Saving the World: Making sense of the future...and the past

by Mary Soderstrom
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6 books
These six books are ones I've read recently as I search, somewhat blindly, for an operating guide to life on earth in the 21st century. We are faced with the greatest challenges that humankind has encountered since our long-ago ancestors prospered on the plains of Africa. Wild fires, floods, heat waves and rising seas: how are we going to survive climate change? How can we save the best of our civilizations? None of these books gives us complete answers, but each one suggests a path we might follow.
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A Paradise Built in Hell

The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
Rebecca Solnit, 2010
Solnit's message: trust people to organize themselves spontaneously when times are really tough. Using examples from the San Francisco earthquake of 1904 to the climate disasters of the 21st century, she concludes that people have not panicked, but usually done the right thing. The trick will be: how to translate the little "paradises" that people have created for short term emergencies into longer term solutions.

The Ministry for the Future

A Novel
Kim Stanley Robinson, 2020
This science fiction novel shows what might be done to get us out of the predicament we're in. Robinson tells a compelling story, and while he gets some things wrong (writing pre-Covid 19, he doesn't realize how video-conferencing can change the way we work), his novel is wonderfully hopeful about what might be accomplished if the right decision.

Under a White Sky

The Nature of the Future
Elizabeth Kolbert, 2022
A regular contributor to The New Yorker on environmental issues for nearly 20 years, Kolbert examines some of the worst outcomes of the path we're on. She's skeptical about how many of the solutions are made.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need
Bill Gates, 2021
Gates has some excellent ideas about how we can turn things around. What he suggests won't be easy, but already they have been making difference. They include electrifying everything and seriously considering going back to nuclear power generation.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo

A Novel
Christy Lefteri, 2020
This touching, wonderfully written novel tells the story of refugees from war who after harrowing experiences make it to safety. A book to remember when we're thinking about the plight of people on the move because of warfare or climate disaster.

Kukum

Michel Jean, 2023
Translated from French, this novel tells the story of Jean's grandmother and the difficulties her family faced as pulp and paper companies destroyed the forest world of the Innu on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. Kukum (which means grandmother in Innu) is an inspiration to those up against terrible odds.