Coming Full Circle follows a multi-generational family across America and back again in an entertaining story that shines a light on the origins of the current conservation crises. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

As a lifelong wildlife ecologist and conservationist, I’ve always been both offput and discouraged by the still far too prevalent notion that humans have a “biblical right” to exert dominion over all creatures of the natural world. Over the course of 15 years, I wrote “Coming Full Circle (CFC)” to emphasize the exact opposite of this misguided thought. Heavily relying on the knowledge I gained and experiences I had throughout my career, my goal with CFC was to set the record straight and—in the process—bring readers to the understanding that we have always been “part of” and not “apart from” our natural world.

Also, “Coming Full Circle” is a fiction sequel to our 2016 non-fiction book, “Protecting the Planet”, in that it reaches the same positive conclusions about solving our twin ecological dilemmas of climate change and biodiversity loss. The main difference is that CFC uses an informative and entertaining blend of historical fiction and poignant truths to tell the story of how we “progressed” from colonial times to our current precipice of environmental disasters.

Your characters are intriguing and well-developed. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

Thank you! Many of the characters in “Coming Full Circle” are derived from my personal learnings and experiences as a field ecologist and freelance natural history writer/photographer. My co-author and daughter, Mariah Tinger, also used her personal experiences as a career environmental scientist to craft some of the book’s characters.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

In “Coming Full Circle”, life is represented as a circle because it is a constant loop. The idea of life as a circle exists across multiple religions and philosophies. This belief was prevalent throughout the early Indigenous Peoples of Earth. Unfortunately—owing to what some may term “progress”—this fervent belief in the circle of life is much less common in today’s world.

On the U.S. history side of the ledger, no group has ever been more disrespected and abused than our Native American tribes. Most valued all species as equals and managed their lands not just in sustainable ways, but in ways that enhanced the flourishing of ecosystems. Yet they lost both their ancestral lands and their cultural societies to colonial settlement.

Throughout CFC, Mariah and I emphasize our lifelong beliefs in the sanctity and equality of all living things—both human and non-human. Our belief system encompasses all races, religions, cultures, and lifestyles—but especially those of the Indigenous—or Native—Peoples of the world.

Since the environmental “regulatory heydays” of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, we have seen numerous and significant improvements in the local quality of our air and water. Now we must realize that this fight is far from over and we have to expand our threat level to preserving the long-tern quality of human life on Earth. It is now time to transform our world from the “Industrial Revolution” to the “Renewables Revolution”.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

Right now, I’m concentrating on producing an array of blogs that correlate to my existing books. Produced through WordPress, my blog posts are categorized as:
• https://environmentalheroes.blog
• https://thisbirdinglife.blog
• https://opedpieces.blog
• https://climatechangesolutions.blog

Meanwhile, Mariah is busy teaching sustainability courses at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and obtaining her Ph.D. in environmental/climate communication from Otago University in New Zealand.

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Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/12/31/our-current-precipice-of-environmental-disasters/