This book is a great example of writing for the current American's attention span. Short essays are separated guides for action that relate to the essay. There is a good deal of diversity in topics and approaches that I appreciate. Most of all, it does fulfil the promise of being HOPEFUL. This is great for all generations to read and be inspired to take action. A change of thinking can cause a change in action.
Thanks so much for the ARC!

This essay collection is unlike any others I’ve read. Kylie Flanagan writes beautiful personal introductions of each essayist before passing it over to a conversation between them. The addition of research questions, journal prompts, where to volunteer and how to financially support elevate these essays from informational to educational (and I would say there is a difference between the two). In addition, there is a wide range of issues being looked at, from wildfires to soil health to access to good food and clean water to seed keeping to alternatives to fossil fuel, and many, many more. And just as wide a range of voices speaking about those issues. These essays are by the people working on the ground to mitigate climate disasters and build up resilience into their environments. And the organizations mentioned are by the people as well. Overall, I have learned a lot from this book and have a huge list of organizations and issues I want to continue to learn about. While there’s a lot of topics (39 essays!) packed in here, every part of this collection feels accessible, understandable, and hopeful.

A truly outstanding addition to the ever-expanding repository of climate literature.

From wildfires in Greece and Canada, to flooding in India and Sudan, heatwaves across much of Asia, North America and Europe and record-breaking ocean temperatures, headlines globally throughout 2023 have been dominated by events caused or exacerbated by the climate crisis.

The grandiose promises made by world leaders and the long-awaited revolutionary technologies have so far failed to slow the worst effects of climate change, and communites around the world have continued to face the brunt of its impacts. Eco-anxiety is at an all time high, and any progress has been slow and hard won.

In Climate Resilience, Flanagan reframes the narrative through a series of essays based on the author's conversations with activists, ecologists, educators, farmers, entrepreneurs, community leaders, artists and researchers working within movements which seek to not only resist the spiraling climate crisis and adapt to changing conditions, but to center equity, compassion and justice while doing so.

By moving from the often daunting big picture to the critical work happening on the frontlines of the climate crisis, Flanagan manages to create a sense of hope, through the resilience of communities who have often been marginalized and left to cope with the worst of the climate crisis and the resultant social upheaval.

The author acknowledges that the book is centered on the US experience and does not consider the myriad ways in which the Global South, who are most affected by the climate crisis, and the advocacy there, although I was thrilled to read about Janelle St John, who grew up in rural Trinidad and Tobago and now stewards an urban farming project in Englewood.

Nevertheless, the scope that it does cover is impressive, including disaster resilience, food and water security and social and environmental justice.

Several chapters also contain journal prompts and actions for persons interested in taking action, although these are US based many of the lessons can be adapted to other countries as well or provide inspiration for action.

The stories center Indigenous and Black communities, as well as the LQBTQ+ and disabled communities, lending a voice to those who are frequently left out or minimized in the mainstream narratives.

After reading this book, it is one of my dearest hopes to see similar works based on other parts of the world, as knowledge sharing remains invaluable in building a global, resilient community. Truly an excellent read.

I struggled a little with this book, the concept was excellent but it failed to stay on topic enough along the way.

The message it portrays is an important one, sometimes lost at points.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Climate Resilience is an excellent read if you're looking to learn more about the ways the minority climate leaders are out doing the work to slow down the negative effects of climate change. The author was very purposeful about the people she chose to write essays, making sure every single contributor was a woman, non-binary, or gender-expansive, and came from communities of underrepresented groups.

This was a very informative read with actionable items at the end of most chapters. What I liked about the extreme amount of care and thought that went into this book was how the author addressed action in the introduction of this book. She recognized that combating climate change can feel very overwhelming and like what one person does on their own may not feel like that big of a difference, and so she challenged readers instead to assess the topics that really ignited passion as we read and to chase those issues. Rather than trying to change everything we do in order to combat climate change, pick one area that we really feel strongly about and follow the advice and action items in that chapter.

