Summary Synthesis of Amitav Ghosh’s The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis
I am now of the view that the scientifically validated discovery of nonhuman sentience and intelligence in the natural world offers the greatest potential for transformation in natural and cultural interpretation and education since the rise of the ecological movement... Read moreDon’t Look Up Film Review
With more than 80 million views since its release on December 24th, the film Don’t Look Up has become one of the top three films ever shown on Netflix. It is a brilliant parody on our inability as a global community to focus on an immediate existential threat to... Read more
Summary Synthesis of Finding the Mother Tree
I have been struggling since the beginning of the pandemic to find meaning in, and to give value to this transformational moment in the human journey. At last, after many months, I have got as far as an outline, at least, for a personal approach to dealing with the accelerating…
Read more
Artist Brings Personal Social Justice Stories to Light
I was recently gifted a copy of Olga Campbell’s multi-award winning book, A Whisper Across Time, a stunning tribute to her family’s story of the Holocaust told through a sumptuous collection of prose, art and poetry. Olga is a Vancouver writer and artist whose... Read more
On Time and Water
Café Books is very good to me. When they see books in catalogues that they think might interest me, they order them in and then put them aside for me to consider them. One such book is the translation from Icelandic of a new book by Andri Snaer Magnuson entitled On... Read moreReview of Naomi Klein’s new video Message From the Future
This short 9 minute video by Naomi Klein and an international group of collaborators is both sobering and hopeful. It shows how in a post-COVID world it is still possible to imagine a future based on deeply humane and green values. Especially if all of us as an Earth... Read more
The World in 2040 – A Film
The 2040 documentary film was produced by Australian Damon Gameau as a letter to his 4-year-old daughter in 2019 to imagine what the world could look like in 2040 if current innovative technologies in energy, agriculture, transportation and urban planning were fully... Read more
Book Review: The Legacy of Luna, by Julia Butterfly Hill
Feeling cooped up with the lockdown? Imagine living in a 200-ft-tall redwood tree for more than two years. Twenty years ago, Julia Butterfly Hill did just that, to draw attention to the continued clearcutting of California’s remaining redwood forests.
Read more
Book Review – Forest Therapy: Seasonal Ways to Embrace Nature for a Happier You, by Sarah Ivens
Forest-Bathing! Confused or mystified about this trendy new panacea for all that ails us? Sara Ivens’ book is a good book for beginners and experienced tree lovers alike. Forest Therapy has many virtues. It’s an easy read. Ivens captures the reader on the... Read more
Book Review: Oil’s Deep State by Kevin Taft
If you’re like me, you might look at this book and wonder how dry and boring it might be. This book is a wonderful surprise in that regard; once I started I could not put it down. This story contains so much information and is rounded out in such a way that you will soon find something that will pique your interest and take you down the rabbit hole.
Read more
The Nature Fix – Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams
“I’m no tree hugger but The Nature Fix made me want to run outside and embrace the nearest Oak. Not for the tree’s sake, but mine.” – Eric Weiner
Read more
Book Review | Unprecedented Crime: Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival
The authors do a good job of indicting as criminals the corporations, the governments at national and other levels and even the media for their concerted efforts to avoid dealing with climate change.
Read more
Book Review: The Man Who Planted Trees: Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet
Jim Robbins was incredulous when David Milarch first told him he was cloning ‘champion trees’ because angels had told him to during a near-death experience. “I thought he was joking or spinning a yarn, but he said it all with a straight face,” Robbins said.
Read more
Film Review of Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees
Call of the Forest is all about the incredible and vital importance of trees. If you want to get motivated to plant trees, this is the film to watch! “For every breath you take, thank a tree,” says Diana Beresford-Kroeger, the Canadian botanist, author and medical... Read more
Review: The Killer Whale Who Changed The World
“The Killer Whale Who Changed The World” is a true and fascinating west coast story of the first killer whale captured alive in a world where they were the most feared “monster” in the oceans, and routinely shot out of fear and for sport. After... Read more