Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World

Poet Wells (The Fix) focuses this dense and eclectic survey on “relatively ordinary people” who, in the face of climate change, believe in creating a better future. Aiming to add hope to conversations often filled with doom, Wells takes readers on a tour of individuals focused on connecting with—and restoring—nature. In the Oregon woods, she meets “the Portuguese Sherlock Holmes,” a man “rumored to be one of the best trackers alive” and whose abilities hinge on a deep knowledge of ecosystems. Matthew Trumm, meanwhile, had his life upended by 2018’s Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif., which Wells describes in shocking and vivid detail. Trumm, along with John D. Liu, a land restoration expert and documentarian, founded the Camp Fire Restoration Project in 2019. The people profiled come across as optimistic and resilient, and so too does the author. Her descriptions of climate change captures the harsh reality of devastation, and her musings often lean poetic (“I’m fond of the idea of being ‘of Rubble’.... I like how ‘rubble’ echoes ‘rabble,’ the disorderly mob of the ordinary”). Still, her curiosity keeps things moving: “What legacy will we choose to leave behind,” she wonders. Climate-minded readers should take note of this roving account of perseverance. (July)