As a small token of our appreciation this holiday season, we want to share the Winter 2020 edition of our staff-curated reading list. These are just a few of the things that have brought us joy and critical reflection over the last few months. We hope they bring you joy, too. From all of us at SHI, we wish you a very happy + healthy holiday season!
BOOKS
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants has been rightfully called “a hymn of love to the world.” It could also be called a salve for the soul. Braiding Sweetgrass is a profound meditation on our reciprocal relationship with the living world, written by an ecologist and enrolled member of the Potawatomi Nation. Although it was first published in 2013, this book is just as important now than ever.
We’ve all been looking forward to the recent publication of All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, an anthology of essays, poetry, and art from women climate leaders, and edited by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson + Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson.
ARTICLES + ESSAYS
In July, ProPublica and the New York Times Magazine launched the must-read series, “The Great Climate Migration.” Through a comprehensive model, they’ve predicted how climate refugees are likely to move across international borders in the years ahead. They’ve also honed in on the repercussions of climate change within the United States. Most recently, they explored how climate change will transform global agriculture, as well as who stands to gain. As the series makes clear, how we respond to climate change today will lead to drastically different results in the future.
As we transition from one U.S. presidential administration to another, it is an important moment to take stock of the current state of government climate policy. The New York Times chronicled the 100 major climate policies that were reversed over the course of the last four years and The Wall Street Journal offered this comparison between Trump and Biden on climate policy. But we must also ask, where do we go from here? The Biden-Harris transition team has listed climate change as one of four major priorities for the new administration and President-elect Biden recently unveiled a climate team that represents a distinct break with the past. An article in Nature asks the 100 million dollar question: “Can Joe Biden make good on his revolutionary climate agenda?”
At Sustainable Harvest International, our focus has always been on providing training and tools for smallholder farmers. Yet, far and away, the vast majority of academic research is focused on new technologies that are simply not viable for these farmers. A recent editorial in Nature reports that a shocking 95% of research findings in 100,000 recent agricultural publications had no direct relevance for smallholders. We agree that the nearly 500 million smallholder farmers worldwide have been neglected for far too long.
FILMS + SHOWS
Kiss the Ground, a recently-released documentary streaming on Netflix, has done much to educate and popularize the basic tenets of regenerative agriculture. Narrated by none other than Woody Harrelson, the documentary is chock-full of celebrities and easy-to-digest arguments for why healthy soil is critical in the fight against climate change.
Gather is another recently-released and beautiful documentary film that explores what’s wrong with our broken food systems. Directed by Sanjay Rawal, Gather follows three efforts by Native Americans to achieve food sovereignty. If you’re going to see Kiss the Ground, we’d also highly recommend Gather.
If you are a parent, Wild Kratts is an educational and wildly entertaining kids’ show on PBS Kids about “creature adventurer” zoologist brothers Chris and Martin Kratt. Each episode focuses on an animal in the wild, its natural habitat, and threats that it faces like deforestation, pollution, the fur trade, water scarcity, etc. It is part live-action and part cartoon, combining adventure with a deeper message of caring for animals and their habitat for the good of all.
PODCASTS
Climate scientist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and journalist Alex Blumberg have joined forces in their new podcast, How to Save a Planet. Every week, expect to hear from new guests as they discuss the reality of climate change and what we can do about it.
If you are “climate curious” and willing to take some dives into mind-boggling policy waters that will keep you equal parts riveted and furious, A Matter of Degrees is the podcast for you. It is hosted by Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katherine Wilkinson. Here’s a recent episode on President-elect Biden’s climate plan.
We are huge fans of the important work, policy analysis, and reporting done by the good folks over at FoodTank. Did you know that they have their very own podcast, too? Check out Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg. We highly recommend listening to the recent conversation with Paul Hawken of Project Drawdown, Jack Kittinger of Conservation International, and soil scientist Rattan Lal, this year’s recipient of the World Food Prize, in episode 210: “How Can a Stronger Food System Reverse Climate Change.”
If you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out episode 81 of the Bird Banter Podcast where you’ll find SHI’s very-own Florence Reed discussing agroforestry, bird habitat, and biodiversity with birder extraordinaire Patrick McMillian.
