ERA book club

This short book by. Megan Hunter was a joy to read, so much so that several of the group read it twice. The language was spare, carefully crafted and poetic. You were swept along by the story, but also had to concentrate as important plot actions took place out of sight.

There was debate as to whether it was a book about environmental change (the flood is the catalyst of change) or war, but either way it explored the experience of being a refugee. Arguably the changing climate is already driving change in land use, migration and conflict so this point may be invalid.

The book explored relationships with family and friends, and the vital support they provide. Motherhood played a huge role in the viewpoint of the protagonist, sheltering her from the worst elements by focusing her attention on her newborn to the exclusion of events witnessed by her partner. We only knew the characters by their first initial, removing class, time and background. The lack of precision gave us room to interpret and infer, which of course also allowed for different understandings of the same book, and hence a really interesting conversation.

A highly recommended read - and we wait with interest to see the film and the film maker's interpretation.

Elizabeth Eveleigh

That advertising can be bad was not a surprise. This has been known for a very long time, but this book made it fascinating. Advertising works, but we are not always aware of how we are being manipulated. The "brain pollution" we are exposed to, with images or tunes priming our subconscious in readiness for the desired product is truly scary. It has always been known that advertising drives consumption, something our planet desperately needs us to decrease not increase.

The question is, what can or should be done about it? We now accept that a ban on advertising smoking was needed and has saved many lives. Should this now be extended to SUVs and airlines? And if so, where do you draw the line? All cars, all holidays? And who decides?

The science in this book is a little dubious making broad claims which may not be necessarily correct. But as exactly the same can be said of advertising itself this does not seem so bad in this case. We do have an Advertising Standards Authority, but it lacks resources and is weak, often with the business policing itself. We need less advertising but sport and the arts need the money that advertising offers. Advertising is in itself an art form that we will struggle to give up.

Elizabeth Eveleigh

Waste has always been a problem, to be sent, or thrown, away. But "away" has never existed. We place it out of sight, and it goes out of our mind. We send it to our edges, which over time has moved from the edges of towns, or nowadays all too often to other poorer countries. Our unwanted items have become an international and global issue.

This book covers so many forms of waste, from food to nuclear, from pre production by-products to disposal of the final form. In our book club session we discussed how we thought of steel without thinking of the waste rock discarded after the ore has been extracted for example – we are somewhat aware of the waste that comes after, but not that which comes before. Our old rubbish dumps and unwanted technology is now being mined again to recover the precious metals and minerals, often with a lower cost both financially and environmentally. Our fast fashion can find its way to Ghana where it has built a huge market, providing jobs and wealth for some while at the same time leaving terrible quantities of plastic to be burnt or dumped without the facilities to cope. The issues covered in this informative book are complicated and multifaceted, and definitely not black and white.

The main message is to buy less, use less, waste less, - creating less waste by finding ways of being less of a ‘consumer’. If we buy fewer items we can maybe spend more on a better product when we do make a purchase. The book is well written, enjoyable and informative, and definitely an issue of the moment.

Elizabeth Eveleigh

This month we strayed into the world of fiction and a possible future. After a variety of non-fiction covering politics, economics and the threats to our natural world we read a dystopian book covering exactly the same topics.

The world described is set in the not too distant future and covers the issue of species extinction and how the political and business world markets will react. In a similar vein to carbon markets, businesses polluting the world and destroying known species can buy credits to offset their sins. Organisations creating sanctuaries or protecting habitats can then use the funds from these extinction credits to further their work. A worthy idea - but of course goes seriously wrong when it meets economics, callous money makers and the realities of life.If a company can make more money generating pollution than it has to pay out for credits, why do anything? Just add it to a line in your profit and loss account. And who checks that the credits are well spent? Who looks after the trees after they have been planted? Who does the watering or checks that they should be grown there anyway?

The book split the group. Some enjoyed the satire, and it was a funny book - at times. Others found the unrelenting awfulness of the situation with no sign of improvement depressing. It was close to the bone and utterly believable that the situation could arise. The enormous selfishness and short term planning, the lack of consideration for the future was miserable and you couldn't even tell yourself that it would never happen.

The characters were not likeable and the adding of side discussions and dense topics mean that it could and probably should be re-read to gain more from this book. And some of us intend to (though probably not me). The style was compared to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and there were definitely laugh out loud moments.

