Earth Day for More Days on Earth

This is a collection of the young activist’s speeches. At 15, Greta decided to skip school in Sweden to protest climate change. She’s been protesting ever since and has even been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. One thing I, and many others, appreciate about the little sis Greta— a part from her tenacity— is her straightforward manner of speaking. She doesn’t beat around the bush and is just very real about the situation we’re in.

“I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”

Where’s the lie?

What’s cool about this little collection is that it clocks in at just 112 pages, so you’ll have extra time to watch the documentary I Am Greta after.

I’ve noticed how a certain group of people have started using the term “woke” as a pejorative. To me, it’s a very obvious and defensive response to a demand of accountability after there hasn’t been any for so long. You ever come across people like this and wish you had a more concise way of telling them why they’re wrong, or even explaining to anyone why “environmentalism, racism, and privilege” are inextricably linked? Here’s a primer just for that. It’s also for everyone interested in learning how best to show up for the planet. Thomas shows not only how BIPOC people are the most affected by environmental injustices, but also how truly fighting for the environment involves fighting for civil rights. What was that about an injustice anywhere being a threat to justice everywhere?

This one is a little different as it’s not just about the environment, but rather everything and the environment. Sustainability isn’t viewed as a separate thing to be worked on. Yunkaporta uses the wisdom of his Aboriginal elders to show that it’s something that could already be woven into our everyday lives if we adopt some other ways of thinking.

A few years ago, I was studying for a standardized test for grad school and there was a passage in the book I was using to study that showed how colonialism in America ruined the environment, the effects of which we can still see today (like in the Antarctic ice cores!). I was super surprised I’d never heard about it before then, but knowing it now makes me that much more receptive to Yunkaporta’s premise here. A lot of us in North America live within a culture that is rooted in a mindset that led people to rejecting and leaving their own land to destroy another. With that in mind, how could our culture be one that is inherently sustainable? It makes sense to learn about how to live in better harmony with the land from people who have been living with their lands for thousands of years (it’s estimated to be about 65,000 years).

This is another book about trees that this pair has worked on. Here, forester Wohlleben and editor Billinghurst share poetic observations on forests in North American they’ve visited, making the case of how we should spend more mindful time outside amongst the trees. We should go for walks, forage, and even become “forest detectives” who know things like what path water takes in a given landscape and the frequency of fire. By using all five senses when we’re in nature like this, the authors believe we will come to appreciate it more and find adventure more often.