformations that can occur as scientists and humanities scholars come together to deal with "big" issues like global warming, energy conservation, and environmental protection (writ large). My own scholarly work on the intersection of nature writing and scientific discourse has given me insight into the value of such collaborative efforts, and as a member of the Executive Council, I would be able to bring that perspective to the table.



	ASLE Award for Environmental Creative Writing and an early article in ISLE, "Toward a Post-modern Pastoral: The Erotic Landscape in the Work of Gretel Ehrlich," was my first academic publication. I find myself these days searching for new ways to put my values to work and I realize that, although I have served on the ISLE Advisory Board and in other minor roles in ASLE, I feel strongly that I want to be more fully engaged in the organization that has been so important to my scholarly and creative life. I live in the woods in Maine, where my partner Ruth and I own an 80-acre woodlot and small farm that includes gardens, chickens, and goats. I teach at the University of Maine at Farmington, where my classes have included composition, nonfiction literature, introduction to women's studies, and, primarily, workshops in creative nonfiction. My scholarly work has been in ecofeminism and women's literature about the natural world. My creative work includes On the Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station Antarctica (Milkweed Editions, 2005) and All the Powerful Invisible Things: A Sportswoman's Notebook (Seal Press, 1995). As an ASLE Executive Council member I would support excellence in efforts ASLE already has undertaken, including developing international chapters; supporting the creation of environmental studies programs that help connect the sciences and humanities in our academic institutions; encouraging relationships between environmental scholarship and activism; building diversity into the organization itself, and, of course, gathering us all together for wonderful conferences. Tonia Payne, Nassau Community College This is my third time throwing my (organic cotton/fair trade manufactured) hat into the ring to run for ASLE's executive council. That in itself should say something about how much I value this organization, and how serious I am about wanting to be more involved in helping it grow. I have been a member of ASLE since sometime in the last century, during my days as a graduate student, and I've been at the last four conferences, presenting papers, soaking in the relaxed atmosphere, and reveling in the exciting exchange of ideas that are ASLE's hallmark. Rochelle Johnson said that ASLE is her academic home, and since I can't improve on that, I just have to steal it: it's why I want to give back to this organization that has given me so much. We are fortunate to work in a field that is just beginning to identify itself, in all its glorious messiness, and I would be deeply honored to help in the growthand mundane operationof ecocriticism's flagship scholarly organization as we sort out what precisely we're doing and how best to go about doing it. Whatever issues may arise, whatever work		needs to be done by the executive council, I would be delighted to help handle in the spirit of warm collegiality that I have always found at ASLE and that is one of the best assets of our association. Susan Rosen, Anne Arundel Community College Once, there was a time before ASLE, a time when graduate students and faculty roamed their campuses in search of like-minded colleagues. I was one of those wandering graduate students who, in 1990, was drawn into a conversation at a WLA conference about ecocriticsm. Two years later, while sitting in a crowded room at another WLA conference, I witnessed the birth of ASLE and knew I had found my academic home. My work has always been grounded in a sense of place and community. I began my environmental community activism as a member of Protect Your Environment (PYE) raising funds for The Sloop Clearwater project. Currently I am a speaker for the Chesapeake Bay Foundationspending much of my time talking to local groups about the current environmental health of the watershed. In my scholarly work, I edited the anthology Shorewords: A Collection of American Women's Coastal Writings and have contributed chapters to various volumes including the upcoming Women Writing Nature: A Feminist View and American Nature Writers before 1900: Prose. I am in the process of editing a comprehensive anthology of Chesapeake Bay literature as well as writing a series of essays reflecting my childhood geography of Montauk, New York. As a professor of English and Women's Studies at Anne Arundel Community College, I have designed courses reflecting my concern for environmental issues and my love of literature: The Literature of the Chesapeake Bay, Place and (Dis)Placement and Altered Landscapes. More than half of America's college students attend two-year institutions, so as a community college professor representing this constituency, I believe I would bring a valuable perspective to the board. Much of my scholarly, creative and classroom work has come about, in one way or another, as a result of my membership in ASLE. I owe a tremendous debt to the members of this organization that I hope I can repay, in part, by serving on the Executive Council.



	Calls for Papers, Manuscripts, and Conferences If you would like to announce a call for papers or a conference of interest in an upcoming issue of ASLE News, please contact Donelle Dreese, Project and Professional Liaison Coordinator, at dreesed1@nku.edu or 859-572-6148.

