The importance of telling new climate stories—stories that center the persistence of life itself, that embrace comedy and radical hope.\n“How dare you?” asked teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg at the United Nations in 2019. How dare the world’s leaders fiddle around the edges when the world is on fire? Why is society unable to grasp the enormity of climate change? In Beyond Climate Breakdown, Peter Friederici writes that the answer must come in the form of a story, and that our miscomprehension of the climate crisis comes about because we have been telling the wrong stories. These stories are pervasive; they come from long narrative traditions, sanctioned by capitalism, Hollywood, and social media, and they revolve around a myth: that the nation exists primarily as a setting for a certain kind of economic activity.\nStories are how we make sense of the world and our place in it. The story that “the economy” takes priority over everything else may seem foreordained, but, Friederici explains, actually reflect choices made by specific people out of self-interest. So we need new stories—stories that center the persistence of life, rather than of capitalism, stories that embrace contradiction and complexity. We can create new stories based on comedy and radical hope. Comedy never says no; hope sprouts like a flower in cracked concrete. These attitudes require a new way of thinking—an adaptive attitude toward life that slips the narrow yoke of definition.

Beyond Climate Breakdown: Envisioning New Stories of Radical Hope (One Planet)

Politics & Social Sciences

Friederici, Peter

Social Sciences

The MIT Press

In Glen Canyon waters rose, inundating petroglyphs and creating Lake Powell. Now the Colorado River basin is experiencing the longest dry spell in modern history—one that shows alarming signs of becoming the new normal. In A New Form of Beauty photographer Peter Goin and writer Peter Friederici tackle science from the viewpoint of art, creating a lyrical exploration in words and photographs, setting Glen Canyon and Lake Powell as the quintessential example of the challenges of perceiving place in a new era of radical change. Through evocative photography and extensive reporting, the two document their visits to the canyon country over a span of many years. By motorboat and kayak, they have ventured into remote corners of the once-huge reservoir to pursue profound questions: What is this place? How do we see it? What will it become? Goin’s full-color photographs are organized in three galleries—Flora and Fauna, Artifacts, and Low Water—interspersed with three essays by Friederici, and an epilogue gallery on Fire. The book includes two foldout photographs, which allow readers to fully see Lake Powell at high water and low water points Contemplating humanity’s role in the world it is creating, Goin and Friederici ask if the uncertainties inherent in Glen Canyon herald an unpredictable new future for every place. They challenge us to question how we look at the world, how we live in it, and what the future will be.

A New Form of Beauty: Glen Canyon Beyond Climate Change

Arts & Photography

Goin, Peter

Photography & Video

University of Arizona Press

Set in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago, amid traffic, pollution, and ever-increasing neighborhoods of houses and apartments, these meditative personal essays explore the importance of our connection with the natural world, history, and memory. The Suburban Wild follows the seasons from one spring to the next, celebrating the natural miracles we frequently miss and revealing a territory less tamed than we might imagine. These essays offer the sights and sounds found on the outskirts of cities, just perceptible amid the clutter and din of crowded streets and sidewalks. From the constant humming of cicadas on summer evenings and the seasonal migrations of ducks to the myriad hues in a green heron's feathers, Peter Friederici reveals a complex place in which wild geese and morning commuters share the same habitat. The essays honor our lost creatures and places, emphasizing the importance of history, memory, and consciousness. The author describes the varying shades and textures of a clay bluff near his childhood home, relating the gradual erosion and recession of this Ice Age-old landform. A description of spirogyra algae blooms on Lake Michigan merges with a discussion of the lake's once abundant native mussels and the imported zebra mussels that are threatening their existence. From recorded memories, Friederici re-creates the sight of the now extinct passenger pigeon. Though awareness of the destruction of the landscape and its creatures is never far from the wonders presented here, The Suburban Wild connects the tracks of wildlife and traces of our changing landscape with our own path through the world. The book explores how history―whether natural or cultural, collective or personal―shapes a landscape, and how human memory shapes that history. At heart, it seeks to forge a link between the world outside our windows and the one inside.

