"Destinations" takes a journalistic approach, befitting its authors' backgrounds in newspaper and magazine writing. Lisagor said the idea came when she and Hansen, a former classmate at the University of California at Berkeley, were discussing Patricia Schultz's book "1,000 Places to See Before You Die."
"It had just come out, and we were talking about how hard it is to get green ideas into the mainstream travel media," Lisagor said. "Heather blurted out, 'How about 1,000 places to see before they die.' Once the idea was out there we couldn't put it down."
Each destination is a chapter unto itself, with the story told from the perspective of locals and others, from activists and entrepreneurs to scientists and government officials.
The only New England site included is Casco Bay in Maine, told through the eyes of Gene Willard, an eighth-generation mariner, ferry captain, and owner of a water-taxi service. The bay was first harmed by industrial polluters, who left a mess that has largely been cleared up. But now development and the ensuing infrastructure are taking a toll, Lisagor said.
Lisagor is concerned by the trend that exhorts travelers to "see it before it's too late." "What we're doing is taking it one step further," she said. "See it, learn about it, and do whatever you can to stop it."
Another recent release on vanishing destinations is "Disappearing World: 101 of the Earth's Most Extraordinary and Endangered Places" by Alonzo C. Addison (HarperCollins, 272 pp., illustrated, $34.95). This coffee table book relies largely on photographs and factoids to tell its story, and focuses on threatened World Heritage Sites. Some of those are cultural, such as Stonehenge and Machu Picchu, while others are natural, including the Florida Everglades and the Central African Republic's Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park, the largest protected savannah in that region.
Although this beautifully illustrated book might seem to invite travelers to visit these fading sights, thereby causing potential harm, it also cautions on the dangers of unsustainable tourism, climate change, pollution, natural disasters, development, and war.