	ASLE-AFFILIATED CONFERENCES: February 29, 2008. The Keyboard in the Garden: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Literature and Mediated Nature. 2008 ASLE off-year symposium, 27-29 June 2008, Delaware Valley College, Doylestown PA. We invite papers and panels relating to the conference theme, including but not limited to the following: Nature and design; Parks, both city and national; Gardens, whether formal, informal, or vegetable; Landscape design and designers (e.g. Frederick Law Olmsted); The garden as repository for scientific study (e.g. Bartram's Gardens); Botanical gardens; The garden as archetype; The garden as metaphor; The garden of earthly delights; Creative writing: fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Please submit a one-page proposal, including any audio-visual requests, to Richard Hunt (richard.hunt@delval.edu). We would also like to encourage pre-formed panels or roundtables on any aspect of the conference theme. Due both to the general idea of the off-year symposium and to the relatively small size of the college, the conference is limited to roughly 100 participants. On-campus housing for all participants will be available for the full conference. Keynote speaker is Annie Merrill Ingram. March 31, 2008. Sharp Eyes V: John Burroughs, Nature Writing and 19th-Century Science. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, June 15-19, 2008. Fifth in the John Burroughs Nature Writing Conference and Seminar Series. We will consider the effects on literature of some of the scientific revolutions of the nineteenth-century, such as biological evolution, the magnitude of geologic time and consequent interpretations about the history of the earth, and the emerging sense of the environmental limitations of the planet. Papers are delivered to plenary sessions of students, faculty, and visiting scholars. Topics could include: Burroughs in relation to Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, or Henri Bergson; the development of conservation organizations such as the Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Gardens, the Audubon Society, the Boone and Crockett Club, and the Sierra Club; Burroughs seen in the light of geology, biogeography, ornithology, forestry, or other scientific disciplines; Burroughs and his circle of friends, such as Walt Whitman, John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Frank Chapman, and Fairfield Osborn; Burroughs and science education; science in nineteenth-century periodicals; Burroughs and genres of travel writing, natural history, and scientific discourse. Papers on any aspect of Burroughs's life and career are also strongly encouraged. The conference will include a special session in the Vassar College Special Collections to view their extensive Burroughs collection. Send abstracts or proposals to Jeff Walker, Department of Earth Science and Geography, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. NY 12604. E-mail submissions should be sent as a MS Word attachment to jewalker@vassar.edu. July 1, 2008. Huracán: Environment, Histories, and Cultures of the Caribbean, Gulf Basin, and US South. University of South Florida St. Petersburg, February 6-8, 2009. High profile storms have redefined regional weather maps. Should weather maps be used to redraw cultural maps? This symposium suggests the figures of hurricanes and their paths to interpret cultures from Africa and the Caribbean to the Gulf Basin and US South. Huracán begins with a basic presupposition: regions hit by similar storm systems may share environmental and historical determinants. What patterns emerge when we examine a broader region across national or linguistic borders? The topic of the symposium is not necessarily hurricanes. Papers on individual storms will be considered, but these should situate events within broader contexts looking beyond those storms as solely felt or represented within the United States. We seek proposals that use storm paths or natural currents to help identify points of connection or difference across time and space. Our goal is to foster dialogue between scholars across historical periods, academic disciplines, languages, and geographic regions. All perspectives and manners of presentation are welcome. Possible topics may include (but are not limited to) the following: Economic, political and environmental histories; Migration patterns and flight paths; Discourses of the tropical and the exotic; Storm systems and oceanic currents; Revolution and resistance; Creole identity and diaspora; Foodways, music, literature; Circulation of people and culture. Please send abstracts with c.v. and a short cover letter to Martine Fernandes (martinef@stpt.usf.edu) or Thomas Hallock (thallock@stpt.usf.edu).



