Elkhorn Slough
Estuary / wildlife reserve in Moss Landing, Monterey County, California (south of Santa Cruz). Part of California (Literary).
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to Do Nothing — Reader’s Companion | Jenny Odell | turning point | Odell drives from her cabin to the reserve after hearing a radio report of cyclones elsewhere. |
How to Do Nothing — Jenny Odell (2019)
Source: How to Do Nothing — Reader’s Companion · How to Do Nothing · Readwise highlight
All of a sudden, as I rounded a turn, part of the slough came into view.
- Role: turning point
- In the book: Odell drives from her cabin to the reserve after hearing a radio report of cyclones elsewhere. Rounding a turn she sees the slough and its huge flocks of birds, and starts crying. She realizes that her wish to preserve the place is also self-preservation, that her fate is linked to the places and beings around her.
- Why it matters: It is the emotional climax of the final chapter: the epiphany that attention to place becomes love and responsibility, and the reason she looks at her phone less. A different habitat would change the imagery but the slough’s ‘lack of progress’ meaning and its biological productivity are part of the argument.