How the environmental disaster underground is taking place in our own backyards--and how we can fix it. From an award-winning science writer, geologist, and researcher.
As everyday life goes on, fallout from what seem like distant crises--the floods, the wildfires, the toxic spills--is poisoning the soil and water underneath neighborhoods and farms and cities at home and around the world. This is the urgent message delivered in
Buried, a book that is deeply informed, deeply personal, harrowing, but never without hope. Geologist, field researcher, and outdoor guru Ruby McConnell pursues the larger story of widespread hidden contamination through the experience of the places she knows best, in Oregon.
Drawing on her years working directly on cleanup sites, the author takes readers into the underground world where leaking infrastructure, toxic industrial sites, and abandoned facilities spread chemicals through soils and aquifers everywhere. These contaminants, in turn, are linked to unsafe drinking water, failing crops, cancer clusters, biodiversity decline, and deepening environmental injustice.
McConnell's real-world experience and vivid storytelling bring this buried, ongoing disaster to the surface in a powerful, accessible way. As PFAS contamination, fracking byproducts, and dwindling clean-water reserves force public awareness, her book offers clarity and urgency, along with pathways toward realistic solutions. Part investigation, part narrative journey, and part call to action,
Buried shows why understanding what lies beneath our feet is essential to building a healthier and more resilient future on a global scale.
地下正在發生的環境災難，如何就在我們自家後院逐步蔓延——以及我們如何修復它。
作者是一位屢獲殊榮的科普作家、地質學家與研究者。
當日常生活持續運轉時，那些看似遙遠危機的後果——洪水、野火、毒性物質洩漏——正污染著我們家園與世界各地社區、農場及城市地下的土壤與水源。這正是《Buried》要傳達的迫切訊息。這本書內容扎實、情感深刻、令人心悸，卻始終不失希望。身為地質學家、野外研究者與戶外活動專家，Ruby McConnell 以她最熟悉的地方——Oregon——的經驗為切入點，探究這場廣泛而隱蔽的污染背後更大的故事。
作者多年來親自參與污染清理場址的工作，帶領讀者深入地下世界：基礎設施的洩漏、有毒工業場址與遭廢棄的設施，正將化學物質散播到各地的土壤與地下含水層中。這些污染物進而與不安全的飲用水、農作物歉收、癌症聚集事件、生物多樣性下降，以及日益嚴重的環境不正義相互關聯。
McConnell 以真實世界的經驗與生動的敘事，將這場埋藏於地下、仍持續發生的災難，以強而有力且易於理解的方式帶到人們眼前。隨著 PFAS 污染、壓裂法副產品，以及日益減少的潔淨水資源迫使社會提高警覺，她的著作在帶來清晰觀點與迫切感的同時，也提出了務實可行的解決途徑。《Buried》兼具調查報導、敘事旅程與行動呼籲，說明為何理解腳下所埋藏的一切，對於在全球尺度上建立更健康、更具韌性的未來至關重要。
Ruby McConnell is a writer, geologist, and environmental advocate whose award-winning work has appeared in Ms. Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and High Country News. She is the author of Wilderness and the American Spirit and the outdoor series A Woman's Guide to the Wild and A Girl's Guide to the Wild, as well as the essay collection Ground Truth, which was a finalist for an Oregon Book Award.
