A groundbreaking collection of essays titled "Turning the Tide: Climate Change, Social Change and Islandness" will be launched on March 2, at 7 pm, in the Faculty Lounge, Main Building Room 201, University of Prince Edward Island. The collection is published by Island Studies Press.

The book launch will include a panel discussion with co-editors Jean Mitchell and Laurie Brinklow from the University of Prince Edward Island, local contributors, and co-editors Eric Mijts from the University of Aruba and islands researcher Anouk Mertens, who will join virtually. The panel will engage in a unique conversation that spans art, agriculture, labour, and energy. Authors will highlight key findings from their chapters and answer questions about how art can function as a bridge between climate change and social change, or how remote islands face unique challenges when it comes to meeting energy needs, or what local and Indigenous knowledge can offer to resilient food systems.

This interdisciplinary book foregrounds island storytellers as they convey worldviews, knowledge, and cultural values, beliefs, and emotions that are often missing from climate change discourses. How are the effects of climate change and catastrophic weather experienced and narrated by islanders? What stories need to be told? How do local, traditional, and Indigenous knowledge practices facilitate the capacity to improvise, innovate, and adapt to volatile weather events? How do social relations on climate-stressed islands continue to flourish? How do governance structures and issues of sovereignty support and/or inhibit climate and social justice?

This wide-ranging and deep conversation places islands and islanders at the centre of climate change. The event is free, and all are welcome. For more information, contact Bren Simmers at Island Studies Press at 902-566-0386 or ispstaff@upei.ca.