Earth Day Reads

Outdoor Sculpture Museum, Hakone, Japan 

 UNLESS someone like you cares a whole lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” —The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss

Earth Day usually falls on April 22. While these recommendations aren't necessarily traditional "tree hugger" reads, they explore the land as a central character-- acknowledging what happens when we forget that the Earth is a vital protagonist in our own mo'olelo. 

In Hawaiian thinking, if kānaka, humanity, leaves the earth alone, it will heal itself. The action the earth asks for  is to pay attention and try not to "F" it up. Otherwise, we have only ourselves to blame. Some of these books explore worlds where we have already reached that breaking point. 

Recommended Titles:

• Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier -- While this is a fantasy, this is also about limited resources, man’s arrogance over all living things, and the ways of knowing that come from living on an island. 

• ‘Āina Hānau: Birthland by Nālani McDougal-- In this collection, the kānaka ʻōiwi poet weaves her ‘āina through her pieces like a comfort blanket.

• Braiding Sweetgrass for YA by Robin Wall Kimmerer (adapted by Monique Gray Smith) -- an Indigenous biologist by trade, Kimmerer shares a perspective of nature that reveals ancient intelligence and gifts for the modern world. 

• Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear Meltdown in Fukushima by Deirdre Langeland --A multi-genre non-fiction account of the “perfect storm” that hit Fukushima. 

• Journey to Tomioka  by Laurent Galandon (upcoming) is a graphic novel, fantasy about a brother and sister who live with their grandmother because of the Fukushima disaster. When they lose their grandmother, they need to bring her back into the closed off zone that was their neighborhood. It is not out yet, but this will be linked when the book publishes.

• Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto -- Queer heist adventure with familiar local values and pidgin. This "mahudystopianfuturism" takes place in space because we surely lost the planet.