Communities are pushing their limits while adapting to more frequent and volatile fires caused by climate change. When people work together communities can be better prepared for the future.
BERT AND JOHNNIE HYDE
Bert and Johnnie Hyde live just outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, near the town of Ely, Minnesota. They love their home and they’re prepared to do whatever it takes to support and protect their community.
In recent years Bert and Johnnie have witnessed a lot of changes in their environment. The most threatening change has been the dramatic increase in intense and unpredictable forest fires, exacerbated by a drier, hotter climate. Bert and Johnnie responded to this rising threat by signing up as volunteer EMTs and teaching canoe basics to fire fighters, to help them battle flames in remote areas. Because they also recognize the importance of preventing and preparing for disaster, Bert started conducting house inspections to help homeowners become fire aware and implement fire resistant tactics.
Bert, Johnnie, and their community know they have to take care of each other. They’re adapting to the new normal by coming together to build resolve and resiliency.
SCIENCE IN EVERYDAY LIFE
RECOMMENDED BOOKS AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Consider these titles for your Community theme book selection. Full descriptions of each book and suggested discussion questions can be found in the download file at the bottom of the page.
A.D: New Orleans After the Deluge, by Josh Neufeld. (Non-fiction, graphic novel)
A stunning graphic novel that makes plain the undeniable horrors and humanity triggered by Hurricane Katrina in the true stories of six New Orleanians who survived the storm.
We watch as they make the wrenching decision between staying and evacuating. And we see them coping not only with the outcome of their own decisions but also with those made by politicians, police, and others like themselves—decisions that drastically affect their lives, but over which they have no control. - goodreads.com
Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver. (Fiction)
A brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia, Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions—religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians—trapping her in the center of the conflict.
Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, by Erik Larson. (Non-fiction)
September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Hours later later, experienced a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over six thousand people in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history. - amazon.com
Memory of Water, by Emmi Itäranta. (Fiction)
In the future wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe. Seventeen-year-old Noria is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets, including the location of hidden water sources. After her father’s death the army starts watching Noria, and she must choose between safety and striking out, between knowledge and kinship. - amazon.com
Odds Against Tomorrow, by Nathaniel Rich. (Fiction)
In this thriller/love story, Mitchell Zukor calculates worst-case scenarios with ecological collapse, global war, and natural disasters - and his schemes are sold to corporations to indemnify them against any future disasters. When an actual worst-case scenario overtakes Manhattan. Mitchell realizes he is uniquely prepared to profit. But at what cost? The future is not quite what it used to be.
The Water Knife, by Paolo Bacigalupi. (Fiction)
In a fragmenting United States, the cities of Phoenix and Las Vegas skirmish for a dwindling share of the Colorado River. The Las Vegas Water Knives - assassins, terrorists and spies - protect Las Vegas' water supplies. Water Knife Angel Velasquez goes to Phoenix to investigate a rumored new water supply and discovers Lucy Monroe, who holds the secret to the water source. But Angel isn't the only one hunting for water, Lucy is no pushover, and the death of a despised water knife is a small price to pay in return for the life-giving flow of a river. - fantasticfiction.com
A stunning graphic novel that makes plain the undeniable horrors and humanity triggered by Hurricane Katrina in the true stories of six New Orleanians who survived the storm.
We watch as they make the wrenching decision between staying and evacuating. And we see them coping not only with the outcome of their own decisions but also with those made by politicians, police, and others like themselves—decisions that drastically affect their lives, but over which they have no control. - goodreads.com
Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver. (Fiction)
A brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia, Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions—religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians—trapping her in the center of the conflict.
Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, by Erik Larson. (Non-fiction)
September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Hours later later, experienced a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over six thousand people in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history. - amazon.com
Memory of Water, by Emmi Itäranta. (Fiction)
In the future wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe. Seventeen-year-old Noria is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets, including the location of hidden water sources. After her father’s death the army starts watching Noria, and she must choose between safety and striking out, between knowledge and kinship. - amazon.com
Odds Against Tomorrow, by Nathaniel Rich. (Fiction)
In this thriller/love story, Mitchell Zukor calculates worst-case scenarios with ecological collapse, global war, and natural disasters - and his schemes are sold to corporations to indemnify them against any future disasters. When an actual worst-case scenario overtakes Manhattan. Mitchell realizes he is uniquely prepared to profit. But at what cost? The future is not quite what it used to be.
The Water Knife, by Paolo Bacigalupi. (Fiction)
In a fragmenting United States, the cities of Phoenix and Las Vegas skirmish for a dwindling share of the Colorado River. The Las Vegas Water Knives - assassins, terrorists and spies - protect Las Vegas' water supplies. Water Knife Angel Velasquez goes to Phoenix to investigate a rumored new water supply and discovers Lucy Monroe, who holds the secret to the water source. But Angel isn't the only one hunting for water, Lucy is no pushover, and the death of a despised water knife is a small price to pay in return for the life-giving flow of a river. - fantasticfiction.com