CLIMATE RESILIENCE

Diverse contributors explore the many dynamics of climate change.

Climate activist Flanagan launched her environmental justice project during the summer of 2020 amid the “intertwined crises” of surging Covid-19 infections, racial unrest, and California’s epic wildfires. The book features the author “in conversation with 39 women, nonbinary, and gender-expansive climate leaders,” and their impassioned discussions sound the alarm for practical solutions from their areas of expertise within the grassroots climate movement. The text includes important perspectives from Black, Indigenous, people of color, feminist, queer, and other marginalized communities, countering the narrative that Flanagan characterizes as “rooted in more masculine ideals such as efficiency, competition, ego, scale, and domination.” Ruth Miller, of Dena’ina Athabaskan descent, reflects on the effects of climate change in her native Alaska, which experiences the degradation at a drastically faster rate. Olivia Juarez, “a lifelong resident of the Goshute and Eastern Shoshone lands of the Greater Salt Lake region,” advocates for aggressive wilderness preservation, while Emmy Award–winning actor Casey Camp-Horinek promotes the Rights of Nature Movement, which realigns natural law with human law. Native Los Angeles holistic ecologist Heather Rosenberg works to solve some of her region’s issues with a multipronged approach using the LA River as a model. Nonbinary educator Ceci Pineda discusses how queer communities intersect with climate futures and demonstrates the power of a community composting initiative as a method of methane emission reduction. Other contributors introduce initiatives such as seedkeeping, eco-friendly prescribed burns, and fossil fuel resistance. Most importantly, the book offers “resilience tool spotlight” segments as resources for readers to directly connect and participate in these movements. Each impassioned essay is highly educational as well as encouraging, and the cross-cultural, inclusive perspectives show the power of proactive, real-world climate solutions. The book includes a helpful glossary.

An essential, inspired chorus of voices echoing the urgency of action in the fight against climate change.