Register 29 Seats Remaining

Ecology Book Club

We Will Be Jaguars by Nemonte Nenquimo

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 We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson.

"From a fearless, internationally acclaimed activist comes an impassioned memoir about an indigenous childhood, a clash of cultures, and the fight to save the Amazon rainforest.

We Will Be Jaguars is an astonishing memoir by an equally astonishing woman. Nenquimo is a winner of TIME magazine’s Earth Award, and MS. magazine named this book among the Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2024.

Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest—one of the last to be contacted by missionaries in the 1950s—Nemonte Nenquimo had a singular upbringing.

She was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. At age fourteen, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture. She listened.

Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate change activism. She has spearheaded the alliance of indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and led her people to a landmark victory against Big Oil, protecting over a half million acres of primary rainforest. Her message is as sharp as a spear—honed by her experiences battling loggers, miners, oil companies and missionaries.

In We Will Be Jaguars, she partners with her husband, Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, digging into generations of oral history, uprooting centuries of conquest, hacking away at racist notions of indigenous peoples, and ultimately revealing a life story as rich, harsh, and vital as the Amazon rainforest herself."

Email rachel.white@dc.gov:

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

Registration is optional but encouraged for new participants.

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

Upcoming events