There are some brilliant novels around that crossover between my favourite realms; sustainability and space. Although I am busy finishing up my Honours thesis on sustainability education (the reason my posts here have been scant in the last few years!), I feel a massive urge to share these books as widely as I can. A book from Australian author, H M Waugh, Mars Awakens has been one such book!
But, why space and sustainability?
I can’t fathom how much time has past to see that it was back in 2015 when I was asking myself whether the night sky/space are some our most overlooked resources for learning:
…is the night sky one of our most complex and sophisticated thinking tools? It’s often visible with the naked eye, and, is free – but sometimes, strangely, overlooked? (An unlearning activity, Part 1)
I still wonder this, every time I read a sci-fi that has sustainability woven in. Thinking from the perspective of space always seems to provide a powerful narrative and a way of shifting perspectives, with the possibility of experiencing a paradigm shift about Earth.
Mars Awakens – a novel by H M Waugh
I’ve attempted to explain what on Earth (or Mars) I mean about space and sustainability, in my recent post about the novel Mars Awakens by H M Waugh, aimed at middle-grade readers. It’s one of the novels that I can see being fantastic for some of the philosophical and paradigm-shifting thinking with sustainability education.
This was an advanced reading copy, and my full review of this book is published at Reading Time.