	Calls for Papers October 31, 2007. Poetic Ecologies: Nature as Text and Text as Nature in English-Language Verse, Université Libre de Bruxelles, May 14-17, 2008. This conference will explore the multiple and changing forms of ecological and ecocritical consciousness in English-language verse, past and present. We invite papers from all areas of the Anglophone world, from Canada to the Antipodes. Poetry will be given precedence over other genres, but papers devoted to texts breaking down the traditional boundaries between prose and verse or exploring poetry within the framework of multimedia experimentation (including digital and performance poetry) and theoretically-oriented papers are also welcome. Contributions from poets addressing the questions of ecological/ecocritical aesthetics and compositional practice are encouraged. A selection of papers will be published in conference proceedings. E-mail abstracts of approximately 250-300 words for papers with 20-minute readings times, together with a short biography, in RTF format to: Dr. Franca Bellarsi, Université Libre de Bruxelles (fbellars@ulb.ac.be). November 1, 2007. Re-exploring Canadian Space. Croningen, The Netherlands, November 26-28, 2008. The purpose of this international and multidisciplinary conference is to explore questions that will extend current knowledge and foster new ideas in the realm of contemporary debates and developments surrounding the idea of space in the Canadian studies context. How is Canadian space affected by global climate change, and vice versa? How is Canada's space protected and influenced by security issues? How are the redistribution of land and new perspectives on space related? How do the nation's multiple voices, such as those with ethnic or indigenous backgrounds, share Canada's space? How are cultural activities, filmic and literary connotations on space embraced in Canada? Send proposal (maximum 300 words in English or French and a short CV) to: Canadian Studies Centre, University of Groningen, Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 26, 9712 EK Groningen, The Netherlands or canstudy@rug.nl. Web info: www.rug.nl/let/canada. November 15, 2007. Canadian Ecocriticism: Histories, Taxonomies, Trajectories. University of British Columbia, May 31-June 3, 2008. Is there a distinctly Canadian form of ecocriticism? Does the field in Canada have a literary history and critical methodologies that differ significantly from the American mainstream of ecocriticism? How have Canadian ecocritics responded to Canadian literature? Can Canadian literary studies, as Laurie Ricou suggests, "be said to have always been ecocritical"? This panel invites papers that address the history of ecocriticism in Canada and its particular contributions to the global field of ecocriticism. Submit an electronic copy of a paper or proposal		(700 words), completed Proposal Submitter's Information Sheet (http://www.accute.ca/Conference.htm ), and a file containing a 100-word abstract and a 50-word bio-bibliographical note, to the conference organizers below. Electronic copies should be followed by paper copies sent by mail. See: http://www.accute.ca/Conference.htm#Procedures . Contact Nicholas Bradley (nbradley@uvic.ca) or Ella Soper-Jones (ella.soper.jones@utoronto.ca ). December 1, 2007. Thinking Through Nature: Philosophy for an Endangered World, University of Oregon, Eugene, June 19-22, 2008. The International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP) invites proposals for papers (20-minutes) and workshops (30-minutes) pertaining to all facets of environmental philosophy. Interdisciplinary approaches are especially welcome. Keynote speakers will include Donna Haraway, John Llewelyn, Gary Paul Nabhan, and Alberto Pérez-Gómez. Proposals for workshops should follow the same format as paper proposals. Preformed panels are encouraged and should include a proposal for each paper or workshop. Audiovisual requests must accompany the proposal. Send 1-2 page proposals for papers or workshops, including title, institutional affiliation, and contact information to Ted Toadvine (toadvine@uoregon.edu). December 15, 2007. The Ins and Outs of Ecology in Canada. University of Toulouse-Le Mirail, March 28-29, 2008. Organized by The Canadian Studies Center of the University of Toulouse-Le Mirail, France. The colloquium's participants will establish at the beginning a clear distinction between ecology proper, born of a biocentric holistic vision, and the anthropocentric impulse of environmentalism. Particular emphasis will be laid upon the Canadian approach to ecology, in its conception, manifestations, and diverse modes of representation. Send proposals to Michèle Kaltemback (kaltemba@univ-tlse2.fr) or Marcienne Rocard (rocard@univ-tlse2.fr). For more information: http://membres.lycos.fr/jadorin/ . January 10, 2008. Questions of Form in Environmental Writing and Ecocriticism. A session sponsored by ASLE for the American Literature Association, San Francisco, May 22-25, 2008. The organizer of the ASLE panel at ALA invites paper proposals on the above topic. The idea of form might apply to matters of language, style, voice, genre, convention, or rhetoric. Papers might address (but are not limited to) one or more of the following questions/issues: Does nature writing have a distinctive form? What are its characteristic elements? Why so much reliance on the first person? Why so much solitude? What stylistic or rhetorical approaches characterize nature writing? Why has ecocriticism seemed to privilege the non-fictional forms of "nature writing" at the expense of the more traditional "literary" genres of fiction, poetry, and drama? (Or has it?) Why has the literary canon seemed to privilege



