Humans of Climate Change: A Cultural Journey to Explore Climate-Change Impacts, Solutions, and Hope —by Kaden Hogan

 Nonfiction / Environmental Policy / Environmental Science / Climatology 

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09BB8DLWP

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 173990804X

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1739908041

Independently published

July 24, 2021

183 Pages

5 Stars

 

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this book, so went into the book with an open mind. The research Kaden Hogan did is amazing, and using personal stories instead of numbers and stats, etc., made the book extremely readable. Climate change will affect different peoples and cultures in different ways. In rigid patriarchal cultures, it will affect women and children the hardest. “Empowering the powerless or neglected—Indigenous peoples, women, youth, small nations, poor farmers, and slum-dwellers—leads to imaginative and effective solutions.” (Emphasis the reviewers.)

 

Hogan takes the reader on a world tour from the Arctic to the Mekong Delta, to India and Kenya, and all places in between. Some of the most interesting interviews/essays were on California: Fire as Friend, Fire as Foe and Kenya: the Old and the New. 

 

The book is written in three parts of four chapters each, followed by Thinking Points for each part. I found the Thinking Points thoughtful, important, and something we can all participate in. Some have been around for quite a while, but seeing them in new words makes them seem, once again, important. 

 

If you are a human and live on Planet Earth, I strongly urge you to buy a copy of this book. It is so easy to think to yourself there is nothing you, as an individual can really do, beyond take your own reusable bags to the grocery store, but I assure you, after reading this book, you will rethink that mindset. If we are going to save our planet and the humans on it, there are things all of us can do. It only takes 100 pennies to make a dollar. Or 10 dimes. Become a penny, become a dime. 

 

Buy this book and read it. Buy copies of this book and give to friends and family. As Hogan says in his conclusion, “…climate change is not about saving Earth. // Earth will carry on—with or without human beings.” It is about saving humans and their cultures.