Facing the Change: Personal Encounters with Global Warming

Amidst the current deluge of statistics about global warming, this book provides a refreshing look at how individuals are affected. The contributors, a mix of poets and essayists, concentrate on small changes in nature, as well as the ways they cope with the immensity of the problem. Some describe concrete changes such as hanging laundry out to dry or splitting wood; others relay deeper reactions. For example, Willow Fagan writes in %E2%80%9CBeyond Denial%E2%80%9D that she finds comfort in the belief that %E2%80%9Cthere is an order so much vaster%E2%80%A6than we can comprehend, which nothing we do can threaten.%E2%80%9D There are personal accounts of real events; an encounter with a starving bear, and parents trying to teach children about ecology without giving them nightmares. Contributors also look toward the future, in the poem %E2%80%9CFlorida,%E2%80%9D Quynh Nguyen%E2%80%99s writes, %E2%80%9CI want to apologize for my actions before I leave.%E2%80%9D This is a beautiful book to keep near, open at random, and share the words of gifted writers as they prepare for the coming changes. (Oct.)