The Suburban Wild

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

University of Georgia Press

Set in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago, amid traffic, pollution, and ever-increasing neighborhoods of houses and apartments, these meditative personal essays explore the importance of our connection with the natural world, history, and memory. The Suburban Wild follows the seasons from one spring to the next, celebrating the natural miracles we frequently miss and revealing a territory less tamed than we might imagine. These essays offer the sights and sounds found on the outskirts of cities, just perceptible amid the clutter and din of crowded streets and sidewalks. From the constant humming of cicadas on summer evenings and the seasonal migrations of ducks to the myriad hues in a green heron's feathers, Peter Friederici reveals a complex place in which wild geese and morning commuters share the same habitat. The essays honor our lost creatures and places, emphasizing the importance of history, memory, and consciousness. The author describes the varying shades and textures of a clay bluff near his childhood home, relating the gradual erosion and recession of this Ice Age-old landform. A description of spirogyra algae blooms on Lake Michigan merges with a discussion of the lake's once abundant native mussels and the imported zebra mussels that are threatening their existence. From recorded memories, Friederici re-creates the sight of the now extinct passenger pigeon. Though awareness of the destruction of the landscape and its creatures is never far from the wonders presented here, The Suburban Wild connects the tracks of wildlife and traces of our changing landscape with our own path through the world. The book explores how history-whether natural or cultural, collective or personal-shapes a landscape, and how human memory shapes that history. At heart, it seeks to forge a link between the world outside our windows and the one inside.

Across America and around the world, people are working to help nature heal itself. In Bermuda, a man single-handedly grows thousands of trees on a small island to restore nesting habitat for a rare seabird. In Illinois, legions of volunteers replant prairies in the shadows of freeways. In Virginia, a farmer works to bring back the mighty American chestnut. What drives these individuals? How did their passions come about, and what are the implications for restoring the environment? Nature’s Restoration: People and Places on the Front Lines of Conservation is a lyrical look at these and other examples of ordinary citizens aiming to return sizable tracts of the American landscape to nature, and to health. They’ve found success in preserving rare species, reversing negative ecological trends, and promoting greater intimacy with nature. Yet the work is far from simple. Restoration projects are often in the news not only because of the promise they hold, but also because of the controversy they provoke. Based on detailed reporting and numerous interviews, Nature’s Restoration puts us on the front lines of restoration to learn how this burgeoning national movement shapes both places and people.

Nature's Restoration: People and Places on the Front Lines of Conservation

Business & Money

Economics

Island Press

Across America and around the world, people areworking to help nature heal itself. In Bermuda, a mansingle-handedly grows thousands of trees on a smallisland to restore nesting habitat for a rare seabird. InIllinois, legions of volunteers replant prairies in theshadows of freeways. In Virginia, a farmer works tobring back the mighty American chestnut.What drives these individuals? How did their passionscome about, and what are the implications forrestoring the environment? Nature’s Restoration: People and Places on theFront Lines of Conservation is a lyrical look at these and other examplesof ordinary citizens aiming to return sizable tracts of the Americanlandscape to nature, and to health. They’ve found success in preservingrare species, reversing negative ecological trends, and promotinggreater intimacy with nature.Yet the work is far from simple. Restoration projects are often in thenews not only because of the promise they hold, but also because ofthe controversy they provoke. Based on detailed reporting and numerousinterviews, Nature’s Restoration puts us on the front lines ofrestoration to learn how this burgeoning national movement shapesboth places and people.

Strangers in Our Midst: The Startling World of Sonoran Desert Arthropods

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Pr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Friederici, Peter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Friederici, Peter

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Friederici, Peter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Beyond Climate Breakdown: Envisioning New Stories of Radical Hope (One Planet)

A New Form of Beauty: Glen Canyon Beyond Climate Change

The Suburban Wild

The Suburban Wild

Nature's Restoration: People and Places on the Front Lines of Conservation

Nature's Restoration: People and Places on the Front Lines of Conservation

Strangers in Our Midst: The Startling World of Sonoran Desert Arthropods