Beginning Tuesday, January 3, a new book club hosted at the Hoag Library, 134 South Main Street in Albion, will give participants an opportunity to meet and discuss global and local environmental issues and protecting natural spaces.
Jena Buckwell of the Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District, says the new book club will meet the first Tuesday of each month to discuss an environmentally themed book title.
She says the idea for the book club stems from her own love of reading and its ability to give everyone the opportunity to learn, absorb and interpret information in a way that makes sense for them.
“Environmental issues are sometimes controversial and highly political,” Buckwell observes, “I feel it’s really important for people to understand the issues and make their own decisions on how to move forward in their own lives, and try to make a positive impact on their community and the environment.”
Self-education through reading is a truly powerful thing, she explains. “I aspire to promote that alongside promoting better environmental stewardship throughout our community. People can’t care about issues without understanding them first, and getting more people involved in reading and learning about the environment will hopefully get more people involved in taking action on environmental issues,” she says.
The goal of the program is to expand the understanding of global and local environmental issues in the community, Buckwell says. The book club will run monthly through 2017 and copies of each book will be made available for loan at the Hoag Library courtesy of the Orleans County Soil & Water Conservation District and the Finger Lakes Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance.
The first book will be Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert. Buckwell says the book developed out of an award-winning three-part series on climate change published in The New Yorker. The latest edition includes new chapters which bring the issue up to date and feature ocean acidification, tar sands, and a Danish town that has gone carbon neutral.
“A big part of the discussion will be about how issues in the books apply to us on a local level and on how we can address those issues in our daily lives,” Buckwell says.
All are welcome, including residents of Monroe and Genesee Counties. The only limitation, Buckwell explains, is that Soil & Water Conservation District books have been donated to the NIOGA Library System. Residents in the Monroe County Library System may need to purchase a copy if their local library does not have them.
