(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Nonfiction Views: August 1st 2023 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-01 I love travel. I love maps. And I’m devoted to suffering a great deal of angst over the potential for disaster due to climate change. So Christina Gerhardt’s recently published Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean was irresistible to me. The book covers 49 islands, island groups and island nations around the world, each with its own short chapter giving an overview of the location’s history, the present, and the impending dangerous future Each is also accompanied by a map. Most chapters are straightforward narrative, but there is also poetry and art sprinkled throughout. The effect is to both expand the view to every ocean around the world, but to also keep the focus on a very personal, human level. We visit crowded islands like Singapore, which ranks second in the world in population density. Its location at the tip of the Malay Peninsula means it exists within one of the busiest maritime routes in the world. 12 million barrels of oil pass by each day en route to China. Over time, Singapore has expanded through land reclamation, added many square miles to its borders. But As it faces the prospect of rising seas, it is retro-engineering some of that by restoring mangrove forests and wetlands along the coastlines. When millions of people are concentrated in a small area no more than 50 feet above sea level (and one-third of that less than 17 feet above sea level), you need to be proactive. We visit island nations, like the Republic of Fiji, consisting of 330 islands, a third of which are inhabited, and 500 smaller islets. The government has identified 830 communities that are vulnerable to rising seas and more powerful storms. 80 of them have been earmarked for resettlement, and four have already moved. The planning takes into account much more than simple geography: community involvement, traditions and identity are all part of relocation planning. We visit small single islands, such as Bhasan Char, located 18.6 miles off the coast of Bangladesh, sitting in the Bay of Bengal at the confluence of three great rivers: the Brahmaputra, the Ganges and Meghna. Bangladesh has been a primary destination for the hundreds of thousand of Rohingya refugees fleeing from the threat of genocide in Myanmar. The government has designated Bhasan Char as a refugee camp for up to 100,000 Rohinga people. With rising oceans and more powerful storms threatening the island, this is a potential human rights disaster. The author spells out her intent in the book’s introduction: How to make visible what might be geographically remote to some? How to render visible the climate science. ...How to encourage a thinking that is mindful of how we are all connected, as humans and with nonhumans. Spatially, actions in one place have an effect in another place. Temporally, actions in one era (the history of burning fossil fuels) have an effect in another era (the present.) How to encourage a perspective that weaves together our past history and actions, including the legacy of colonialism, with a thinking about our present actions that works towards a livable future? Most chapters have at least one map, and often an accompanying diagram or two. They make very clear the challenges faced by each of these islands, showing the coastlines as they existed in 2010, and projected coastlines for 2050 and 2100. The maps also show different important details, sometimes showing the location of schools, or of roads, or mangrove forests, or airports. Sometimes the maps show coastline that has already been submerged. It is all very daunting. But as Bill McKibben writes in his foreword to the book: The people of these islands are not giving up. “We are not drowning! We are fighting!” has become a rallying cry across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. This volume lets them speak, and reminds all of us precisely what is at stake. We should have this information close to heart: the geography, the history, the particular humanity of these places that in our carelessness we in the rich continents are on the edge of wrecking. Yes, my upgraded Literate Lizard Online Bookstore went live last Friday, and I hope you’ll check it out. I got it to the point of having just enough content to take it live, but I have lots more plans. I’m busily adding new content every day, and will have lots more dedicated subject pages and curated booklists as it grows. I want it to be full of book-lined rabbit holes to lose yourself in (and maybe throw some of those books into a shopping cart as well.) And yes, the coupon code DAILYKOS still gets you 15% 0ff your order. THIS WEEK’S NEW NONFICTION All book links in this diary are to my online bookstore The Literate Lizard. If you already have a favorite indie bookstore, please keep supporting them. If you’re able to throw a little business my way, that would be appreciated. Use the coupon code DAILYKOS for 15% off your order, in gratitude for your support (an ever-changing smattering of new releases are already discounted 15% each week). We also partner Libro.fm for audiobooks. Libro.fm is similar to Amazon’s Audible, with a la carte audiobooks, or a $14.99 monthly membership which includes the audiobook of your choice and 20% off subsequent purchases during the month. 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