April is a time to celebrate the Earth, including the lands, waters, plants, animals and communities that give us life. In honor of Earth Month, here are five books and seven film recommendations to help us appreciate and learn more about the planet we call home. These recommendations were gathered from faculty affiliates, staff members and students in the Environmental Humanities program.
Books
"The Once and Future Lake: Stories for Great Salt Lake"
Edited by Michael McLane
This anthology brings together storytellers, scientists and artists to describe the beauty of the Great Salt Lake’s complex ecosystem and express hope for a future where the Great Salt Lake will thrive again. Through essays, stories and poems, local writers, including Terry Tempest Williams, Paisley Rekdal and Darren Parry, show that our lives are intertwined with the restoration of the Great Salt Lake.
"You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World"
Edited by Ada Limón
This collection features 50 previously unpublished poems from some of the nation’s most accomplished poets, including Joy Harjo, Diane Seuss, Rigoberto González, Jericho Brown, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Paul Tran and more. Each poem engages with its author’s local landscape—be it the breathtaking variety of flora in a national park, or a lone tree flowering persistently by a bus stop—offering an intimate model of how we relate to the world around us and a beautifully diverse range of voices from across the United States.
"Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land"
By Leah Penniman
This book is a comprehensive manual for small-scale growers and farmers of all levels. In this book, Penniman provides not only practical guidance but also scholarly context to help readers understand anti-Black violence and discrimination within the American food system as well as the past, present and future of African American sustainable farming practices.
"A Psalm for the Wild-Built"
By Becky Chambers
This short novella follows a tea monk and a mossy forest robot as they travel together through the towns of a solarpunk future. In this cozy queer sci-fi book, Chambers invites readers to imagine a more sustainable and caring world.
"Salvage the Bones"
By Jesmyn Ward
This intimate creative fiction novel follows a working-class African American family in Mississippi as they prepare for Hurricane Katrina and navigate the aftermath of the storm.
Films
