“Original sin, the true original sin, is the blind destruction for the sake of greed of this natural paradise which lies all around us–if only we were worthy of it.” (208) “We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis.” (162) Desert Solitaire (1968) by Edward Abbey is one of those classic environmental books that I’ve heard about for years but never got around to reading. […]