In April we read Bill Gates’ latest: a manual on climate change for the general public, How To Avoid A Climate Disaster, with environmental justice advocate + influencer (and my friend!) Zahra Biabani of @Soulful_Seeds. The nonfiction work has received lots of press and praises from mainstream outlets, so we were intrigued – but the climate and sustainability community online was largely outspoken in its distaste for a billionaire-authored book on the climate crisis. Zahra shares a bit of insight on the influencer controversy with the book, and we share similar sentiments of ickiness. We critically break down what we liked and didn’t like; we discuss energy poverty, agriculture, environmental justice, geoengineering… all of it. We finish with our out-of-5 ratings and review of the book.

Next month we will be reading Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy – our first fiction book club pick! Migrations is a novel about a researcher in Greenland following the migration of Arctic terns (birds – I’m already obsessed) + evolves into her story of love, family, + crime.