Elementals: Earth, Vol. 1

"This is literary environmental writing at its best.”—Amy Brady, author of Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks—a Cool History of a Hot Commodity

Earth, Volume 1 of the 5-Volume Elementals series, is a stunning collection of essays, poetry, and stories that illuminate the dynamic relationships between people and place, human and nonhuman life, mind and the material world, and the living energies that make all life possible.

Earth is at once planet, place, and material. Both tiny and huge, earth can manifest as a single grain of sand and a blinding storm in the desert. Earth nurtures a budding stem and the expansive rhizomic roots of an ancient forest. What if we understand ourselves as creatures who exist because of generational, collaborative, creative, earthen exuberance? The stories and poems in this volume offer elemental paths toward an ethic of interdependence, connection, and care for planet, place, and other earthlings. Welcome to Earth.

The Elementals series explores how people from various cultures across the planet have worked with these powerful forces of change and regeneration to shape landscapes and deepen personal and place-based relationships. Contributors for Earth, Volume 1 include: Gavin Van Horn • Bruce Jennings • Hannah Eisler Burnett • Kristi Leora Gansworth • Oyah Beverly A. Scott • Alexis Pauline Gumbs • Marcia Bjornerud • Laticia McNaughton • Rita Dove • Jane Slade • Emma Gilheany • Melissa Tuckey • Imani Jacqueline Brown • Franny Choi • Danielle B. Joyner • Liam Heneghan • Nickole Brown • Tia M. Pocknett • Andreas Weber • Jessica Jacobs • Robin Wall Kimmerer

With compelling stories and insightful reflections, Earth, Volume 1 reveals how people are working with, adapting to, and cocreating relational depth and ecological diversity by respectfully attending to the earthly forces that shape our everyday worlds.

Proceeds from sales of Elementals benefit the nonprofit organization Center for Humans & Nature, home to a press and farm that explore in-depth and diverse perspectives about what it means to be human in an interconnected world. Humans & Nature Press shares ideas that build community and inspire action. Humans & Nature Farm is a place where ideas take root. The Center is a place to experience human connection with nature and consider our responsibilities to the whole community of life.