This book is worth reading. It is thought provoking. And unfortunately it can feel all too real.

Elizabeth Eveleigh

This book by Amy Jane Beer is a love letter to all water within the landscape, from streams to rivers, uplands to wetlands and the rain to aquifers. The writing style is lyrical, beautifully descriptive, carrying the reader to known and now need to be known places.

To match this it has to cover so many subjects that the sheer mass of detailed information can be daunting. There is so much to remember or process. Some found that rereading the book really helped to make it more enjoyable. Some of the topics were deeply personal which made for a difficult read but also made it relatable. Some sections were nature writing at its best while others told stories to get the point across.

There were so many topics covered that some felt that a sense of anger was lost in the mass. Pollution was only one section, the public's loss of connection was mentioned alongside the lack of access that we have to 97% of our watercourses. But the writer's reaction to this appears to trespass whenever it suits her, clambering over fences, pushing through woods and generally being unbothered by permissions. To regain our watery connections we all need to do the same - but I may not be brave enough!

Before we will protect and campaign for our rivers and streams we need to love them. We need to engage with them and feel they belong to us so that we will defend our desperately struggling waterways.

As I write this, storms are battering our landscapes, floods are overwhelming agricultural fields sweeping soil and fertiliser into our rivers, to probably meet the storm overflows from our local sewage works. Our rivers need us as never before. We may not have the majesty of a mighty river or the sparkling upland mountain streams, but our river Rother needs our love and connection.

Elizabeth Eveleigh

Simon Sharpe’s book Five times Faster (2023) identifies three distinct areas where change is needed if we are to make the necessary progress with bringing down carbon emissions and limiting the long term effects of climate change: science, economics and diplomacy. Starting from the premise that we need to be bringing down emissions five times faster than we currently are and, based on a decade of experience working in that area of climate change policy, Simon Sharpe concludes that we need to think radically differently in all three of these areas.

Politicians need to stop asking scientists what the evidence predicts will happen in the next few years and instead have them consider the evidence in the form of risk assessments, starting from the question ‘What is the worst that could happen?’ and following up with ‘What are the chances of it happening?’. Only then are politicians likely to truly grasp the seriousness of the situation we are in.

When addressing the current state of economics and its relevance to a changing planet he is very critical of it. He believes they have a lot wrong with his main thesis being that they are founded on an equilibrium model. That is that they have, for a long period, been too keen to uphold the status quo. Climate change now requires a systems change. He suggests the economy needs to become like an eco-system, that is, subject to evolution and accepting a level of disequilibrium. We need to accept things evolving and being uncertain. One example he gives is our attitude to carbon pricing which he sees as a less effective tax as compared to greater investment. The latter leads to innovation which could well lead to reinforcing feedbacks. He compares the transition from horses to cars to our need to shift away from fossil fuels to renewables.

Regulation is also important to maintain high standards in producing goods which in turn will lead to accelerated technological innovation which will gradually lead to lower prices. Wind turbines have been falling in cost for some time. This should mean fewer returns to shareholders. Increased taxes could lead to investment which will activate tipping points in the economy.

Although his arguments are complex he is basically advocating an economic system which is dynamic and solution focused not held back by outdated models He believes it important that the economics taught in universities now adopt an approach much more relevant to our changing world.

He finally gives his attention to the diplomacy surrounding climate change, so important in making the necessary transition to a fossil fuel free world. With a dynamic economy we need to work together globally. With respect to diplomacy his three main points are, firstly, that we take negotiations in manageable chunks choosing different sectors and parts of the world rather than trying to bring everyone together and focusing on shared targets. Secondly, we should abandon large meetings and focus on agreements between the countries with the largest economies who should then regulate to make it easier for the rest of the world and thirdly, the focus should be on the long term, as well as the present necessary actions.

The importance of this book clearly is to emphasise the urgency. We have done too little for too long and our current political set up does not seem to be making the necessary changes. Although his arguments are complex he has undertaken the task of bringing together the three elements we most need to change in order to move us forwards five times faster: science, economy and diplomacy. This is definitely a book worth reading and possibly more than once.

Sue Hoar and Veronica Carter

We embarked, just for a change, on fiction with this particular book. Benjamin Myer’s novel is not one of the growing number of books now coming out in the genre of ‘Climate Fiction’; however it is relevant. Set in the hot summer of 1989, it celebrates nature and the English countryside and closes with a fire caused by the excessive heat. Members of the book club who largely enjoyed The Perfect Golden Circle said that the book took them to a ‘magical place, giving them hope and was refreshingly different’.

