Gretel Ehrlich
Gretel Ehrlich
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Gretel Ehrlich is an American author, poet, and environmentalist.
Birth and Death Dates
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Born on March 23, 1943. Still active in her writing career.
Nationality and Profession(s)
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American author, poet, and environmentalist.
Early Life and Background
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Gretel Ehrlich was born in New York City to a family of artists. Her father, Oskar Ehrlich, was an Austrian-born painter, while her mother, Grete Schiller, was a German-born dancer and choreographer. Growing up amidst the vibrant art scene of 1940s New York City, Ehrlich developed a deep appreciation for creative expression.
Major Accomplishments
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Gretel Ehrlich's writing career spans over four decades, with numerous publications across various genres. Her work has been featured in prominent literary magazines and journals, including The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, and Outside magazine. Some of her notable works include:
"The Solace of Open Spaces": A memoir that explores Ehrlich's experiences as a rancher in Wyoming.
"This Cold Heaven: Seven More Years in Greenland": A non-fiction account of her time spent in Greenland, where she worked with the Inuit people and observed the effects of climate change.
Notable Works or Actions
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In addition to her literary achievements, Ehrlich has also been involved in various environmental initiatives. She co-founded the Tetra Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting environmental awareness and sustainability.
Impact and Legacy
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Gretel Ehrlich's work has had a profound impact on readers worldwide. Her writing often explores themes of identity, place, and the human relationship with nature. Through her experiences as a rancher in Wyoming and her time spent in Greenland, she offers a unique perspective on the challenges facing our planet.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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Gretel Ehrlich's writing is widely quoted and remembered due to its accessibility, depth, and timeliness. Her ability to weave together personal narrative, cultural observation, and environmental commentary has made her one of the most respected voices in contemporary literature.
As a testament to her enduring impact, Gretel Ehrlich continues to inspire new generations of writers, artists, and activists working towards a more sustainable future.
Quotes by Gretel Ehrlich
Gretel Ehrlich's insights on:
That’s how summer is: no past or future but all present tense, long twilights like vandals, breaking into new days.
In Greenland there is no ownership of land. What you own is your house, your dogs, your sleds and kayaks. Everyone is fed. It is a food-sharing society in which the whole population is kept in mind – the widows, elderly, infirm, and ill are always taken care of. Jens said, “We weren’t born to buy and sell, but to be out on the ice with our families.
Lately I’ve had to redefine the word “knowledge” to a knowledge that cannot know anything. I’m dealing not in careless absurdities here but in the way material reality is unobservable and implicit order can be found in paradox. Perhaps despair is the only human sin. Who am I to feel disappointment? Is a bird disappointed in the sky.
Everything in your world has vanished. You have no money, no job, and no hope of finding one. That’s how it is for thousands of people here. Please don’t forget that feeling.
All through autumn we hear a double voice: one says everything is ripe; the other says everything is dying. The paradox is exquisite. We feel what the Japanese call “aware” – an almost untranslatable word meaning something like “beauty tinged with sadness.
My parents, who are older, think they don’t have to be careful, so they eat the most contaminated fish in hopes that the less contaminated fish will be there for younger people.
So much has broken away already, there is nothing to drink but air, nothing left to walk on but water, yet the fasting heart grows full.
The mind swims laps, memory is cantilevered over genetic turmoil, and the writing goes on as if from unseen instruction, silencing, cleaving, and destabilizing words and thoughts, while the “hum” in me, the human, pushes fragments into the semblance of story.
Now what looks like smoke is only mare’s tails – clouds streaming – and as the season changes, my young dog and I wonder if raindrops might not be shattered lightning.
Everything is moving, but there’s so much we can’t see: how thought comes into being; how grasses and trees connect; how animals know weather, experience pleasure and love; how what’s under the soil, the deep microbial empire, can hold twenty billion tons of carbon in its hands.