OUR EVENTS & NEWS
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GreenSleeves is EEA's virtual book club where members can explore environmental topics, spark meaningful conversations, and learn new ways to take action in our communities.
There is no commitment other than to enjoy reading and sharing books about nature. The book club meets via Zoom several times a year and is free for EEA members. Sign up to receive announcements of upcoming books as well as Zoom links for virtual book club meetings. |
Sign Up Here for Book Club News
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Upcoming Books
Bleeding Sea, July 24 (with author KA Kirtland)
The Great Pollinator Count, August 21 (Becky Griffin's children's book by Susan Edwards Richmond)
Night Magic, October 30 (with author Leigh Ann Henion)
The Great Pollinator Count, August 21 (Becky Griffin's children's book by Susan Edwards Richmond)
Night Magic, October 30 (with author Leigh Ann Henion)
Thurs July 24 Thurs Aug 21 Thurs Oct 30
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Previous Selections
Thursday April 3, 2025 at 7:00 pmThe Serviceberry by Robin Wall KimmererAs Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”
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Thurs Jan 9 2025
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EEA Book Club discussed Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. "There are more crows now than ever. Their abundance is both an indicator of ecological imbalance and a generous opportunity to connect with the animal world. Crow Planet reminds us that we do not need head to faraway places to encounter "nature." Rather, even in the suburbs and cities where we live we are surrounded by wildlife such as crows, and through observing them we can enhance our appreciation of the world's natural order." |
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Thursday October 10 at 7:00 pm Fen, Bog & Swamp by Annie ProulxAbout the Book . . . *Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and Literary Hub!* A Finalist for the 2022 NBCC Awards in Nonfiction, the 2023 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award, and the NEIBA 2023 New England Book Award* From Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx, this riveting deep dive into the history of our wetlands and what their systematic destruction means for the planet “is both an enchanting work of nature writing and a rousing call to action” (Esquire). “I learned something new—and found something amazing—on every page.” —Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land |
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July 25, 2024 at 7:00 pm
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
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The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
"The drawings and essays in this book do a lot more than just describe the birds. They carry a sense of discovery through observation and drawing, suggest the layers of patterns in the natural world, and emphasize a deep personal connection between the watcher and the watched. The birds that inhabit Amy Tan’s backyard seem a lot like the characters in her novels.” —David Allen Sibley, from the foreword In "The Backyard Bird Chronicles," Amy Tan finds solace and a deeper connection to nature amid the turmoil of 2016, documenting her bird-watching experiences through daily entries and sketches. Her charming and witty observations offer a peaceful escape and a reflection on the natural wonders just beyond her window. Join the virtual discussion here. As a prelude, you might enjoy this NPR interview with Amy Tan about the joys of birdwatching and her impetus for writing (and illustrating) the book. |
April 25, 2024 at 7:00 pm
The Milkweed Lands: An Epic Story of One Plant by Eric Lee-Mader
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Delve into this fascinating appreciation of milkweed, an often-overlooked plant, and discover an amazing range of insects and organisms that depend on it as the seasons unfold, with this collaboration between a noted ecologist and an award-winning botanical illustrator.
Ecologist Eric Lee-Mäder and noted botanical artist Beverly Duncan have teamed up to create this unique exploration of the complex ecosystem that is supported by the remarkable milkweed plant, often over-looked or dismissed as a roadside weed. With stunning, up-close illustrations and engaging text, they trace every stage of the plant's changes and evolutions throughout the seasons, including germination, growth, flowering, and seed development. Simultaneously, they chronicle the lives of the many creatures whose lives are intertwined with the milkweed. The delightful illustrations and illuminating text give the reader the feeling of browsing an avid naturalist's sketchbook, while also learning about different milkweed species, how to propagate milkweed in the garden, the industrial uses of milkweed, interesting milkweed relatives, and more. |
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January 25th, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Keeping the Chattahoochee by Sally Bethea
Author Sally Bethea will join us for a discussion about her new book: Keeping the Chattahoochee
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Sally Sierer Bethea was one of the first women in America to become a “riverkeeper”―a vocal defender of a specific waterway who holds polluters accountable. In Keeping the Chattahoochee, she tells stories that range from joyous and funny to frustrating―even alarming―to illustrate what it takes to save an endangered river. Her tales are triggered by the regular walks she takes through a forest to the Chattahoochee over the course of a year, finding solace and kinship in nature.
