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Book of the Month

Human Nature by Kate Marvel

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Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet blends climate science with emotional honesty, arguing that how we feel about climate change is inseparable from how we understand and respond to it. Kate Marvel, a climate scientist, organizes the book around nine emotions—wonder, anger, guilt, fear, grief, surprise, pride, hope, and love—to show that emotional responses are not obstacles to rational thought but essential tools for meaning-making and action.

Discussion group questions:

1. Which emotion felt most “useful” to you—and which felt hardest to sit with? What made the difference?
2. Marvel frames emotions as part of climate understanding, not a distraction from it. When do feelings sharpen your thinking, and when do they blur it?
3. In the guilt chapter: What’s the line between personal responsibility and system responsibility in your own life—and what actions follow from that?
4. How does the book handle fear without tipping into doom? Did it change what you consider a “realistic” outlook?
5. If love is the final word: What (specifically) do you love that climate change threatens, and what forms of action protect that love—personally, locally, politically?

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Explore more on how emotions and social structures shape our response to climate change:

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