SEHN Recommends
This month we decided to share with our readers recommendations for excellent thinking, collaboration, writing, and conversation that have appeared lately (or in the case of our selected poem, a quarter century ago) about science, public health, the environment, the state of democracy, or “just” living on earth. With the wealth of wisdom and insight out there—documenting the current landscape on these topics and strategizing paths forward— this list represents just a small handful of writing, conversation, and projects we thought particularly worthy of our attention.
“It can be hard to navigate a world that pulls us in so many directions. The magnets of culture are multi-polar and shapeshifting, whether social, political, technological, or aesthetic. Everything and everyone is busy. And then there’s the subliminal but pervasive cultural message that, for the intensely social apes that we are, pretends to cohere all that chaos: This is how things are. Accept it. How do we find our own bearings if we want to think or go a different way?”
—“For Want of a Ship,” by Jason Anthony in his Substack, Field Guide to the Anthropocene, recommended by Carolyn Raffensperger, executive director.
“Nature shapes everything we care about, from the water we drink to the security of our communities. When we understand these connections, we can make better decisions and build a future where people and places thrive. Our work begins with a first-of-its-kind national assessment of U.S. lands, waters, and wildlife, paired with tools and stories to help communities put that knowledge to work. United by Nature is designed to evolve with input from people of all backgrounds, ensuring nature is woven into everyday decisions and shared priorities.”
—The United by Nature website presents the forthcoming independent assessment, to be released in July 2026, led by many of the 200 scientists who were ordered early this year to stop work on what would have been the first federally-sponsored National Nature Assessment, recommended by Carmi Orenstein, editor.
“On Wednesday, September 10, four distinguished scholars joined LOA LIVE to discuss Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, a masterpiece of political thought that remains a powerful and prescient account of our nation’s character and the promise and the dangers of our system of government. Joanne Freeman, Steven Hahn, James T. Kloppenberg, and Olivier Zunz delved into the definitive LOA edition of Democracy in America, featuring Arthur Goldhammer’s award-winning translation, to bring this timeless text into the contemporary moment. LOA president and publisher Max Rudin moderated the panel.”
—"Reading Democracy in America Now” webinar, convened by Library of America, recommended by Ted Schettler, science director.
“[Mira] Shah launched an online journal in July called Karbon Economics with the help of a few likeminded friends at Quarry Lane School, a private college prep school in Dublin, about 35 miles east of San Francisco, and nearby Monte Vista High School.
“Karbon (Shah used a ‘k’ to help it stand out) features essays, explainers and soon-to-be-published student research that explores ‘how economic forces shape our world—from the climate crisis and carbon markets to inequality, trade and development.’ The student-run journal will enlist young voices ‘to shape a better-informed world’ by making the economic dimensions of climate change more accessible.”
—"California Teen Starts an Online Journal on the Power of Economics to Confront Climate Change,” by Liza Gross, in Inside Climate News, recommended by Sandra Steingraber, senior scientist and writer-in-residence.
“… Trump was never the most important danger to the country. He was only the worst-case consequence of the most important danger to the country: the ascendance of a plutocratic/white Christian nationalist coalition that has captured the Republican Party. Together, the plutocrats and the white Christian nationalists form the twin pillars of the Neo-Confederacy—one wielding concentrated wealth, the other leveraging hierarchy and mobilizing faith. Together, they are winning a modern war of Southern aggression.”
—"Monsters and Their Enablers,” by Michael Podhorzer in his Substack, Weekend Reading, recommended by Peter Montague, SEHN Fellow.
“Commonplace miracle:
that so many commonplace miracles take place.”
—"Miracle Fair,” by Wisława Szymborska, translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh & Stanisław Barańczak, recommended by Sherri Seidmon, finance director