Marc Reisner facts for kids
Marc Reisner (born September 14, 1948 – died July 21, 2000) was an American writer and environmentalist. He is most famous for his book Cadillac Desert. This book tells the story of how water has been managed in the American West.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Marc Reisner was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father was a lawyer, and his mother was a scriptwriter. He finished college at Earlham College in 1970.
Working for the Environment
After college, Marc Reisner worked for groups like Environmental Action. He also worked for the Population Institute in Washington, D.C. Starting in 1972, he spent seven years at the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York. There, he was a writer and helped with communications.
Writing About Water
In 1979, Marc Reisner received a special writing award. This award helped him research and write his most famous book, Cadillac Desert. The book was first published in 1986.
About Cadillac Desert
Cadillac Desert explains why saving water is so important in the American West. The book was praised for making complex "water wars" easy to understand. These "water wars" are disputes over water that have happened in the West. The book was a finalist for two major awards in 1986. Later, in 1999, it was named one of the top 100 non-fiction books of the 20th century.
From Book to TV Show
Cadillac Desert was also made into a TV documentary series. It first aired on PBS in 1997. The series won an award from Columbia University. Marc Reisner also helped create another PBS show in 1997. This show focused on how people built dams to manage water. He was also interviewed in a 1996 PBS series called The West.
In 1997, he wrote a paper for the American Farmland Trust. It discussed water rules and how to protect farmland.
Helping Rivers and Fish
Before he passed away, Marc Reisner won an award to help Pacific salmon. He supported removing dams to restore the places where these fish live.
Promoting Green Ideas
Reisner also worked to promote sustainable farming and eco-friendly businesses. In 1990, he helped start the Ricelands Habitat Partnership. This program worked with The Nature Conservancy. It helped create better homes for waterfowl on California farms. It also reduced pollution by flooding rice fields in winter instead of burning the rice straw.
He also helped California rice farmers create green products from pressed rice straw. Another project he joined promoted saving water. This was done by moving water and storing it underground.
Teaching About Cities and Nature
For a time, Marc Reisner was a visiting professor at the University of California at Davis. He taught about how cities grow and how that affects the environment.
His Final Years
Marc Reisner died from colon cancer on July 21, 2000. He passed away at his home in San Anselmo, California. He was survived by his wife, Lawrie Mott, and their two daughters, Ruthie and Margot. His last book, A Dangerous Place, was finished before he died. It was published in 2003.
Books by Marc Reisner
- Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water (1986, revised 1993). ISBN: 0-14-017824-4
- Overtapped Oasis: Reform or Revolution for Western Water (with Sarah Bates) (1990). ISBN: 0-933280-75-0
- Game Wars: The Undercover Pursuit of Wildlife Poachers (1992). ISBN: 0-436-41053-2
- A Dangerous Place: California's Unsettling Fate (2003). ISBN: 0-14-200383-2