Myer’s novel, his seventh, tells the story of Redbone, a ‘crusty punk activist’ who lives in an old camper van, and Calvert, a physically and mentally maimed veteran from the Falklands War who lives in the ‘second smallest house in England.’. This pair of outsiders forge a close friendship over their passion for crop circle formations based on complex geometry and eastern spirituality. Redbone is mathematically gifted in drawing out ever more complex patterns, ending up with the magnificent Double Helix. Calvert scouts out suitable fields where they can work secretly at night.

Myers offers some ideas of how these creations are made but never completely gives the whole game away. However, we are reassured that no crops are damaged as the wheat springs up again for harvest, being bent rather than broken. The pair have a few close shaves with nearly being caught and these lead to some of the humorous incidents in the book, for example a woman shouting for her dog who had disappeared decades ago, and meeting up with the drunken son of a landlord, although this might be somewhat overplayed in the book, revealing some class bias!

While the actual circles and fields are fictional, the book includes in each chapter real press clippings that appeared during the summer as speculation grew about aliens and as crowds flocked to view the increasingly complex formations.

It is a book about having a shared passion to create and about the resulting friendship between two outsiders. It is a tribute to the English countryside and the Old Ways. Myer’s land thrums with more ancient reverberations, ‘an under-England of hidden rivers and buried relics, of the bones of extinct animals and battle-slain bodies’.

If you enjoy this book, do read The Offing by the same author.

Sue Hoar

This book is a practical instruction manual, with chapters on drought, flooding and wildlife gardening as well as vegetable, flower and fruit growing. It gives ideas to improve your situation, and encourages planning to avoid the problems to come. That said, we thought that climate change was being seen as an inconvenience rather than a concern. More a case of put in raised beds and lots of mulch, and have you thought about Mediterranean gardening?

Some of us found the section on Ollas inspiring, with DIY plant pots and charity-shop wine coolers being repurposed to help our dry sandy soils. Hugelkulture and waffle gardens may be the future, and rainwater harvesting is a must. We would have preferred more on vegetable growing (and perennial kale comes highly recommended). The possible changes to the trees we should plant in our orchards is sobering, but also impossible to guess as our climate becomes more erratic. Sprinkling sugar into the planting hole to encourage the microbes was a new idea to us all.

This book is worth reading, but did not cover much new ground. We all know that water is precious, peat is bad and that the weather can not be relied on. The information can be found in other books and many websites but it does no harm to be reminded of actions we must all take, and it is a well laid out book with attractive photos.

Elizabeth Eveleigh

This book both inspiring and depressing. It entertained and educated, and ended with steps to take to save us all.

The insect apocalypse is occurring throughout the world and is happening during our watch. Fully referenced and written by a renowned scientist the awful figures of loss are visible. You only need to remember the number of bugs splatted on the windscreen or the problem of moths getting in through open windows in your youth to realise that this has happened recently. Insects are the food source of many of our birds, and their numbers are down by 70% for swallows, swifts and martins, 77% for cuckoos and 94% for flycatchers. In 40 years our butterflies have reduced by 46% in number, and 77% for the rarer varieties. We don't see the little and often irritating insects but we will miss the bats, hedgehogs and birds that depend on them. It is difficult to know how many insects we have lost because no one thought to count them. It is only now when the silence is heard in the flower bed that you notice the lack of bees, or realise that the moth in the headlights is a rare occurrence.

The book has clear themes and the author writes in an accessible style. Each chapter ends with fascinating facts about an appropriate insect. The final chapters are filled with actions the you the reader can take as well as points for the UK government and local councils to take.

There is no one culprit for the reduction in insect numbers. Pollution, pesticides and climate change are just some of the "death by a thousand cuts" that our insects face in our soils, landscapes and air. If we take no steps we will lose the pollinators and processors that we rely on. This book is a wake up call and tells a story we need to hear - the problem is that the issue is so huge and can be overwhelming.

Please read this book and then get outside to look and learn and teach. If we know what we have, we will care and act, and the world needs that.

Elizabeth Eveleigh

Philip Lymbery lives on a small farm overlooking the river Rother. He is therefore on ERA’S patch which lends extra poignancy to us in what he has to say about the damage farming has done to our world and to our children’s futures.

