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Ecology Book Club

Multisolving by Elizabeth Sawin

This adult book club discusses books on human ecology, sustainable living, environmental justice and post-fossil fuel futures. Books can be nonfiction, fiction or poetry.

This month we will be discussing the nonfiction book Multisolving: Creating Systems Change in a Fractured World by Elizabeth Sawin.

"For most of Elizabeth Sawin's career, she was not a multisolver. Instead, she worked on a single, albeit immensely important problem: climate change. Despite tremendous effort--long hours of teaching, attending conferences, publicizing analysis--at the end of the day, she felt like she was chasing her tail. Unless people began to recognize the multitude of unexpected benefits from ratcheting down emissions, climate change would remain a losing political issue. That experience, along with the guidance of leaders in systems thinking and racial justice, convinced her that the world's thorniest problems may be easier to tackle together than one by one. That's multisolving: using a single investment of time or money to solve many problems at the same time. (Reduced fossil fuel use = improvements in climate, health, equity, economics, and more.) While the idea of killing two birds with one stone (or "filling two needs with one deed") is age-old, and the notion of co-benefits in policy-making has been around for years, Multisolving addresses the current mismatch between complex, deeply intertwined societal issues and our siloed approach to them." - Island Press

Email rachel.white@dc.gov:

• For help finding a copy of Multisolving. You can also ask for a copy at the front desk of Cleveland Park Library — extra copies are available for book club participants. (This is the best way to obtain a copy in time to read it beforehand.)
• To suggest books for later dates 
• To receive updates about future book club meetings
• For other information

Registration is optional but encouraged.

If you would like to request an accommodation, please contact dcplaccess@dc.gov at least one week prior to the program.

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