				Conferences of Interest November 1-4, 2007. Society for Literature, Science and the Arts Twenty-First Annual Conference: CODE. Portland, Maine. Modern technologies are affording us more and more keys to unlock nature's code and more opportunities to manipulate it. The conference features two plenary sessions and twelve regular sessions with up to seven concurrent panels. For more information: http://www.slsa07.com/. December 6-8, 2007. In the Light of Evolution II: Biodiversity and Extinction. Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering in Irvine, California. An Arthur M. Sackler colloquium, sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences.Preliminary program can be viewed at www.nasonline.org. This colloquium seeks to synthesize recent discoveries and concepts regarding the global abundance and distribution of biodiversity, and to compare the biodiversity patterns to conditions in the near and distant evolutionary past, as well as to those plausible in the near-term future. Attendance limited to 250 individuals. Please register on the NAS website: http://www.nasonline.org/Sackler_biodiversity . January 4-5, 2008. Land, Culture and Knowledge Systems. The Third International Conference of the Organisation for Studies in Literature and Environment-India (OSLE-India) will be hosted by St. Ann's College for Women, Hyderabad. OSLE-India is a forum for promoting ecocriticism, especially in India and also in other Asian countries. This meeting will focus on the topic of land and the central role that ecocriticism plays in our understanding of human society, particularly such social issues as poverty, hunger, tribal displacement, and environmental destruction. For more information: annosle@yahoo.co.in or osleindia@gmail.com. March 18-22, 2008. Symposium on the Interface of Environmental Philosophy and Bioethics. This meeting of the International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE) will occur at the Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA) in Pasadena, California. The meeting will give environmental consideration to bioethical issues and the bioethical perspective on environmental issues. See http://www.apa-pacific.org/current/ . April 3-5, 2008. Politics and Propaganda: 29^th Annual Conference of the Nineteenth Century Studies Association. Florida International University, Miami, Florida. Keynote Speaker: Sally Mitchell, Emerita Professor of English and Women's Studies, Temple University. Includes a reception and tour at the Wolfsonian Museum-FIU, and a Biscayne Bay Boat Tour with local historian and scholar Dr. Paul George of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida. Registration and accommodation information available beginning November 1, 2007 at http://www.english.uwosh.edu/roth/ncsa/index.html .

	the traditional "literary" forms of fiction, poetry, and drama at the expense of the non-fictional forms of "nature writing"? What is the place of "narrative scholarship" in ecocriticism? Does ecocriticism lend itself more than other critical approaches to autobiographical approaches? How does (or might) the inherent interdisciplinarity of ecocriticism affect its mode of discourse? What is the place of metaphor in environmental writingand why are ecocritics suspicious of metaphor in particular and figurative language in general? What are the rhetorical aims and techniques of environmental writing and/or of ecocriticism? How do they seek to achieve those rhetorical aims? Send one-page proposals by January 10, 2008 to Ian Marshall at: ism2@psu.edu. January 19, 2008. Fifth Environmental Writers' Conference in honor of Rachel Carson. Boothbay Harbor, Maine, June 1013, 2008. Conference is limited to 100 participants. Featured speakers include Verlyn Klinkenborg, Alison Hawthorne Deming, John Elder, David Gessner, Linda Lear, and Jennifer Sahn. Papers presented will be eligible for inclusion in the Archives at the Thoreau Library at Walden Woods. Submit an abstract that represents a 15-minute reading or presentation, topics to include but not limited to: Nexus of science, literature and art; Nature in unlikely places; Sense of Wonder . . . Sense of Outrage!; Pre and post-colonial ecocriticism; Response to nature's degradation; Women, place and environment; The poetry of science; Nature and spirituality. For more information: http://www.new-cue.org or e-mail info@new-cue.org. Registration coordinator: Joe Doll, (317) 919-1419. July 10, 2008. The International Conference on Literature and the Environment. Wuhan, China, November 8-10, 2008. Organized by staff members from Foreign Literature Studies (an AHCI journal), Central China Normal University, in collaboration with staff members from Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, University of Nevada, Reno. Topics to include: literature reexamined from various ecocritical perspectives; construction / reconstruction of ecocritical theory; Chinese literature and the environment; literary writings (from any country) and environmental consciousness; ecocriticism, public consciousness, and social practice; and the political, economic and cultural dimensions of environmental protection. Official conference languages will be Chinese and English. For abstract submission, fee payment, and booking, please go to: http://www.flschina.net. The deadline for online procedures is July 10, 2008. Official letters of invitation will be sent upon receipt of paper abstracts. For further information, please contact Dr. Chen Hong at: Editorial Office, Foreign Literature Studies, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, China. Phone/Fax: 86-27-67866042, 86-13871387687.