However, to research this book and its predecessor Farmageddon, and in his capacity as Chief Executive of Compassion in World Farming, Lymbery has travelled far beyond the Rother Valley, visiting farms in Europe, the USA, the Gambia and Brazil and, during the pandemic, many others by Zoom. Taking its title from a chilling warning made by the United Nations that the world’s soils could be lost within a lifetime, Sixty Harvests uncovers how the food industry is threatening the planet by killing its soil.

The ERA book club found it to be a passionate, well researched and highly informative book. It is almost encyclopaedic in its coverage of the subject, focusing on both the terrible damage that has been done but also on those several farmers who are creating solutions and a positive way forward.

The book’s title comes from a scientist, Professor John Crawford. It was at a carbon-farming conference in 2010 in Australia that he first foretold that the soil could run out in sixty years. Whether or not the timing is spot on, what is important is that in a planet with more people to feed, top soil is becoming scarce. Since 1975, nearly a third of the world’s arable land has been lost to soil erosion. Overall, Crawford says, soil is being lost ten to forty times faster than the rate of soil formation. An inch of topsoil takes a hundred years to form. We need soil not only to provide plants with water and food but to provide a carbon sink for the climate. He sees the decline of our soil as a direct result of intensive farming practices and of ‘breaking the bond between farmers, farm animals and the soil that has existed since the early days of civilisation’. Artificial fertilisers are good at feeding people but no good at feeding the soil. In fact, they mask the fact that the soil is dying.

Lymbery reports, early on in his book, on a talk with Chris Packham, the naturalist, on the effect modern farming has had on nature. “When farm animals are moved,’ says Packham, ‘from the fields into factories, everything suffers: animal welfare, wildlife, soil, and the sustainability of food production.’

The living conditions and diets of farm animals are a recurring theme which includes the fraught subject of meat eating. Lymbery believes strongly that farm animals should be fed differently and as they used to be - ruminating on grass. He writes of visiting a farm in Ross-on-Wye where the farmer had taken over some marginal land where the soil was almost dead despite having been treated with pesticides and fertilisers. He planted grass and wild flowers and red clover for protein thereby restoring the land to pasture for his cattle and sheep. As there was no need to buy feed in the form of grain, the land was soon economically viable and nature returned.

When returning later to the theme of how farm animals should be fed, he writes against the practice of growing grain or soya for animal fodder when it could go directly to feeding people. Even more so, he argues, when forests, the world’s lungs, are cut down to grow this feed. Another practice he criticises is harvesting valuable stock from the sea to turn into animal food stuffs in the form of fishmeal. This not only robs island nations and local fishermen of their livelihood but has a devastating effect on sea birds, seals and creatures such as whales that depend on small fish such as krill for their diet.

Several futurists see insects as a solution to the need to replace meat in modern diets but Lymbery disagrees. ‘Just as factory farming is wasteful and inefficient, so too is the large-scale production of crop-fed insects for the purpose of feeding livestock. Perfectly good crops are fed to insects which are then in turn fed to pigs, chicken and fish.’ He sees this as inflicting suffering on a massive scale not only on the animal but also on the insects. Lymbery is not CEO of Compassion in World Farming for nothing.

Phil Lymbery acknowledges that there is now a general and spreading awareness that meat eating is bad for the planet, but it is mainly red meat such as beef that has seen a drop in consumption while that of chicken, eggs, pork and fish has risen. Simply shifting from beef to chicken won’t help much as chicken is a grain heavy crop. And in the cruelty stakes it is far worse. So while he is happy to see pasture-fed beef grown and sold, he urges that the consumption of all meat be cut drastically. He quotes the Rise Foundation in saying the EU needs to cut its livestock-related emissions by three quarters by 2050 to meet climate change targets. If you don’t want to go fully vegan, he suggests, then have meat as an occasional treat but at the same time recognize that beef is not the only meat.

He welcomes research into alternatives to meat - both plant-based options and new techniques such as ‘precision fermentation’. But he is sure that meat eating as we know it will be unrecognisable by the end of the century.

In the space of this review, it is impossible to do justice to what is in effect an ambitious but very readable treatise on global food production. I can only urge you to read it. Lymbery finishes with this statement: ‘At the heart of sustainable change lies a recognition that all life on our planet is interconnected, and that our future depends on treating it with compassion and respect’.

