Different Styles of Writing on the Destruction of Our Environment

I try to minimize the use of sarcasm in my observations about the perils our civilization faces vis-a-vis the decay of our environment and the horrific apathy with which our society addresses the challenge. It’s not that being snide and sardonic has no place in writing; maybe my reluctance lies in the fact that I’m not particularly talented at it.  

I’m reminded of this by a reference to novelist Margaret Drabble, who, according to the Writer’s Almanac, earned a reputation as a chronicler of contemporary England. In her novel A Natural Curiosity (1989), one character says: “England’s not a bad country. It’s just a mean, cold, ugly, divided, tired, clapped-out post-imperial post-industrial slag-heap covered in polystyrene hamburger cartons. It’s not a bad country at all. I love it.”

Doesn’t get much better than that.