Under the Sky We Make by Kimberly Nicholas [8/10]

Climate scientist Kimberly Nicholas, accustomed to speaking about the climate emergency and how we react to it, has now offered up a far-reaching manifesto on how to move forward. ”Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World” takes the chaotic data dump we all face when we come to grips with the crisis and delineates a hopeful chain of thought and action. The first few chapters (“It’s warming, it’s us”) sets out the science and its strength, and how much we need to know. Next (“We’re sure, it’s bad”), she provides a kind of counselling service, on how to deal with the waves of grief, rage, nihilism, and helplessness that assail the modern activist. And finally, and most importantly (“We can fix it”), she examines, using personal anecdotes, how we can most sensibly align our own worlds with the societal changes we are seeking to bring about. The author is a smooth, confident stylist, with a sense of humor and refreshing candidness, and the book, far from being a chore, is a breeze to read. Under the Sky We Make might well be the book that changes your life.