Sue Hoar

This book by Solitaire Townsend is the antidote to climate doom. It sets out to inspire the reader to take action, to fight climate change and to win a better world for everyone. It acknowledges that there are major problems to struggle against but gives you the belief that by doing something, anything, you are helping to defeat the demons of doom and denial. The book is set out in the style of an adventure, with chapter titles of ‘Enter the Dragon’ and ‘Past the guards’, describing the reader as a hero in the making.

And it was this relentless jolliness that some found difficult, while others (myself) found exciting and inspiring. It may help that I read it in stages over breakfast but I enjoyed the positive spin. As a group we felt it made us feel less guilty for our lapses, and gave us the lift we needed to build resilience and find hope and optimism. The book gave ideas of actions you can take, be they quick easy wins, events to enjoy or letters to write. It inspires action with the promise that doing something will help the reader as much as it does their community and world.

This poor beleaguered planet needs all the help it can get, and after reading this book you may well get the lift you need to take action.

Elizabeth Eveleigh

Satish Kumar is best known for having walked from India to the Kremlin, on to Downing Street and finally to The White House to plead for world peace in an age overshadowed by the nuclear threat, and all that travelling achieved with no money but depending on the kindness of strangers. In Elegant Simplicity we get an insight into some of the things he has achieved in the rest of his life as he uses the lessons he has learnt along the way to suggest a simpler style of living.

Arguing against continual growth Satish states, ‘A fundamental fact is that in a finite planet we cannot afford to have an infinite amount of consumption, pollution and waste’ but by contrast, ‘Living by love and generosity begets love and generosity’. He encourages us to remember that we are part of nature and not separate to it and that, ‘nature’s rights are as important as human rights . . . . nature’s rights include human rights’.

Satish’s gentle style makes this a gentle read, requiring frequent pauses for thought. If you are finding living as a ‘consumer’ unsatisfying then this book may show you the value of simplifying your material life, alongside your spiritual life.

Veronica Carter

Prize winning science writer and broadcaster Gaia Vince has written a landmark work that highlights an aspect of climate change that is not often talked about but needs to be focused on by us all and urgently…. that of human migration away from the parts of the world that are becoming so hot they can no longer sustain life to the cooler North. While here in the UK, we worry about the small boats of refugees coming to our shores, we need to look to the future when, depending on how global heating develops, 1 to 3 billion people will have to move. We see it on our screens already, thousands of Somalian villagers trudging across arid land looking for food and water. Is it commonly known that according to the UN refugees who are fleeing because of climate are not allowed by law to be sent home? Does our Home Office know this?

Gaia says we shall all be affected by climate induced migration whether fleeing our homes or receiving new arrivals. And we need to start preparing. She predicts upheaval for us all during this century but says, 'How we manage this global process and how humanely we treat each other as we migrate, will be key to be whether this century of upheaval proceeds smoothly or with violent conflict and unnecessary deaths.'

Gaia has done her homework. The book is dense with facts. She has travelled to sixty countries doing research. The book starts by giving a worst-case scenario of how hot the Earth is going to get by the end of the century, possibly 3.5 to 4 degrees of warming. She then looks at the parts of the globe that will not sustain life and those that could. Included are excellent diagrams showing the bands of temperatures across the globe and highlighting the areas that will be safe for humanity; that is the far north like Canada, Siberia, Greenland, areas that have been under ice but which with global warming will become liveable. She then comes up with the fantastic idea that cities could be built in these zones that were previously ice bound and human populations could move there. Crazy? Yes. Fantastical? Yes. Visionary? Yes. But with what we are living through, global heating is crazy, the fact that we haven’t tried to stop it is fantastical and maybe it is visionaries like Gaia that we need to show us a solution. She has at least issued a warning that we need to start thinking and planning about where our species is going to survive. She proposes the UN set up a Climate Migration International body.

One message of the book is that migration should be looked on as a solution not a problem. Humanity has always migrated across borders and in fact borders are quite a recent phenomenon. In one of her more idealistic passages, she argues for an abolition of borders. (In our book club we all started to talk about the different parts of the world that our ancestors originally came from. We are a mongrel nation). Migrants, she writes, bring youth, energy and new ideas and wealth to ageing countries.