And then each chapter is an essay by an expert in that area, but an expert whose voice has likely been stifled for the majority of the US's history. This was an ambitious project, but an admirable one that I think a lot of people will find informative and approachable. Thank you to NetGalley and North Atlantic Books for giving me advanced reader access to this title. It publishes August 1, 2023!

This book was highly relevant and engaging, with a huge amount of useful content due to the variety in essayists. There are ideas of solutions for people from all walks of life, and countless suggestions as to how to do your part in mitigating climate change. Due to this, I found the way the book was structured to be highly interesting, as it introduced so many unique ideas and many journaling prompts. This book is not really informative when thinking of data but informs on social issues and the intersectioanlity of climate change. Overall, it was a great read and I would highly recommend this to anyone who cares about any social issue as the way it interlinked all issues is so relevant in today’s world and really thought provoking.

The world is scary. The world, and the people, seem out of control. There are so many problems that need your attention. It's hard to focus. It's hard to know what to do.

Using interviews with activists, and community organisers, This book gives practical examples of what you can do. It gave clarity to my confused brain. It is an inspirational read.

You may have read about climate change in many areas - books, journals, magazines, newspapers, blogs - the list is endless. Currently, the solutions on offer are all the same. Are these solutions working?

In Climate Resilience, climate justice and resilience strategist Kylie Flanagan invites us to see and act beyond. Beyond status-quo solutions, Big Tech promises, and everything we’ve been told about saving the planet.

Instead of hearing from the usual voices, the author shares a series of interviews with women, non-binary and gender expansive climate leaders and community members. From native rights activists, queer liberation ecologists, youth climate-justice organizers and many more. People who are actively involved in their communities share their stories with us. They share their experiences and stress the importance on keeping the focus on the individual communities. Moving away a "one size fits all" approach.

Kylie talks about how we have much to learn from small communities who have been living a more climate friendly existence for centuries. She also highlights the role of colonialism, imperialism and militarism in changing our landscapes and weather systems around the world.

I really feel as though the author is trying to get us to understand each other as different people within one human species. The series of interviews show how we can work together to find a path forward in a different way. To restore our relationship with earth and with each other. Each contributor talks about working towards a vision of climate care that invests in place-based, community-led projects. Projects such as ecological restoration, community adaption and people power.

At the end of each interview, the author offers practical advice for engaging with different aspects of climate-change action. Through mutual aid, seed-saving, community-owned energy, community safety plans, and more. It includes a range of ideas to enable readers to apply these strategies in their own communities.

I found it interesting to read about Heather Rosenberg, who has been within the field of sustainable and resilient infrastructure for twenty years. She describes America as a country built upon an ethos of dominating nature. For example, the Los Angeles river project is dominated by concrete, which is out of harmony with nature.

Heather also makes an important statement - that so called natural disasters and social injustices are not two different sets of issues. She explains how despite the threat of natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires and floods, the biggest killer in LA is actually heat. Due to the huge racial and income disparity in this area, and because many are denied proper housing or working conditions, natural disasters and social injustices are in fact just one set of issues.

There are many other contributors to this book I could mention, but I think it's best to read and explore for yourselves. It's a deep and interesting read, but it's definitely for someone with a strong interest and a will to go into detail and look into this issue with determination. It's not a book for a reader who wants a short read or a simple answer.

I really enjoyed reading this book one interview at a time, and whilst I don't live in a community I can take these ideas back to, it's certainly an amazing resource for anyone who wants to do just this.

I was sent a preview copy of this book by NetGalley for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

This book is a great read for anyone beginning their journey to understanding climate change from a non-conspiracy standpoint. Informative, well written, and at times shocking. This book is a must read!

This is a gem, recommended for all people who want to be up to date and inspired with the current work done to fight climate change and support communities along the way.

