Join the Conversation
Resilience is the ability of a system – like a family, a country or Earth’s biosphere – to cope with short-term disruptions and adapt to long-term changes without losing its essential character. Today we face four major crises – environmental, energy, economic, and equity – that challenge the resilience of the systems we care about and the futures of our students. These books will help us talk about these critical issues and the opportunities they offer for change.
Check out the 2018-2020 Books!2018-2020: BUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
National Geographic Film: Paris to Pittsburgh
Wednesday, May 8th
6:30pm
Anchorage Museum
Join us to explore the impacts of climate change, climate action planning and climate resilience on international, national and local levels. This event includes:
- a screening of the National Geographic's new film Paris to Pittsburgh
- a call to action by Anchorage's First Lady Mara Kimmel
- an overview of Anchorage's new Climate Action Plan
- chance to engage in a public dialogue on climate resiliency in Anchorage
For more information on this event, please contact Shannon Donovan, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies.
This event is sponsored by the UAA/APU Books of the Year. For questions about the UAA/APU Book of the Year Program, please contact Libby Roderick, Program Director.
Previous Book of the Year Guest Speakers
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And the People Shall Lead: Centering Frontline Communities' Leadership for Racial and Environmental Justice
Featuring:
- Jacqui Patterson, Director, NAACP's national Environmental and Climate Justice Program
- Princess Daazhraii Johnson, Neet'saii Gwich'in, board member of Native Movement and former director of the Gwich'in Steering Committee; and
- Sama Seguinot-Medina, Environmental Health Program Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT)
This Books of the Year panel event discussed the intersections of racial justice, environmental health, and community empowerment.
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Winona LaDuke Speaking on Climate Change
Conversations and Presentations
- Presentation - The Next Energy Economy: Grassroots Strategies to Mitigate Global Climate Change, and How We Move Ahead
- Leading from the Heart: Activism, Identity and Community Empowerment - Conversation between Winona and E.J. David, UAA Psychology, followed by discussion.
- All Our Relations: Environmental Justice and Community Empowerment - Conversation between Winona and Viola (“Vi”) Waghiyi, Environmental Health and Justice Program Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, followed by discussion
- Indigenous Resistance and Community Empowerment - Conversation between Winona and Heather Kendall Miller, Native American Rights Fund, followed by discussion.
Winona LaDuke is an internationally reowned award-winning human rights and environmental activist working on issues of sustainable development, renewable energy and food systems. She lives and works on the White Earth reservations in northern Minnesota, and is a two-time Green Party vice presidential candidate. She works nationally and internationally on issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities.
Faculty
Common intellectual experiences -- like Books of the Year programs – are a recognized, evidence-based High Impact Practice that supports student success. UAA and APU faculty have selected six books to use over the next two years as the basis for these discussions.
Community
We invite you to join the conversation around these texts and the overarching theme of "Building Community Resilience." Please participate in upcoming events and partner with us to create meaningful programming for our community to engage in this ever-relevant topic.
The books offer multiple ways to approach this complex topic, ranging from an academic exploration of systems thinking and the synergies between economics, energy, equity and the environment (The Community Resilience Reader) to a call to action on the climate crisis (This Changes Everything) and the best climate solutions (Drawdown) to impassioned essays on community survival by a major Indigenous leader (The Winona LaDuke Chronicles) to creative works highlighting the resilience of individuals and communities impacted by poverty, racism, and extreme weather events (Threadbare and Salvage the Bones).
Resources for 2018-2020 Theme & Books
These resources are available as guides for using books from the current Books of the Year theme, "Building Community Resilience," in your class. The UAA/APU Books of the Year program represents one of the AAC&U's 11 recognized High Impact Practices (HIPs), in this case, Common Intellectual Experiences.
Past Themes & Books
Resources for each theme include reader's guides, faculty resources, and supplemental materials.
RESOURCES FOR PAST THEMES & BOOKS PAST CURRICULUM EXAMPLES
