Taking the Heat and 1,001 Voices on Climate Change

I recently was approached by students interested in researching “eco-anxiety” and I am going to hand a brand new book, TAKING THE HEAT by Bonnie Schneider, to them. Schneider is a meteorologist and award-winning journalist who has chosen to write about “How Climate Change Is Affecting Your Mind, Body, and Spirit and What You Can Do about It.”   She devotes her entire first chapter to eco-anxiety, “feelings of depression and anxiety that have been linked to climate change concerns.” Subsequent sections look at issues like the impact of rising temperatures on health, especially in cities, or at the new allergy season mold, pollen, wildfire smoke, etc.) or at relationships between heat, sleep, and memory. Throughout, Schneider advocates practices like meditation, mindfulness, and gratitude. She explains and quotes scientific research from psychiatrists, pediatricians, and other doctors in regards to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and in addition refers to the work of plant physiologists and climate scientists when she explores food choices and carbon footprints. In fact, over twenty percent of the book is devoted to notes and will provide a great springboard to deeper research on any of these subtopics. This text will have wide appeal, including science, kinetic wellness (health), and psychology classes. Publishers Weekly summarizes TAKING THE HEAT as follows: “For those interested in staying well while the planet changes, this is a must-read.” Take a look.  

1,001 VOICES ON CLIMATE CHANGE by Devi Lockwood is subtitled “Everyday Stories of Flood, Fire, Drought, and Displacement from Around the World” and in an interview with Yale Climate Connections Lockwood said, “It feels nearly impossible to pull out just a few critical voices, but here is my best attempt: Tanea Tangaroa, who is restoring a wetland in Whanganui, New Zealand; Marie Airut, a hunter and elder in Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada, who notes changes in walrus migration patterns; Gertrude Kabusimbi Kenyangi, a Ugandan forestry activist who traveled to COP22 in Morocco to advocate for gender equality in climate solutions; Aidai Turdakunova, a 16-year old student in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, who dreams of becoming an environmental engineer.”  That everchanging list gives us a sense of the varied voices and communities with whom Lockwood, a journalist, interacted on a multi-year trip spanning six continents. By its very nature, this text is a series of vignettes.  Although Lockwood does include notes and explains new (to me, at least) terms like solastalgia (a feeling of loss and distress caused by environmental change), there is less reliance on or ties to science (unlike texts by Mary Roach) than I had expected. Climate change and its ramifications are of huge interest to our students and it would be an interesting assignment for them to use Lockwood’s work as inspiration to each find and craft a climate change story. Perhaps that is something we can facilitate around Earth Day in the spring?