Come Read With Us Bay Area! KQED Launches a Climate Book Club

I’m concerned about how our climate is changing. My son is not growing up on the planet of my childhood. As a science reporter, I’ve covered climate-related issues for over a decade. Yet, there is still so much more for me to know.

That’s why I’m launching a climate book club with KQED Science and Forum, our flagship morning call-in show. I want a refresher on the basics of climate change, where the most promising solutions lie, and how we can work to make the future better. And I want people to talk with.

Katharine Hayhoe, author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope, said about climate change, “The number one thing we can do is the exact thing that we’re not doing: talk about it.” There are so many smart, well-researched climate books that I know will be interesting and impactful. Yet I haven’t read them.

Can you relate?

Find support, accountability and people to talk to in our book club. Will you join us?

Who is behind it? Danielle Venton, science reporter, and Francesca Fenzi, Forum digital community producer.

What is it? We’ll read a climate book every few months throughout 2024. You can join an online discussion group via Forum’s community on Discord. (If you are new to the social media platform, read step-by-step instructions at kqed.org/forum.) Then join us for a live discussion, sometimes with the book author or with journalists and climate experts.

Where and when is it? We’ll post discussion topics on Discord for our first book starting March 18, with new topics every week. On May 8, we’ll have our first live conversation about the book with KQED climate reporter Laura Klivans. (More details about that will be posted at KQED.org/live in the coming weeks.)

Which book? We’re starting with Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation To Build a Sustainable Planet by Hannah Ritchie. This book is “for anyone who finds it difficult to believe in a better future,” the Times of London review said. Ritchie is a data scientist and researcher at Oxford University. Her goal is to convince her readers that there’s a lot the average person can do to make sure the planet our children inherit is healthier than the one we were born into. Grab your copy now.

Who is it for? People who want a better climate future and need a little hope.