Rising Tides

Reflections for Climate Changing Times

Edited by Cate Sandilands

Categories: Anthology, Environment
Imprint: Caitlin Press
Paperback : 9781773860183, October 2019

Writers of all stripes pick up their pens in defence of Canada's environment--an act of resistance in the wake of Kinder Morgan, Site C and other ecological threats

Description

Ice melt; sea level rise; catastrophic weather; flooding; drought; fire; infestation; species extinction and adaptation; water shortage and contamination; intensified social inequity, migration and cultural collapse. These are but some of the changes that are not only predicted for climate changing futures, but already part of our lives in Canada. Although these transformations are global and dramatic, they are also experienced locally and particularly by people who are struggling to understand the impacts of climate change on their daily lives.
Rising Tides is a collection of short fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir and poetry addressing the past, present and future of climate change. Bringing stories about climate change--both catastrophic and subtle--closer to home, this new anthology inspires reflection, understanding, conversation and action. With more than forty purposefully written pieces, Rising Tides emphasizes the need for intimate stories and thoughtful attention, and also for a view of climate justice that is grounded in ongoing histories of colonialism and other forms of environmental and social devastation.These stories parallel the critical issues facing the planet, and imagine equitable responses for all Canadians, moving beyond denial and apocalypse and toward shared meaning and action.
Contributors to the anthology include established writers, climate change experts from different backgrounds and front-line activists: Carleigh Baker, Stephen Collis, Ashlee Cunsolo, Ann Eriksson, Rosemary Georgeson, Hiromi Goto, Laurie D. Graham, David Huebert, Sonnet L'Abbe, Timothy Leduc, Christine Lowther, Kyo Maclear, Emily McGiffin, Deborah McGregor, Kevin Phillip Paul, Richard Pickard, Holly Schofield, Betsy Warland, Evelyn White, Rita Wong and many more.

Reviews

[Rising Tides] takes a more explicitly political slant and includes a range of perspectives from Indigenous writers, including Zoe Todd’s gorgeous, lyrical reflection on watching the tides. While many of the writers work within academia, their writing here is accessible, open-hearted, and personal. […] In diverse ways, many of these contributors are probing this issue: how much hurt—how much climate change reality—are we capable of admitting into consciousness? Kyo Maclear’s “Love and Lifeboating”—an outstanding essay about dying and grief by one of Canada’s best writers—is, alone, worth the price of this collection. These are works to savour and treasure.”

Canadian Literature

“The contributors are painstaking and skilled wordsmiths. Throughout, they draw connections between personal lived experience and memory, and broader and structural issues. Some of the contributions are metaphorical, allegorical and evocative; others more directly name the social constructs that are jeopardizing our existence, reminiscent of the clarion call of a political manifesto.”

—Robert Hackett, rabble.ca

“[A] timely book […] there’s a sense of conversation, of talking and sharing ideas, memories, strategies, and the result is a compelling field-guide to ways we might proceed as local and global citizens.”

—Theresa Kishkan, The Ormsby Review