猫咪社区

 to read . So, it seems, does Coach Beard, the  on the charming and messy TV show, Ted Lasso.  :

The character of Coach Nate, played by Nick Mohammed, is complaining he never gets credit for his tactical game planning. That’s when the philosophical and wacky Coach Beard, played by Brendan Hunt, replies:

“You know, we used to believe that trees competed with each other for light. Suzanne Simard’s field work challenged that perception, and we now realize that the forest is a socialist community. Trees work in harmony to share the sunlight.”

I loved this under-the-breath moment because A) pop culture rarely talks climate, , and B) Coach Beard鈥檚 reading references speak to the growing popularity of books about the animacy of nature. In a different episode Coach Beard reads another favourite of this emerging canon, .

I鈥檓 new to it all. I tend to prefer policy papers, behavioral science tracts, books about electrification and climate communication, quality doorstop material. For longer than I鈥檇 like to admit, I resisted this 鈥渘ature has feelings鈥� lit. It seemed kinda, I dunno, floofy. And also, scary. I feel bad enough about what we鈥檝e destroyed of this world without worrying about whether mushrooms have feelings. But Braiding Sweetgrass&苍产蝉辫;(丑别谤别鈥檚&苍产蝉辫;鈥攚atch it for his glasses alone) was my gateway moss, and now I can鈥檛 put these books down.

I  because they talk about bridging this human/nature divide (humans are nature, I know, which they also discuss in the interview), and this little snippet encapsulates it perfectly: 

Richard: I think if I were to give this an oversimplification, I was concerned as a younger writer, in my 20s and 30s and 40s, with the human sciences that amplify our ability to control and master and manipulate our situation here and to understand ourselves. And in my 50s and 60s, I鈥檝e become interested in the humbling sciences, I guess I would say, that point our attention away from ourselves and onto other living things. 

Ezra: I love that idea of the humbling sciences. I鈥檓 going to steal that from here on out.

Richard: Yeah. And you know, amazement and wonder are very close to humility in my own emotional wheel. The more astonishing the world around us becomes, the more we have to share the limelight with these other things that are just mind boggling.

Yes! It makes me think of Mary Oliver: 

Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

I know that I鈥檝e been prioritizing the wondrous, if manipulative, power of humanity over the astonishing, edifying powers of the natural world. Humans are indeed part of the natural world, so to prioritize their knowledge to the exclusion of the rest of the world is just鈥� narrow, and a bit sad.

But why was it so hard for me to come around to the humbling sciences? It couldn鈥檛 just be the aforementioned fears about mushroom consciousness. I think part of it was the deep-seated belief in the primacy of human knowledge鈥攖hat the more I read of behavioral science, the more I can solve for human irrationality when it comes to the climate crisis, and life in general. It鈥檚 an impatient means of gathering information towards defeating a problem with a very ticking time clock. It鈥檚 hard to balance the obvious fact that we need to act now, despite the fact that we have only a tiny understanding of this world we have to save. And to be clear, coming round to the sentience of nature is not just about cheerleading for natural solutions. It鈥檚 more like listening to what nature has to offer to the conversation about natural solutions. Less Giving Tree, more Sharing Tree.

Besides, an embrace of one way of seeing doesn鈥檛 mean you鈥檝e forsaken another. Learning about how trees talk to each other doesn鈥檛 mean you don鈥檛 care about how humans talk to each other. I say it far too much, but this paragraph really warrants a 鈥渄uh,鈥� doesn鈥檛 it?

At some point on his Odyssean journey, Coach Beard, or the dazzling writers who put pen to that episode (one of whom is Brett Goldstein鈥� Roy Kent reads Finding the Mother Tree? Now that鈥檚 an audiobook I鈥檇 pay good money for) seems to have gotten all this into his pleasantly mysterious noggin. Over the arc of two seasons, Coach Beard鈥檚 reading goes from narrowly literal to natural literature as well, from  to these two very profound books, no disrespect to the Dummies series of course. Change is possible. Football is life. And trees talk. Who knew?

What else might Beard read, I wonder? Here are my guesses:

•  Melanie Challenger
•  Andreas Malm
•  Robin Wall Kimmerer
•  Lyanda Lynn Haupt
•  Edward Abbey (Because we all know Coach Beard goes to Burning Man)
•  Stefan Zweig

This week:

What are your favorite 鈥淭he Forest is Talking鈥� books? Let me know!

Last week:

Bonnie let me know that  was… a bit much! It was a helpful reminder that I don鈥檛 think twice about a lot of the less than great messaging in all the cultural artifacts of my youth鈥攚hich usually came with a heavy dose of misogyny, materialism, or just plain gross priorities. There was no need to share the video when the tagline would have sufficed! 

Last last week:

I鈥檒l continue to share the meditations on . Here鈥檚 this beauty from Nathan:

In response to your invitation: Yes, climate keeps me up at night. Less than it used to, when the weight of it all was still sinking in. Now it’s more or less a feature of my days and sometimes nights. Your way of reframing it as poubelle and answering it with some good reading is helpful. There seems to be no shortage of amazing books, directly climate-related and not, right now and I rarely get to them during the day鈥攑artly because I am, irrationally, worried that they will keep me up thinking. Selecting a few that are most inspiring and beautiful for poubelle reading seems a sensible way to both a) attend to the topic keeping me up and b) channel the energy in a useful direction. Which seem to me to be the two (oversimplified) steps to living with climate anxiety. 

Other stuff:

• Speaking of books, I would like to give one away: Reader Adam Stones鈥� . Writes Adam:

It鈥檚 a total communications how-to for impact entrepreneurs and societal changemakers. I鈥檝e met so many people who have had great ideas to change the world but simply didn鈥檛 know how to get the world to listen. So when my toddler鈥檚 eyes last year asked 鈥渨hat are you doing to help my future?鈥�, I decided to write this book (Your mantra of grieve, breathe, seize definitely applied here鈥�) It鈥檚 actually all the work I have been doing for the past decade or so packaged up into a simple guidebook.

I love this. If you could use some tools to better communicate your climate ideas, email me! I鈥檒l write all the names down and one of our guinea pig鈥檚 will choose a winner next week. In the meantime, check out Adam鈥檚  (sign up on the main page). Or read one of his posts to get a sense of what he鈥檚 all about. I like t. 

• I鈥檓 a sucker for anything on the 鈥渢hird space,鈥� i.e. communal spaces that are neither work nor home. Sarah Sax, writing in 猫咪社区!, explores why libraries are essential to climate justice.

• We鈥檙e all solutions journalists now! (And not a moment too soon.) CBC .
• If you鈥檝e long been puzzled by DAC (Direct Air Capture), Clive Thompson鈥檚 piece in Mother Jones is the most straightforward and comprehensive overview I鈥檝e read in a while: 鈥�?鈥� (TL;DR – maybe?)
•  on prepping your brain for COP coverage from Akshat Rathi.
• . Adele Peters on Saul Griffith鈥檚 very logical plan of emissions attack.

People Dancing

Who else? Coach Beard from the most perfect Scorcese-homage of an episode. (Earworm warning: you won鈥檛 be able to get this song out of your head ever ever ever again):

Play

Thanks so much for reading. Make sure to drag this email into your primary folder if it tends to go to sludge. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe or share. And as always, please let me know how to make it better.

Have a lovely, cozy, joyful weekend,
Sarah

P.S. This is my newsletter for the week of Oct. 22, 2021, published in partnership with 猫咪社区! Media. You can sign up to get Minimum Viable Planet newsletter emailed directly to you at .