As Gaia looks at ways to mitigate global heating, she writes extensively about a vast array of geoengineering solutions that she has faith will help. Some are happening now; others are for the future. All are exciting. She has more faith in these developments than in getting millions of people to change their way of life or societies to change their systems. Gaia is on a different page to George Monbiot here.

In her concluding paragraph Gaia compares future migration to the habits we adopted during the pandemic. 'Who would have believed that thousands of us would have voluntarily restricted our movements to within metres of our homes? It is easier to believe that people will migrate thousands of kilometres to reach safety.

'People will move in their millions -right now we have a chance to make it work. This could be a planned, managed, peaceful transition to a safer, fairer world. With international cooperation and regulation, we could and should make the Earth liveable.

‘That has to be worth trying. So, let’s begin.'

Sue Hoar

We choose books here that alternate between providing serious scientific information about all aspects of climate change and those that celebrate biodiversity and describe wonders of the natural world despite it being under threat.

I think this one does both. I found it deeply moving. George Monbiot talks of the extensive damage to the environment by modern farming practices. It is passionate and angry but half the book focuses on projects attempting to arrest this downward trajectory. Monbiot explains that half the world’s habitable land is farmed to produce food from both crops and animals. The natural world is sidelined to more and more degraded and polluted areas. He believes that agriculture is at the heart of the destruction of the planet and yet still millions of people are near starvation.

By 2050 we will need to double our food production. In a time of escalating climate change Monbiot calls for the total remaking of the food industry. Linked to fundamental change is global governance and the financial markets. He draws attention to the hideously polluted UK rivers which are largely as a result of effluent in the form of fertilisers, pesticides and leakage from farms.

Although he displays his extensive scientific knowledge Monbiot has a humanity and appreciation of the people trying to farm regeneratively. He does not over simplify, recognising the dilemmas and contradictions these farmers face in attempting to maintain levels of food production whilst at the same time avoiding the methods used by farmers who are causing damage.

He has a particular interest in soil, with a chapter on this eco-system that underpins all our lives. He details the complex interaction between bacteria, fungi and plants in the soil and the degree to which ploughing with heavy machinery, fertilisers and even irrigation destroy these delicate relationships. Regenerative farmers he visits are revitalising their land with no tilling, avoidance of monocultures, and strict rotations.

However Monbiot accepts that producing more food from less land may not be commercially viable and will need subsidising. There are a number of technical solutions being developed such as perennial cereal crops which would reduce the need of incursions into the land.

Animal production is also not seen as sustainable at current levels and hence his call for more extensive plant based diets and substitute protein production using microbes and 3D printing. This will also make land more available for nature to reclaim.

Personally I was challenged by this book both in the need to grasp the complexity of the science but also in facing the the degree of destruction to soil, rivers, wildlife and the cruelty to animals. It has enlarged my understanding hugely. I think it has made more impact on me, living in a rural area, than any other book on the environment. I hope it has a similar impact on politicians, financiers and farmers.

Andrea Linell

Lulah Elender writes like an angel. This is a personal and intimate book but with a theme that will appeal to anyone to whom the security of a home and garden are important.

Lulah and her husband and four children are at risk of eviction from their Sussex home when it becomes the subject of a probate battle. This happens shortly after her mother dies. Lulah’s first reaction is to hibernate and to neglect the plants that she has been tending so carefully over the years but gradually her interest in the garden is reignited and in fact becomes the passion that sees her through months of uncertainly and grief. The location of the family’s rented home is never specified but it doesn’t take much detective work to deduce that it is Lewes. There are frequent mentions of Vita Sackville West and Virginia Woolf and their gardens including of course Charleston and Sissinghurst. She also enjoys writing about other celebrated gardens like Great Dixter.

Two delightful aspects are the fact that the book cover is a painting of Lulah’s garden and as she talks about various corners you can look at the cover and see what she is referring to. The other are the notes included from her gardening journal comparing nature year by year as it is affected by climate change and the vagaries of nature.

Her mother and the gardening practices that she has passed on are a constant presence as is the life of a lively family. But what this book is all about is this gifted author and her instinct for nature and plants, her broad knowledge of her subject and her sensitivity to the natural world. We celebrate with her gradual emergence from a period of darkness. Grounding was much enjoyed by the group and comes highly recommended.