			Calls for Manuscripts October 30, 2007. Literature, Science, and Ecocriticism: a Collection of Critical Articles. C.P. Snow predicts a new "third culture" emerging to close the intellectual gap between literary critics and scientists. E. O. Wilson identifies a trend he calls "consilience," the linkage of science and humanities to create insights into human endeavors; Lawrence Buell suggests that the "discourses of science and literature must be read both with and against each other." N. Katherine Hayles argues that narrative is at the heart of science and culture, and it is through literature that science enters the body politic. Poet Alison Deming believes that science and poetry are "kindred in their creative process." What is the "proper" relationship betweens humanities and science? Are humanists and scientists partners in the production of cultural knowledge? How can cultural critics theorize the relationship between humanities (especially literature) and science? What is the role of ecological criticism and ecocritics in this relationship? This critical collection seeks articles that explore the relationship between literature (and other humanities) and science in the past, present, and future. Possible topics for exploration include: the historical, aesthetic, and metaphorical relationship between literature and science; ecological criticism's role in bridging literature and science; single and comparative author studies; the "third culture" in literature and science; the human, transhuman, and posthuman in literature; poetry, fiction, and science studies; relationships among science, literature, gender, class, ethnicity, and power. Queries welcome. For consideration, submit a 1-2 page abstract by October 30, 2007 to editor Gioia Woods at: Gioia.Woods@nau.edu. November 30, 2007. Teaching the City. The editors of Transformations seek articles (5,000-10,000 words) and media reviews (books, film, video, performance, art, music, etc. of 3,000-5,000 words) that explore the city in a variety of pedagogical contexts and disciplinary perspectives: literature, women's and gender studies, urban studies, architecture, anthropology, folklore, history, psychology, art, photography, geography, religion, ethnic studies, cultural studies, science, music, etc. Essays must focus on pedagogical theory and/or praxis. Topics might include: teaching the city in K-12 and higher education; defining urban space; gendering the city; the history and interpretation of public space; globalization and the city; the politics of urban education; intersections of race, class, and gender in the city; economics and gentrification; environmental education; greening the city; community and cultural identity in the city; representations of the city in literature, visual, and popular culture; expressive forms and traditions; post-industrial transformations; im/migration and transnational labor; architecture and urban planning; building and
	April 4-6, 2008. The Evolution of Literature: Legacies of Darwin in European Cultures. The Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Durham, England. "Darwin's idea is a universal solvent, capable of cutting right to the heart of everything in sight". Literature too? This conference looks to apply the Darwinian model in earnest to the study of literature, and to ask complementary questions: how far, in the age after theory and after ideology, the "scientific" model of Darwinian evolution can illuminate what we know about the history, form and function of literature; and what images of the Darwinian idea have been refracted in the literary text from 1859 to the present. The conference will address the issues across the spectrum of major European literatures. Keynote speakers include David Amigoni, David Baguley and Patricia Waugh. For more information, contact conference organizers Simon J. James (s.j.james@durham.ac.uk) and Nicholas Saul (n.d.b.saul@dur.ac.uk). July 3-6, 2008. The Place of the City in Environmental History. 5th International Roundtable on Urban Environmental History, Berlin, Germany. Cities have always played an important role in the spread, abatement, and articulation of environmental problems. On the one hand, the historical growth of cities with its concentration of people, industrial production and built-up environments has caused widespread pollution, natural resource depletion, and loss of biodiversity. Yet, as centres of political decision-making, technological invention, scientific knowledge accumulation and social activism, cities have also given rise to innovative ways of engaging with the environment. How did that dual character of environmental pollution and protection manifest itself in the history of European cities? Furthermore, how has the study of urban environments contributed to our understanding of the historical relationship between humans and the natural world? This meeting will explore some of the overarching conceptual questions regarding the place of cities in environmental history. Rather than emphasizing local case studies, this conference wants to focus on the broader debates and movements that framed urban environmental history from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. For information, contact Christoph Bernhardt at: bernhardt@irs-net.de. August 3-8, 2008. ESA (Ecological Society of America) Annual Meeting 2008: Enhancing Ecological Thought by Linking Research and Education. Milwaukee, WI. The Society's Annual Meeting draws more than 3,000 professional ecologists from around the world to participate in scientific presentations, symposia, workshops, field trips, and a trade show. The 93^rd Annual Meeting's theme is "enhancing ecological thought by linking research and education." For more information on the Annual Meeting go to http://esa.org/milwaukee/.



