Natural Connection - What indigenous wisdom & marginalised people teach us about environmental action

A lyrical, deeply researched and original work of narrative non-fiction that examines 6 key pillars: RAGE, IMAGINATION, INNOVATION, THEORY, HEALING and CARE to showcase the wonder of the natural world and inspire us to view climate action as a shared goal rather than individual burden.

University of Cambridge AI, environmental justice and bioacoustics researcher and educator Joycelyn Longdon reveals how extraordinary acts from ordinary people of colour - from the US to the UK, Brazil to Iran, Ghana to Ethiopia - paved the way for today's technological advances. Merging ancient wisdom with modern tools, she invites readers to embrace new roles in the fight for sustainability beyond activist and observer, guiding us back to our roots.

Praise:

"A truly original journey to the root of our collective problems that offers new hope for how to solve them. Reading it is a balm." - Afua Hirsch

"Urgent, profound and compassionate... Natural Connection brings us to imagine our relations with nature otherwise. Wisely, patiently, it opens and holds space in which radically rooted change might flourish." - Robert Macfarlane

"Joycelyn Longdon's work is always rigorously researched, justice-centred and transformative." - Mikaela Loach

"Joycelyn Longdon is an urgent and desperately needed new voice. This is a wonderful book." - Katherine May

"Joycelyn Longdon's Natural Connection asks us to rededicate ourselves to the fight against climate change, and to understand environmental action in its proper, global context. Her fascinating case studies and thought-provoking interviews challenge us to look at climate change anew, and come back to the fight reenergised." - Cal Flyn

"Wise and honest, Natural Connection reminds us of the vital truth of environmental breakdown – that biodiversity loss and the climate emergency are intimately tied to colonialism and capitalism. Yet the book does so much more, too. It guides us into ways of being that offer hope and healing." - James Canton