Sue Hoar

ERA book club generally liked this unusual book by Olga Tokarczuk. It’s a novel with an eco theme, first published in Poland in 2009. It has not dated at all. Billed as a kind of detective story, it really focuses on themes of character, human relations with the natural world, love for animals, belonging, politics (especially the brutish kind), small rural communities and borders. There is plenty of dark humour and also grief and horror, plus astrology, which is taken very seriously, and a good amount of William Blake’s poetry - a difficult book to sum up then, but do give it a try if you haven’t already.

The main character is sixty-ish Janina, a retired English teacher who acts as caretaker for weekenders in a pretty little village in Silesia. The portrait of village life is unromantic. Rural communities are shown as less tolerant and civilised than the local city of Wroclaw. ERA book club members divided over whether the rough justice meted out to some characters was enjoyable or not. The back cover of the paperback says this novel ‘caused a genuine political uproar in Tokarczuk’s native Poland’.

The meeting of urgent philosophical concerns with vividly imagined characters is particularly stimulating. At no point does the novel tell the reader what to think. Instead you enter emotionally into a world that is relatable but strange enough to experience freshly. It leaves behind a strong resonance.

Becca Grey

Presented by Rewriting Extinction, this book represents a global campaign to raise money and awareness for the climate and the biodiversity crises.

It is very much a group effort with all the proceeds going towards the seven partner projects including Greenpeace, the World Land Trust and Born Free Reserva. The graphics are colourful, lively and contemporary with contributions from more than 300 leading environmentalists like George Monbiot, leading illustrators like David Mack, actors like Dame Judi Dench and film makers like Richard Curtiss. There are 120 stories, some very serious, some funny. We loved the Saolas deer cartoon where in spite of there being only two Saolas left on earth, the female decided she would continue to explore her options.

Serious pieces include one from Sir Nicholas Stern on the global impact of the loss of Indonesia’s forests and peatlands.

This is a book to dip into, to learn from, to enjoy the powerful illustrations and to share with as many people as possible.

Sue Hoar

As a young man in 2004 and recently moved into a flat in Elephant and Castle, Richard Reynolds became aware of the miserable public flower beds and neglected planters in front of his tower block. There began for him a passion for guerrilla gardening. He started going out at night to tend and refill the large planters. After three years of successful gardening, Southwark Council became aware of what Richard was up to and savagely tore into the planters destroying all the growing plants, including slashing a white two-metre-high Buddleia. Eventually after months of negotiation, Richard was allowed to continue as an official ‘volunteer’ and the flats’ tenants were no longer charged for the maintenance that they had been paying for and which had never previously been carried out.

Full of colourful photographs, this lively and delightful book is a pleasure to read. It is full of such stories as Richard’s from around the world. Each member of the official guerrilla gardener network (and there must be hundreds of unofficial ones) is given a number along with their name as in an army and in fact, Richard likens guerrilla gardening tactics to those employed by famous political guerrillas such as Mao and Che Guevara. He is also very interesting on the history and genus of guerrilla gardening, going back to Winstanley and the Diggers in the mid-1600s, who attempted to grow crops on Common Land but were persecuted by both Lords of the Manor and some priests and finally squashed by Oliver Cromwell.

But On Guerrilla Gardening is above all a handbook for anyone who wants to take up guerrilla gardening, i.e., gardening in any neglected public space without permission. Richard covers everything from what plants to grow in certain conditions, how to water, what clothes to wear, how to deal with the authorities, what soil to use and how to persuade local people to look after the gardens in their area. I found it inspiring and already have some ideas of where and what to plant in secret around me!

Written in 2008, this lively book may be promoting a movement that is no longer at its height. Our public authorities are somewhat more enlightened now and there are organised community gardens for both flowers and vegetables all over our cities. However, there always exist neglected pockets in both town and country crying out for a bit of life and colour, even if it is only the area of soil around city trees or the road verges in the countryside.

Sue Hoar

This is a powerful read that takes one through many many facets of the climate crisis, giving any reader a thorough introduction to this complex issue in an accessible and not over-technical way. Jonathan makes compelling arguments as to why action is needed right now, or tipping points will be past and there will be no route back and he admits to how difficult it can be to maintain hope in the face of that reality. However, he has many sensible suggestions as to what could be done. I was struck by the obviousness of needing to get rid of schemes such a frequent flier discounts that incentivise more and more flying and replace them with a frequent flier levy, whilst significantly taxing jet fuel and banning advertising by airlines. Interestingly Jonathan comes down in favour of paying carbon offsets for flights as it can provide a way of channelling money from wealthy people to poorer countries which are disproportionately affected by climate change. The rise of the far right and populism is also discussed given that the same people are often also climate deniers, and China comes in for some detailed discussion.

