Hey all,
I thought it was a another great meeting last week, lots of stimulating discussions and ideas. We ranged all over the place—but that’s the fun of it! I continue to derive great pleasure from this book group and hope you do too.
We concluded the racial injustice/bias topic with a look at climate justice. In particular, the question: must climate change mitigation be inextricably linked to climate justice? Of course we would like it to be, it is only fair and right, but is it true, objectively speaking?
There are probably solutions that don’t directly address justice, but would benefit all people anyway. The consensus was (hope this is accurate) that the best practice would act in a way that does link them, especially to “first, do no harm.” And younger environmentalists absolutely take the link as a given, so shouldn’t we defer to them?
What can our CCL group do about it?
Educate ourselves, discuss the issues, strive to be inclusive in our membership and contacts and speakers. Making contact and forging a trusting relationship with members of black and indigenous communities is difficult but worth doing. We want to continue pursuing any leads we can find in that area.
A few of us recommended the novel The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson (2020) and it was agreed to make it the March 3rd meeting selection. It is long but reads fast. Short chapters.
Books on climate justice to consider for a meeting later in the year?
1. All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, edited by Ayana Johnson 2020 448 pp. 5/5
2. Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future, by Mary Robinson 2019 176 pp 4.5/5
3. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (gets a high recommendation by me and a 5/5 from Amazon) 2013 409 pp
4. Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-based Change, by Sherri Mitchell 2018 257 pp 4.5/5
5. Indigenous Environmental Justice, edited by Karen Jarratt-Snider. 2020 233 pp 5/5
6. Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger, by Julie Sze 2020 155 pp. 4.5/5
7. Climate Change from the Streets: How Conflict and Collaboration Strengthen the Environmental Justice Movement, by Michael Mendez 2020 305 pp 4.5/5
Also recommended for future consideration:
Learning to Die in the Anthropocene by Roy Scranton 2015 144 pp. 3.8/5
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates 2021. 3.3/5.