For two decades, Bethea worked to restore the neglected Chattahoochee, which provides drinking water and recreation to millions of people, habitat for wildlife, and water for industries and farms as it cuts through the heart of the Deep South. Pairing natural and political history with reflective writing, she draws readers into her watershed and her memories. Bethea’s passion for the natural world―and for defending it with a strong, informed voice animates this instructive memoir. Offering lessons on how to fight for our fundamental right to clean water, Bethea and her colleagues take on powerful corporate and government polluters. They strengthen environmental policies and educate children, reviving the great river from a century of misuse 
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Thursday October 26, 2023 at 7:00pm
Book Club members recommended the following titles:
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READER's CHOICE!
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July 2023
Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series of linked personal essays that will lead general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods and rednecks. |
April 2023
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Features by Merlin Sheldrake
January 2023
The Home Place by Drew Lanham
The Home Place by Drew Lanham
Read Sample Here |
"In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods, the gold of ripening tobacco. All of these hues are me; I am, in the deepest sense, colored.”
"From these fertile soils of love, land, identity, family, and race emerges The Home Place, a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist and professor of ecology J. Drew Lanham. Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina—a place "easy to pass by on the way somewhere else"—has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be "the rare bird, the oddity.” By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a remarkable meditation on nature and belonging, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of black identity in the rural South—and in America today." - Milkweed Editions Congrats to author Drew Lanham on his recent MacArthur Foundation Genius Award! |
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October 2022
On Display: A Novel of Natural History On October 24th, the Book Club discussed On Display with the author, Christy Baker Knight. On Display is a fun read spiced with naturalist knowledge and set in some Georgia haunts you may recognize. What devilish things would you do to keep your job? On Display chronicles the misadventures of young naturalist, Becca North, as she begins a promising career at a museum of natural history in 1991. This Darwinian hub is an answer to her prayers, but on a disastrous collecting trip, Becca loses something in the swamp that can’t be replaced, setting her on a coiled path with a dark secret that someone called the Creationist knows about. From a prize-winning naturalist fiction author, a slow burn mystery emerges. "Atmospheric, riveting, and filled with a memorable cast of characters, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough..." – Amber K Bryant, author of the Spirit Seeker series Summer 2022: Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty Diary of a Young Naturalist chronicles the turning of a year in Dara’s Northern Ireland home patch. Beginning in spring―when “the sparrows dig the moss from the guttering and the air is as puffed out as the robin’s chest―these diary entries about his connection to wildlife and the way he sees the world are vivid, evocative, and moving. Winner of the Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing and already sold into more than a dozen territories, Diary of a Young Naturalist is a triumphant debut from an important new voice. |
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January 2022
Wild Spectacle: Seeking Wonders in a World Beyond Humans by Janisse Ray
Author Janisse Ray joined us to discuss her new book at EEA's winter book club meeting, January 24, 2022.
- Order Wild Spectacle from the publisher, Trinity University Press
- Use promo code GREENSLEEVES for 20% off
- EEA will receive 10% of book sales with the code
- Order another book to give as a gift!
- Thanks Trinity University Press! @TUPress
- Start reading now with this preview
July 2021: A selection of short stories:
- Cloud Dragon Skies from How Long 'til Black Future Month by N.K. Jemisin
- Good Hunting Part 1 and Good Hunting Part 2 from The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu
- Spider the Artist from Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor
- Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit - Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts from The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu
October 2021: A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson
May 2021: The Overstory by Richard Powers
March 2021: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
January 2021: Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy
October 2020: Our Wild Calling by Richard Louv
August 2020: Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leaders by Angelou Ezeilo
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Join the team! EEA is hiring a Communications and Events Specialist.
Learn more and apply HERE
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Environmental Education Alliance, Inc.
P.O. Box 801066 | Acworth, GA 30101 EEA does not does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in its program , activities, or employment. For more information on EEA's non-discrimination commitment click here . Grievance officer may be contacted at [email protected] |