All in all the members of the book club felt this was an informative book that made them realise how many different aspects of modern life are relevant to the climate crisis and can therefore become part of the solution.

Jonathan refers to the work of political scientist Erica Chenoweth, which shows that ‘it only takes 3.5% of the population of any country actively participating in protests to achieve significant political change’ which felt to us like a compelling reason to get out there and do our bit!

Veronica Carter

The ERA book club thoroughly enjoyed Jen Gale’s The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide. This is a relatively light read, packed with practical suggestions of small changes we could all make towards living more sustainably: ‘easy, do-able, down-to-earth ideas and suggestion for everyone to help save the planet.’

This was a very popular book with the group, a straightforward, down to earth, realistic handbook to living sustainably and more like a citizen and a little less like a consumer. It is packed with so many ideas that any of us might choose to act on as well as a fascinating selection of websites to visit. For example, did you know that you can get refillable felt pens? Elsewhere in the book five websites are suggested as starting points for buying second hand clothes online.

The book works through different areas of our lives where we could all make some changes so as to be a little more sustainable in what we do, including, food, fashion, family, home, work, school and more.

A lot of people making small changes soon begins to add up to some big changes happening on a societal level. Have you considered having your milk delivered by a milkman (saving a lot of plastic), or is there one journey a week you could be making by bike or by public transport?

We usually like to say that we have copies of past books that we can now lend to others, but one of the group proclaimed that this is a book they definitely do not want to lend to others and risk never seeing again!

We met on Zoom to discuss The Future We Chose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac. The authors both played key roles in the process which led to the Paris Agreement in 2015.

Overall it was felt this was an optimistic book, balanced with a good amount of realism. It provides many suggestions for what can, and indeed should, be done; many suggestions are practical in nature but some more spiritual and linked to maintaining good mental health whilst contemplating such difficult matters. The book makes the point that lobbying politicians is critical and needs to be done alongside any actions we take as individuals. We need to think of ourselves more as ‘citizens’ than as ‘consumers’.

Thinking about this book whilst in this pandemic has brought into focus how we have learned to truly value many members of our society, our ‘key workers’, many of whom are not well rewarded for their efforts. The best of ‘citizens’ are not necessarily those who we might have seen as the most successful, based on their pay packet!

The following extract particularly resonated with the group. ‘When you are faced with the hard realities, look at them with clarity, but also know that you are incredibly lucky to be alive at a time when you can make a transformative difference to the future of all life on Earth. You are not powerless. In fact, your every action is suffused with meaning, and you are part of the greatest chapter of human achievement in history.’

We met on Zoom to discuss Suzanne Simard’s book Finding the Mother Tree with some members drawing comparisons with another book on a similar theme, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Finding the Mother Tree is a positive and interesting account of one scientist’s passionate commitment to investigating the mysterious connections between trees and the mutual support that exists between different species. The scientific detail in Simard’s book was not always easy to follow but one could usually get the gist of what was going on. Her book does not make much mention of negative interactions between trees and the life surrounding them, such as the toxic effect of Black Walnut on other trees. We were impressed by her openness to exploring the traditional beliefs and wisdom of the indigenous peoples of her native Canada.

We came away from the book with a better understanding of how little is known about the deeply complex interconnectivities within the natural environment and convinced that this understanding is surely set to increase in the years to come.

The BBC has made a video which is a great introduction to the Wood Wide Web that this book speaks about, and its implications for Climate Change. A version of the video can be found here.

Our first Book Club meeting was most enjoyable with our discussion covering quite a bit of ground! Our book English Pastoral by James Rebanks traces three generations of his family on a small farm in the Lake District and explains the changes that have happened within agriculture during that period and how we find ourselves where we currently are. In the words of one of our contributors it is a book 'full of heart' and well worth a read if you haven't yet come across it. Our discussion of the book finished with us making a start on collating a list of local suppliers who we felt able to recommend to others and whose use might help to reduce our food miles, whilst supporting local businesses (including local agriculture) and supporting farming practices that may damage the environment somewhat less.