			to swarming mosquitoes... While an animal's natural history may inform your story, facts should relate directly to "plot." We are looking for humor, pathos, the offbeat, bone-and-gristle, the smell of blood and the softness of fur. Several presses have expressed interest in this collection. To make it even more attractive to them, I am mostly after unpublished material (the odd magazine piece might be included). The publishers are asking for samples; if you have a story polished and ready to go, feel free to send it to me. For more information or to submit, contact Michael Engelhard (nedludinmoab@yahoo.com). January 14, 2008. Special Issue of MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States We invite submissions of articles for a special issue of MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States that explore the intersections of ethnic studies with literature and environment studies or ecocriticism. These essays might explore a wide range of literary arts including literature, drama, street theater, etc. Submissions for this special issue will build upon the rich body of previously published workranging from monographs to anthologiesexploring the contributions of Native Americans, African Americans, Latina(o)s/Mexicana(o)s, Asian and Pacific Americans, and writers of other ethnic backgrounds to environmental consciousness and to the fields of environmental literature and ecocriticism. We seek original essays that draw on methodologies and materials from a number of disciplines, including, but not limited to: literary, cultural, and feminist studies, multi-ethnic studies, transnational studies, environmental studies, and/or urban studies. The most desirable essays will be between 5,000 and 7,500 words, including notes and works cited. Please include a cover page or a cover letter that lists your name, university affiliation, and full contact information. For further details, contact the guest editors of this issue: Joni Adamson (Joni.Adamson@asu.edu) and Scott Slovic (slovic@unr.edu). February 15, 2008. The Fourth River (a creative writing journal). The Fourth River welcomes submissions of creative writing that explore the relationship between humans their environments, both natural and built, urban, rural or wild. We are looking for writings that are richly situated at the confluence of place, space and identity, or that reflect upon or make use of landscape and place in new ways. Nature and environmental writing that is edgy and provocative, that goes beyond traditional nature writing, and contributes to a new type of place-based writing has the best chance of finding a home in our journal. Send submissions to: Sheryl St. Germain, Executive Editor, The Fourth River, Chatham University, Woodland Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 15224.
	re-building cities, public history in/and the city; urban geography; urban sexualities, health and the city. Send a hard copy in MLA format (6th ed.) and a 250-word abstract to: Jacqueline Ellis and Edvige Giunta, Editors, Transformations, New Jersey City University, Hepburn Hall Room 309, 2039 Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ 07305; or email submissions and inquiries to: transformations@njcu.edu. Email submissions should be sent as attachments in MS Word or Rich Text format. For submission guidelines, visit: www.njcu.edu/assoc/transformations . December 15, 2007. Tales for the Trail: The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader (tentative title). The editors of a new anthology on the Pacific Crest Trail are looking for submissions. This two-volume anthology will collect short excerpts from classic works of regional environmental writing as well as real stories from those who have hiked on the PCT. Volume 1 will focus on the California section of the PCT, while Volume 2 will cover both the Oregon and Washington sections of the Trail. We are looking for both nonfiction writing and original art or photography for both volumes. We welcome submissions from previously published authors as well as unpublished writing by hikers, and trail-journal-writers. We are looking for stories taken from hiking the trail itself, and also looking for essays that are slightly more informative, covering such topics as: common trailside edible and medicinal plants, how to identify other native plant species, or common birds and other wildlife of the crest region. Black and white photographs and line drawings have the best chance of inclusion as artwork, and all work should be original and previously unpublished. Contact Rees Hughes (rrh1@humboldt.edu) regarding creative nonfiction pieces, Corey Lewis (cll35@humboldt.edu) regarding informative essays and artwork. January 1, 2008. Canadian & Alaskan Animal Nonfiction Anthology. Soliciting creative nonfiction submissions about encounters with Canada's and Alaska's wildlife. Thousands of tourists visit theNorth each year, drawn perhaps more by the possibility of seeing whales, eagles, or bears than by glaciers, gold mines, or Denali. Run-ins with wildlifewhether in urban or backcountry settingsrupture our daily routines. They delight or dismay but hardly ever leave us unmoved. Occasionally, denizens of the wilds cast subtle spells. They rarefy the moment, prompt lasting memories, reveal our true natures, or at best, transform us. We cherish these chance meetings and shape them into stories that remind us of our heritage, our connections, our responsibilities. We encourage you to think and write outside the box: Alaska is home to more than whales, eagles, and bearsthe iconic speciesalthough there is room for a few good yarns about those animals as well. Anything can be game to be stalked with your pen: from trapped wolves to trespassing moose, from dive-bombing seagulls



