Science journalist Lorraine Boissoneault's outstanding memoir in essays, Body Weather, draws eloquent parallels between chronic illnesses and aspects of climate breakdown.
The 15 linked essays are divided into thematic trios that illuminate "the similarities between meteorology and medicine." Autoimmune conditions run in Boissoneault's family, but she also wonders whether water pollution near her hometown of Toledo, Ohio, might have something to do with it. Thyroid problems (Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease) prevent her body from regulating its temperature. Visiting Death Valley for the biannual count of the endangered Devils Hole pupfish, Boissoneault (The Last Voyageurs) realizes how many species face extinction if temperatures continue rising. She fears the increased frequency of storms at the same time that heart arrhythmias make her feel she can't trust her body.
Flooding and endometriosis, landslides and celiac disease, wildfires and inflammatory arthritis: the correspondences are striking. Boissoneault's metaphorical connections are convincing, and she augments her experiences with scientific research and statistics she gleaned as an editor for Weather.com. Many will relate--if not to her specific ailments, roller coaster of treatment attempts, and encounters with misogynistic doctors, then to the difficulty of living with risk and uncertainty. This is a political as well as a personal text, drawing attention to health-care inequalities and how governments and corporations emphasize individuals' responsibility (BP invented the term "carbon footprint") in an attempt to distract from their inaction and misconduct.
This forthright account of being "in a sick body on a sickening planet" is recommended to readers of Elizabeth Kolbert and Terry Tempest Williams. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader, and blogger at Bookish Beck