CARI Book Club: August – The Serviceberry

Start: Sunday, August 24, 2025•05:30 PM

We’re launching the CARI Book Club! The CARI Book Club is a space for anyone interested in expanding their understanding of climate change through long-form reading. From fiction to psychology, science to storytelling, there's no shortage of books that help us make sense of the climate crisis — and our place in it. We’ll meet about every other month to discuss one title together. Through shared conversation, personal reflection, and a variety of perspectives, we’ll deepen our collective understanding — and maybe finally crack open those climate books that have been sitting unread on the shelf. All are welcome. No expertise needed — just curiosity and a willingness to read, learn, and connect.

For this meeting, read the book and prepare some questions or thoughts for discussion! We will meet as a group for about an hour.


This Months Book: "The Serviceberry, Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World" By Robin Wall Kimmerer

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world."

"As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”
Sponsored by
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Climate Action RI