	ASLE News Notes ASLE in Your Own Backyard Interested in hosting the ASLE biennial conference in 2011 or 2013? Want to propose an off-year symposium? ASLE wants to hear from you! Please consult the "Guidelines for Conference Proposals" on the ASLE website and submit your proposal. Any individual interested in submitting a proposal for the 2009 conference should send an application to Rochelle Johnson (rjohnson@albertson.edu). Graduate Student Liaison Are you a graduate student member of ASLE? Help shape the future of the organization by applying for the position of graduate student liaison. Candidates should send their applications (see page 3 for more information) by November 1 to Karla Armbruster (armbruka@webster.edu). ASLE Emeritus ASLE News honors those ASLE members retired or retiring from teaching. If you would like to acknowledge someone in this new featureor if you yourself will be retiring during the coming academic yearplease contact Kathryn Miles (kmiles@unity.edu). We will include a brief account of scholarly interests, the institutions of employment and years taught in the next newsletter. ASLE PhDs Beginning this spring, ASLE News will include announcements commemorating those members who have recently completed their doctoral work. If you have recently defended a dissertation and would like to be included in this new feature, please contact Kathryn Miles (kmiles@unity.edu) with the dissertation title, degree-granting institution, and committee members. Bylaws Change The Executive Committee voted this fall to add a standing budget committee to the formal structure of the organization, in order to assist the managing director with financial oversight. The exact language of this change to the bylaws (Article 7.2) can be found on our website at: http://www.asle.umn.edu/about/bylaws.html .		Prelude to a Blog: Waiting in Blackbird Station I am standing at the Uptown 1 platform at Penn Station, on my way to work. As I wait for a train to arrive, I discover "A Bird's Life," a series of ceramic tiles by Elizabeth Grajales (see it at http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?34055 ). The tiles depict a blackbird, or maybe a crow, flying toward shelter and companionshipa fellow commuter. This is hardly the only station in New York to host visual art, but the other platforms tend toward the fantastic and the antique, like 50^th Street's Alice in Wonderland theme or the Byzantine mosaics at 66^th Street. Here at Penn we get a touch of the wild buried underneath some of the most hyperdeveloped land on the planet: midtown Manhattan. I wonder what my students think of it. I haven't the slightest idea how to approach this blackbird as a teacher. (In my head, I hear Bones McCoy, of the original Star Trek, saying "Dammit, Jim, I'm an ecocritic, not an art historian.") That's why I helped found Planetary: Teaching the Environmental Humanities, a new community blog that can be found at http://planetaryblog.wordpress.com . Unlike the online diary or soapbox, community blogs are meant for groups of writers working on common issues and problems. Planetary is intended to promote the discussion of teaching, and the sharing of pedagogical materials, among humanists and our allies as we confront environmental issues. I and my co-editorsKristen Abbey of Felician College, Rick Anderson of Rutgers University, and Priscilla Solis Ybarra of Texas Techhope to attract an interdisciplinary, polyglot, and international group of readers and writers, including every last member of ASLE, but also people who have never heard of ecocriticism. Students and artists, scientists and citizens. As I tell my classes, the last time humanity faced a planetary environmental crisis, there was a lot of ice, but no writing. Maybe this time around, the blogosphere can help the biosphere. At least I'll learn a different way of looking at a blackbird. Everyone is welcome to read and comment on posts at Planetary, which can be done without joining the blog as a member, but you are especially encouraged to become an author of your own posts. You are free to write as little or as much as you like. We hope that panelists who discuss environmental pedagogies at conferences will consider posting their papers and related materials. Planetary asserts no copyright over work appearing on the blog, and the editors follow the Creative Commons standards of attribution and distribution (www.creativecommons.org). If you are interested in joining the Planetary community as an author, please contact me at alioi@juilliard.edu. We look forward to seeing you in the virtual world. Anthony Lioi



