Hello group,
Enjoyed our meeting--a good discussion of various articles. Thanks to Barb and Jason for providing them! We asked them to send more along from time to time when really good ones show up. It was a nice change of pace. The Economist articles gave an expert international view of governmental and economic policies on climate issues. Yes magazine gave a more philosophical and wholistic view of activism that was strikingly in sync with Doughnut Economics.
Next month’s selection is the Bill Gates book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, on May 5th. We might read Braiding Sweetgrass at a later date—Linda’s going to check it out. We began to discuss other options for future selections but time was up.
Here’s a list of possibilities, but of course feel free to add. I do tend to really enjoy books about specific solutions and actions that are being taken—such as Eat Like a Fish or Grassroots Rising. And maybe we should watch and discuss a documentary? Yes Magazine had an article related to "Rights of Nature/ Invisible Hand" produced by Mark Ruffalo (yes, the Hulk). It is proving a little tricky to access, but soon may be openly available.
1) Eat for the Planet: Saving the World One Bite at a Time by Gene Stone and Nil Zacharias 2018, 160 pp. "The industrialized food system as primary driver of climate change. Covers seven key issues—land, water, food, energy, pollution, deforestation, and species extinction." Lots of infographics and new research.
2) Under a White Sky: the Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert 2021, 256 pp. Acclaimed author of the Sixth Extinction. Past human intervention has gotten us where we are, the jury’s still out on whether future human intervention will help or harm the planet further. With humor and deep research, a globe-spanning look at the "human hubris and imagination" seen in climate projects.
3) The New Climate War: the Fight to Take Back Our Planet by Michael E. Mann 2021, 368 pp. (Of hockey stick graph fame). First-hand history of the environmental movement and its fossil-fuel opponents. “Field guide for addressing climate change” with psychology, politics, the media, "highest-leverage countertactics and solutions."
4) Our Final Warning: 6 Degrees of Climate Emergency by Mark Lynas 2020, 384 pp. “Paints a chilling degree-by-degree picture of the devastation likely to ensue unless we act now.” (Is pro-nuclear energy and GM crops)
5) How to Prepare for Climate Change: a Practical Guide for Surviving the Chaos by David Pogue 2021, 624 pp. Well-known PBS NOVA host. Climate change is here, disasters are to be expected, here are some practical survival tips from where to live, what to plant in a backyard garden, to protection from disease-carrying insects. I doubt if we really want to select this for discussion, but here it is for curiosity’s sake.
6) Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman 2018 369 pp. A leader in the sustainable agriculture and food justice movements. Shares the wisdom and techniques of traditional African small-scale farming. Gets fantastic reviews!
7) Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization by Roy Scranton 2015 144 pp. Expands upon his highly influential NYT essay of 2014. “In this bracing response to climate change…explores what it means to be human in a rapidly evolving world…arguing that in order to survive, we must come to terms with our mortality as a civilization."