This is the result of interviews conducted by Kylie Flanagan with women and non-binary people that work in some role connected to climate resilience, be it a scientist or a community organizer. Short pieces, highlighting who is that person, their career, motivation and results. I really enjoyed going through the stories of all these people, they are strong, passionate and kind and actually succeed to get things done, to push policies and apply pressure on governments and companies. Which in turn results in a hopeful book, since so much of the climate discussion is quite depressing and demotivating (with good reason nonetheless, not much progress done on a global level). This switched perspective, focusing not so much on global initiatives, diplomatic discussions and tech solutions, but on the power of a community, on the importance of organizing and teaching each other, trying to diminish the harm and empower people with the right tools. It is a resource of very inspiring people, I will for sure follow what they'll do next, what projects they will promote.

After almost all chapters the reader has a call for action, with things they can do on topics like seed keeping, soil health, mutual aid, participatory budgeting & so on. I loved the diversity of tools offered in this book, there is something for everybody here and in each tool, there is a split based on the skills, time, money that you might have. I got some new ideas of things I could do and continued my research outside of this book. I will also use this book as a reference, to reread the resilience tools or a specific story/project detail.

Also I really enjoyed the multitude of Indigenous voices, they have a lot of knowledge that could be used to counteract the climate change effects and spark change.

This is a solid 4 stars, maybe even a 4.5 stars, important topic, practical book, excellent choices of voices.

Thank you, North Atlantic Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The format of this book is very different from what I've seen before, and for the better! Each essay is pretty short and the book is separated into sections based on what each person does for climate justice, and each section has a few "what can you do" pages. I would enjoy for the essays to be longer and to delve deeper, but still very good.

Readers looking to move beyond basic books that tell readers what to do to help climate change will find a lot of interesting perspectives in this book. The editor took great care to bring in a variety of voices, generally femme presenting voices, to talk about how climate change isn't specifically a one person action, but a community and group action. Topics included such things as developing parks, taking a hard look at capitalism, and how lands should be returned to the native people who inhabited them as they can help restore the land to what once was. It makes one think and wonder what have we lost in the pursuit of colonialism and capitalism and is there a way to bring it back? A solid collection of works.

I honestly found this book very humbling. I love that it specifically centres BIPOC and queer voices, but beyond that the quality of the essays is pretty exceptional. I hope many people come to read this book and that it gets the attention it deserves.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and these are my honest opinions.

In order to truly understand the problem we are facing with climate change it is so important to unravel the intersections of the social and political dynamics at play in our society. Climate Resilience by Kylie Flanagan provides readers with a well-rounded collection of essays from diverse voices that provides a fully comprehensive picture of both root causes of the issue and possible solutions.

There are essays that fall into the following categories: Relationship Repair; Ecological Restoration; Economic Regeneration; Collective Care; Community Adaptation; Cultural Strategy; and People Power.

While this is a solution-focused and humanity driven text, this book is also very clear about the future that we are facing if changes are not made today. We are facing a future where extreme weather will increasingly become harsher, natural disasters will happen more frequently, people and communities will continue to be displaced, and basic necessities like food and drinkable water will become more unpredictable.

I learned so much reading these thirty-nine short essays and appreciate the range of voices provided including but not limited to community activists, ecologists, educators, artists, community leaders, earth workers, and farmers. If you are looking for a book that will impart a comprehensive understanding of root causes for our climate crisis and also provide you with concrete solutions and action-oriented steps we can take both personally and collectively, you should read this book. In a capitalistic society that is money-driven it is going to take a full return to centering our humanity to heal this world. This book is a great starting point for that inner and communal conversation.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!

I learned so much from this book and I feel so inspired to work more on climate activism, this book both inspired me and gave me some good places to think about how I can work more in this space and what impact I can have. I loved the diversity of the background and the authors for each essay. I loved the background of each author before their essays, the content warning was a nice touch before the essay themselves, and I enjoyed reading each essay. It was fantastic to see the breadth of work and resilience that is happening related to climate activism. I also loved the callouts in some of the sections that talk about actions that you (the reader) can do in different areas. Overall, a great book and a wonderful call to action.

Wonderful collection of essays on various climate problems. The voices of the activists, scientists and other amazing people really shine through in this book. Most essays end with some inspiration for the reader, like journaling prompts or ideas to research on your own. The essays are well written and just the right length to read with a cup of tea. Very inspiring!