	Calls for Nominations for Awards November 2, 2007. NCSA Emerging Scholars Award. The Nineteenth Century Studies Association recognizes an outstanding article or essay published within five years of the author's doctorate. Entries can be from any discipline focusing on any aspect of the long 19th century (the French Revolution to World War I), must be published in English or be accompanied by an English translation, and must be by a single author. The winner will receive $500 to be presented at the following annual meeting of the NCSA. Prize recipients need not be members of the NCSA, but are encouraged to attend the conference to receive the award. Eligibility entrants must be within five years of having received a doctorate or other terminal professional degree, and must have less than seven years of experience either in an academic career, or as a post-terminal-degree independent scholar or practicing professional. Articles published in any scholarly journals, including on-line journals, or in edited volumes of essays are eligible. Articles submitted to the NCSA Article Prize are ineligible for the Emerging Scholars Award (see below). Only articles physically published between September 1, 2006 and August 31, 2007 (even if the citation date of the journal is different) are eligible for the 2008 award. An article can be submitted by an author or by the publisher or editor of a journal or essay collection. Applicants may submit more than one article for this award. The winning article will be selected by a committee representing diverse disciplines. Send three off-prints or photocopies to: Maria K. Bachman, Department of English, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC 29528-6054; mbachman@coastal.edu. November 15, 2007. NCSA 2008 Article Prize. The Nineteenth Century Studies Association (NCSA) is pleased to announce the 2008 Article Prize, which recognizes excellence in scholarly studies from any discipline focusing on any aspect of the long 19th century (French Revolution to World War I). The winner will receive a cash award of $500 to be presented at the annual meeting of NCSA hosted this year by Florida International University, Miami, FL, April 3-5, 2008. Articles published between September 1, 2006 and August 31, 2007 are eligible for consideration for the 2008 prize and may be submitted by the author or the publisher of a journal, anthology, or volume containing independent essays. Submission of interdisciplinary studies is especially encouraged. The winning article will be selected by a committee of nineteenth-century scholars representing diverse disciplines. Applicants must document the date of actual publication by providing a letter from the editor of the journal or anthology in which the article appeared. Applicants should provide an email address so that receipt of their submissions may be acknowledged. One entry per scholar and three per publisher are allowed annually; those who submit entries are asked to note the interdisciplinary focus of the prize. Essays written in part or in whole in a language other than English must be accompanied by English translations. Send three copies of published articles/essays to the chair: Professor Joan DelPlato, Department of Art History, Simon's Rock College of Bard, 84 Alford Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230. Send questions to: delplato@simons-rock.edu.



	ASLE Bookshelf The following works were recently published by ASLE members. If we've missed your publication, please send bibliographic information to Kathryn Miles at kmiles@unity.edu.						Dungy, Camille. What to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave for Poison. Granada Hills, CA : Red Hen Press, 2006. Melendez, Maria. How Long She'll Last in This World. Tucson: University of Arizona P, 2006. Nirmaldasan, Nirmal Selvamony and Rayson K. Alex, eds. Essays in Ecocriticism. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2007. Pyle, Robert Michael. Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007. Root, Robert (ed. and introduction). Landscapes With Figures: The Nonfiction of Place. Lincoln: University of Nebraska P, 2007. Taylor, David. Ginseng, the Divine Root: The Curious History of the Plant That Captivated the World. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2006. Treat, James, ed. Writing the Cross Culture: Native Fiction on the White Man's Religion. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2006.

	Bellanca, Mary Ellen. Under the Sign of Nature: Explorations in Ecocriticism. Charlottesville: University of Virginia P, 2007. Boschert, Sherry. Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America. Gabriola Island, BC : New Society Publishers, 2006. Cox, John D., Traveling South. Athens: University of Georgia P, 2005. Cranston, CA and Robert Zeller, eds. The Littoral Zone: Australian Contexts and their Writers. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007. Cummins, Ann. Yellowcake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007. Dickinson, Adam. Kingdom, Phylum. London, Ontario: Brick Books, 2006.


	With your support, ASLE publishes a biannual journal (ISLE), a newsletter, and a membership directory, sponsors regular symposia, and hosts a conference every other year. Much of this work is accomplished through your membership contributions and the members who volunteer their time to serve the organization. Your contributions support ASLE's operating costs If you consider the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment to be one of your primary intellectual and creative homes, please consider joining your friends and colleagues listed here by giving at the Sustaining ($100+) or Patron ($150+) level.

	Sustaining Members						Patron Members

	Anonymous Michael P. Branch Di Brandt Katherine R. Chandler Laird Christensen J. Gerard Dollar Linda Dellens John Felstiner Ann Fisher-Wirth Ellen Goldey Ursula K. Heise Richard Hunt Rochelle Johnson John Knott John Lane & Betsy Teter Ian Marshall		Allen K. Mears Ashton Nichols Mary DeJong Obuchowski Carmen Pearson Deidre Pike John Sitter Lisa & Elizabeth Slappey William Stott, III Bill Stowe William Stroup H. Lewis Ulman Allison B. Wallace Kathleen R. Wallace Monica Weis, SSJ Louise Westling					Tom Bailey Neil Browne Terrell Dixon Cheryll Glotfelty Annie & Randy Ingram Mark C. Long Mark Lussier Cate Mortimer-Sandilands Priscilla Paton Jeri Pollock Jim Warren & Julianne Lutz Warren Richard Wiebe